Recommendations: Dynamic Omni

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Chip Hitchens

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I recently realized that I have only cardioid mics, and would like to expand my horizons. I'm fascinated by the idea of a dynamic omni, and am thinking of picking up a couple to experiment with micing guitar amps and maybe doing some spaced pair stereo recording.

In my research, the big one seems to be the EV 635A (Hi Chessparov). The spec sheet for this mic on the EV website looks like it was a poorly scanned copy of a fax or something, and I can't see the numbers on the frequency plot, but in the general specs area it says that its frequency response tops out at 13kHz.

Shure makes a mic called that SM63 that I've never heard of and can't find much first-hand information on. Has anyone ever used one? It seems to have better high-frequency response, and I'm wondering if it might have a little more sparkle on something like cymbals. It's also in the same price range as the EV, which is a good thing.

Anyone have any thoughts? Or should I just forget the dynamic thing and roll the dice on a pair of ECM8000s?

Thanks.
 
I love my EV 635a personally, and use it mainly to mic up electric guitars, especially distorted. I got my 635a for 30 bucks off ebay, so even if you don't like it, you aren't out too much. Plus the thing is built like a damn tank. There are some other choices out there though. You could look into an AT804 for way under 100 bucks, or maybe an EV RE50B for around 150 new I think. The ecm8000's seem to be a hit or miss thing. A lot of people complain about the self-noise, and some say theirs are pretty quiet. I am in the latter category.
 
I think you would be better served by a condenser omni. On guitar amps, a dynamic will be OK, but you mentioned spaced pair as well. Are you thinking drum overheads? If so, I would give the ECM8000's a try. They seem to be a pretty minimal investment. I haven't used them myself, but I do have experience with some of the Earthworks omni's. Now I have no idea how the Behringers compare to the Earthworks, but if the Behringers get you even 75% of the way there, it's worth the investment.

Omni condesers are great for acoustic guitar. Sometimes the proximity effect of a cardioid is just too much when getting close up on an acoustic. Omni's don't have the proximity effect.
 
Just curious: Why do you suppose they've been so wildly popular for field journalists / news reporters?
 
chessrock said:
Just curious: Why do you suppose they've been so wildly popular for field journalists / news reporters?
Click to expand...

Seems to me that mic positioning is a lot less crucial with the omnis, as is mic technique, and they don't have to worry about feedback.

Many of us came into the studio starting with our live gear, which needs to be cardioid, so that's definitely influenced mic selection, but I don't see a particularly good reason for that in a studio.
 
According to past posts on RAP (recordingaudio.pro), pairs of 635a's were used on many classical recordings during the 60's and 70's.

Try using one in a good sounding room sometime and you'll be pleasantly surprised (like me!) how excellent their tone can be.

One advantage to the rolled off top end is that if your room has large glass windows and/or a glass slider, it won't pick up the high end acoustical issues
like a more extended response microphone.
Same goes for its low end in terms of low bass issues.

Bottom line is that they're well designed for home recording if you close mike.
Or for capturing room ambience, from a distance, in a good sounding room.

Chris
 
mshilarious said:
Seems to me that mic positioning is a lot less crucial with the omnis, as is mic technique, and they don't have to worry about feedback.
Click to expand...
They're also not as susceptable to mic handling, wind noise, or diaphragm "popping". And their inherently flatter response makes them easier to EQ.
 
Thanks for the explanation Harvey.

Was wondering how the EV 635a was able to withstand my fledgling attempts
at EQing and still sound so good vs. the other unidirectional microphones :)

Figured that was why as a result.

Chris
 
Thanks everyone for responding. I'm a little surprised that no one's used an SM63. They seemed interesting to me, based on their specs, but the points about the advantages of a narrow frequency response for the home rec'er are well taken.
 
Chip Hitchens said:
Thanks everyone for responding. I'm a little surprised that no one's used an SM63.
Click to expand...

I've looked for a used one, but never had any luck. They're about $120 new, mostly sold by camera shops. The frequency response has a few bright peaks and bass rolloff starting at 300Hz.
 
also, look on ebay for beyer m55s. they are supposed to be great drum mics.
 
