So what's the deal with room mics?

[chessrock]

Just curious as to why it is that Large Diaphragm condensers are so popular as room mics (? ?)

When you think about it, their characteristics -- tighter pickup pattern, flattering response curves, off-axis response, etc. -- don't exactly come to mind when I think of an ideal room mic.

My initial thoughts would lead me to believe a wide, wide pickup pattern with great off-axis response and an accurate sound would be a little more ideal for picking up the room. I'm thinkinging omnis -- and I actually use the Behringer reference mics and they make me a happy camper.

Just curious, to those of you who prefer LDCs, what is the reasoning and what do you like about them? I feel like experimenting a little on my next session.

Thanks!

 

[littledog]

Nothing wrong with small omnis, i often use earthworks QTC's as room mics, but I also use TLM103's as well. Like anything else, it's a matter of listening and deciding what gives you the sound you want in a particular situation- especially after adding tons of compression (typical in a drum room mic). It's a good question though, as I don't have a theoretical answer - interesting to see how others respond.

But your assumption that large diaphragms have tighter pickup patterns is not necessarily true - as there a multitude of large diaphragm omnis available.

 

[Light]

Just curious as to why it is that Large Diaphragm condensers are so popular as room mics (? ?)

Are They? I like DPA 4006s. Hyper acurate, SDC, omnis. Love `em.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[tubedude]

Well, in most cases the rooms I work in are less than idea, but Istill like that distant mic to fatten things up, so I often would rather have something with a tighter pattern and get less room most of te time. I prefer LDs cause with room mics you just want to color and squash and mangle anyway.

 

[chessrock]

I prefer LDs cause with room mics you just want to color and squash and mangle anyway.

Interesting. Why is that? I'm just curious. Is that to try and make the room sound more flattering?

 

[tubedude]

Well, this is just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt...
but in all reality, sound, at least to me, takes time to develop and "swell" if you will. I think room mics sound better by themselves on some stuff, BUT... they almost always lack the attack that you need to make it cut through, therefore the close mics. And since you are really using the room mics to thicken up the close mics, why not just make the room mics huge and thick so that they serve thier purpose even better? Its a common practice to use a dirty colored compressor on room mics and squash the living bejeezus out of them, and then run them through sansamps and vintage warmers or pound them to tape really hard. They seem to do t hier thing better that way. At least for rock, which is my ballpark. And a LD is generally more colored than most SD, to me.
Peace.

 

[Shailat]

I choose the mic and not the size for color but....

If you are going for a more direct sound then a small would be probably better for a more acurate sound. When I am going for a room sound (were I like the room itself) then I prefer a large as it will capture the room better then a small. Since say on a kit you have OH's and it's close miced I'll use a large LD which will capture the room. If I don't like the room itself then I tend to aim a SD towards the kit for ambience.

This is my logic but I could be wrong. I tend to use a mic for its color and worry less about the size. I like some ribbon mics.

 

[littledog]

The logic behind highly compressing the room mics is so that the effect of blending them in is apparent on both loud and soft sections of the music. Otherwise, on soft parts, the room mic would tend to disappear.