Mics for Long Distances

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mcolling

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Ok folks,

My band and I, based out of Victoria, BC, want to try recording ourselves using close-micing techniques, but also with mics far off in a large room in order to capture the natural reverb of the environment. You see, we are big fans of My Morning Jacket, who use rooms and silos as reverb chambers in order to give their records a nice, unique aural quality. However, where as MMJ record their albums "traditionally", layering tracks upon a click or whatever, we want to record live. We want to set up in a big room and play.

The question is, then, what do you all in your infinite wisdom suggest using for the "far away" mics? This board is full of suggestions for close-micing (and since we're on a budget, we'll probably be using: a couple of Chinese condensers over the drums with a SM57 on the snare and maybe another in the kick, an SM57 on the guitar and bass cabs, and an SM58 or another Chinese condenser for vocals). So, what do you suggest? Should we use small or large diaphram? Keep in mind we're on a budget-- say, under $500, and we'll want a pair probably.

Thanks,
Michael Collinge
 
On a budget?

For room mics, the lowest possible entry would be the Behringer ECM8000... but they are noisy, so you need to play pretty loud ;-)

Otherwise a pair of SDCs, such as the Oktava MC012, Røde NT5, SP C4 or MXL 603 would probably all be able to do the job.

Or if you want a bit more "flavouring" LDC sound, a pair of SP B1's or MXL V67G.

Did you mean 500 bucks for all mics: 4x57, 1x58 or chinese LDC, 2xother chinese LDCs plus the two mics above? That may be a bit challening... I assume you don't want to include the preamps and multitrackers there also in the 500$ ;-)

Rgds,


-- Per.
 
no, no, silly. i meant $500 for the room mics. we may be talking a bit more or less, but i wanted to get an idea of the best mic value in terms of long ranges.

to clarify, here's a specific question:

what cheap mics do people use for micing orchestra's and choirs and shit? know what i'm saying?

michael
 
mcolling said:
no, no, silly. i meant $500 for the room mics. we may be talking a bit more or less, but i wanted to get an idea of the best mic value in terms of long ranges.

to clarify, here's a specific question:

what cheap mics do people use for micing orchestra's and choirs and shit? know what i'm saying?

michael
Click to expand...

Welll I don't think cheap mics are used real often on orchestras. But for $500 you could look for a pair of my personal favorites, SM81s, which I don't think is cheap at all. Or any of the other SDC suggestions above. You do want a quiet mic, that means low self-noise. I think the 81 is 14dB self-noise, I wouldn't want to go any higher than that. The newer Shure KSM1xx series is quieter but I've never tried 'em and they don't get discussed much here. Might be worth a look, especially that selectable pattern one ($$ though).

One thing to be aware of is when most people say 'distance mike' they are usually talking about shotgun mics, which is not what you want at all. Stick with 'room' or 'ambiant' mic.
 
mcolling said:
what cheap mics do people use for micing orchestra's and choirs and shit? know what i'm saying?
Click to expand...
What I use for micing choirs and instrumental ensembles is a pair of MXL V93Ms (aka 2003) and I am proud of the result. The 2003s have a wide response and are very detailed so you don't have to be on top of something to get all the detail from it.

However that is a slightly different application than you are talking about. The ORTF pair are the only mics. So I am not trying to mix ORTF stereo plus close micing. If instead the goal was to pick up some of the room reverb to mix in as ambience I would instead be looking at a single SDC omnidirectional so that I am picking upp all of the room sound and not just what I am pointing at.
 
rebuttals

mshilarious: "Welll I don't think cheap mics are used real often on orchestras."

---> dude, they totally are. what about shitty orchestras? shit, i played in a "youth orchestra" that sucked!

mshilarious: "One thing to be aware of is when most people say 'distance mike' they are usually talking about shotgun mics, which is not what you want at all. Stick with 'room' or 'ambiant' mic."

---> well, the thing is, i'm not really talking about a "room mic." most room mics are, you know, 10 feet away- 20 feet tops, right? i'm talking about 50 feet away in a massive room. clearly a different application than a "room mic" or a "shotgun mic"
 
so, the concencus seems to be for a small diaphram condenser, right? and i clearly want a quiet mic (appreciate that mshilarious).

do those cheap ass chinese jobs work for this kind of thing??
 
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