Score! I'm 90% certain I just won an SM63 auction. The seller was a pawnshop who had it listed as an SM65, which near as I could tell, doesn't exist. The blurry pics sure looked like an SM63.

I didn't want to ask the seller for more info, because then they would have figured out the model # was wrong, and relisted . . .

So I took a chance and won it for $36 :D

I'll post with my impressions once I get it, provided of course it is an SM63 :rolleyes:
 
I use an AT804 a lot on guitar cabs, fits the freq response perfectly and is a no brainer to position. The off axis response is nothing great in the high freq range but it's good enough to float over a guitar cab speaker and capture a very true to life image. This also gives it an overall tighter sound than most omnis as it's really not going to pick up as much of the room as you would think which for me works fine. The high freq response overall with the mic is just right for most guitar amp mic'ing though, not excessive and not too dark, low end and mids are strong though.

Handy mic to have around for this use and it's inexpensive and solid.

Chessparov is a HUGE fan of those 635a's and I bet they rock too. I've just never had the opportunity to use one. One day I hope to!

War
 
Yeah, the 635a is an excellent mic for most singers IMHO.
(other than deeper baritones/basses)

However...

It makes my high baritone sound like a "true" tenor. Will be experimenting with combining the 635a with the EV RE15 or EV 666 via double miking.

Should be interesting as the mid-range of the RE15 is similar (thick) to the Neumann U87ai.

Chris
 
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Got my SM63 today

Yeah it was the SM63. Man, what a great deal. First impressions:

It's bright, but not offensively so. I don't own many bright mics, so I pick up on that right away.

The off axis response isn't as good as I thought it would be. There is no chart in the manual, but the dropoff even at 90 degrees is pretty good and the high-end dropoff is much larger. It's easy to eliminate the bright peak by aiming a little off-axis.

OK, the sound. Pretty plain on vocals, bright but not sibilant. Fairly low output, so you need to get kind of close, which is easy since there's no proximity effect to speak of.

Acoustic guitar: very insensitive to positioning, basically bright and non-boomy wherever you aim it. Not a great tone, but a useable one. It does two really nifty tricks: you can close-mic the soundboard and get a natural tone. That's really handy for recording vocal/guitar at the same time. The second nifty trick is recording vocal & guitar with a single mic, with the mic 1/3 of the way from mouth to guitar.

For those two applications alone, it was definitely worth the $36 it cost :cool:
 
Update on the SM63 . . . I used this as a podium mic today, and it was absolutely killer, very nice detail, consistent tone with different speakers & techniques. Much better than an SM58, less sibilance and feedback issues than your usual condenser-on-a-gooseneck. Plus it did a credible job on vocals, and you can't beat its gameshow looks!
 
Harvey Gerst said:
They're also not as susceptable to mic handling, wind noise, or diaphragm "popping". And their inherently flatter response makes them easier to EQ.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm going to just slightly hi-jack the thread. If someone could educate me here, I would appreciate it! I have a pair of M-Audio Solaris multipattern LDC's. They have (obviously) cardiod, figure 8, and omni pattern options. Now as I understand it, the omni characteristics in a multi-pattern mic is not exactly the same as in a true omni mic. Something to do with pressure gradients and whatnot that I have yet to really understand.

Anyway, would my mics have the wind noise rejection of omni's or would they still be susceptable to it on the level of a cardiod? Thanks!
 
sile2001 said:
Sorry, I'm going to just slightly hi-jack the thread. If someone could educate me here, I would appreciate it! I have a pair of M-Audio Solaris multipattern LDC's. They have (obviously) cardiod, figure 8, and omni pattern options. Now as I understand it, the omni characteristics in a multi-pattern mic is not exactly the same as in a true omni mic. Something to do with pressure gradients and whatnot that I have yet to really understand.

Anyway, would my mics have the wind noise rejection of omni's or would they still be susceptable to it on the level of a cardiod? Thanks!
Click to expand...
They can still have some residual proximity effect if you get in really close, but the wind noise in omni mode will be reduced, compared to cardioid mode.

Multipattern mics emulate pure pressure omnis, by combining back to back cardioid patterns, but they're just two pressure gradient capsules that can mimic (to a degree) a pure pressure omni.
 
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