condenser mic for round table session

[happy_days]

I am looking for some advice. I will be playing in and mic'ing up an irish music session. The session will include about 4 musicians around a table. So here's my idea on getting a sound 'out there' without hauling tons of equipment into a venue. I plan on getting a table stand and using a reasonably priced condenser mic with an omni-directional pick-up pattern, I hope to get an 'authentic' sound and send it out to the bar. I will feed the mic output into an amplifier. The amplifier I am thinking of using is the Roland AC-90 because it has both XLR and line-in inputs among other features. I am looking for suggestions on the type of mic I should buy and if omni directional is the way to go? Please no suggestions for mic's with gold plated this and that and costing the price of a small mortgage reasonably priced please... and if you have an alternative suggesion to the Roland amplification system please let me know? I don't know will I need a seperate power supply (and/or phantom power) or if the Roland will handle all pre-amp requirements? This is an issue thats troubled me for a long time so any help would be greatly appreciated?

 

[daveblue222]

hey, for something simple like that and for a good price, i would recommend the samson c03. its definately not the best omni condenser mic, but for something like that it would be ideal. i think i bought mine for about £45. with most condensers though you have to keep in mind that they need phantom power, if your amp doesnt supply phantom power than you would need to invest in small phantom power supply box. i bought a berhinger one for £10-15

the CO3 mic also has a roll off switch which enables you to bring down the bass, and also a switch that enables you to lower the volume by 10db, which is quite handy because this is quite a loud microphone

hope this helps

 

[P. Glaser]

Have you thought about a PZM?

 

[apl]

Consider Naiant. If you contact them, they can personally advise you on power requirements, etc., and they've got little gadgets just for that.

 

[happy_days]

thanks for the advice and good advice too about the phantom power supply unit - didn't know you could get these as seperates. If you were to recommend a slightly better mic (and of course more expensive one) , what would you favour for this purpose, i.e. omni-directional for round table music session?

 

[happy_days]

Have you thought about a PZM?

Ya saw a few such (PZM) microphones around and came across one in maplin: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=27414&criteria=microphones&doy=16m4
Probably sacrilegious to suggest using such a mic for the purpose of round table music session?

 

[happy_days]

Consider Naiant. If you contact them, they can personally advise you on power requirements, etc., and they've got little gadgets just for that.

thanks but the conditions we'll be playing in are so variable I'm not sure checking requirements on any one night would yield the same results twice

 

[ironmanmc]

I'll second the PZM or other boundary type microphone. Even the dirt cheap <gag> Radio Shack PZM or boundary mics will do a darn good job (BTW they can be easily modified for lo-Z balanced operation). I've had a number of long discussions with the late Ken Wahrenbrock, inventor of the PZM. There are many ways of setting up a PZM. Bass response is dependent on the size of the surface you place the PZM on. If you roll up a piece of carpet in back of the PZM, it becomes unidirectional. And the spacing between microphone element and back plate? Two of Ken's business cards.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Another simple trick would be to tape the front end of something like a Behringer ECM8000 to the table top, so that the head of the mic is pressed right against the table top.