Thanks, Chessrock! (ECM8000 as a tamb mic.)

[cominginsecond]

Hey Chessrock,

I read your post a few weeks back where you stated that the "ECM8000 is worth the price of admission" as a tamborine mic. I took your advice and got the best tamborine tracks of my life. Much better, IMHO, than the MXL 603 or Oktava MC012, because it doesn't have that annoting thud that happens when the hit the tamborine really hard with your hand (I assume because there's no proximity effect on the Behringer.) Anyway, just wanted to give a shout out to Chess. Thanks!

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

Which by coincidence is the exact same recommendation Harvey Gerst posted on this forum several months ago when I asked him which mic he would recommend for recording tamburine.
He also added that it should be miced from above, due to the risk of people not being able to hold their distance to the mic properly. So, in order to achieve an even volume throughout the song, you mic from above with the tamburine swaying side to side at equal height.

 

[chessrock]

I'll go a step further and recommend two ecm8000's on either side of a manequin head (or something of similar size/shape as a human head), panned hard Right/Left. Sort of a makeshift binaural head gives the most realistic stereo image I can think of. I'm not a huge fan of binaural micing, but I love it on tambo and shaker for some reason.

 

[bleyrad]

omnis for binaural?

does that actually work? i thought you'd need something with a bit for focussed of a pattern... especially considering how close together the mics are.

 

[chessrock]

Think about it -- if your ears were mics, what kind of behavior would they exibit? Do they have to be pointed right at the sound source in order to hear it okay moreless?

I swear, some of you guys had to have been dropped on your heads at birth. (Not talking specifically about you, Bley . . . just a few other posts I've seen by a few characters in the other forums lately )

 

[bleyrad]

of course not, but binaural recording end up coming out of speakers (in a typical listening environment), not headphones, so the properties of the stereo field are completely different than what a "real human head" would hear.
if you're reasonably far from a sound source, placing two omni mics within a foot of each other yields almost no stereo seperation - probably just phase problems, if anything. i understand that the properties of sound will be a bit different for each because of the physical head placed between them, but because it's being played back on speakers, it doesn't end up being anything like your ears would hear it... right?

that's why i question the use of omnis... it seems to me that at least a really wide cardiod would help offset the stereo seperation problem.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

And that's exactly why there's a technique using a device called the Jecklin disc that has two omnis spaced about a foot apart with a large disc mounted between them.

 

[chessrock]

i understand that the properties of sound will be a bit different for each because of the physical head placed between them, but because it's being played back on speakers, it doesn't end up being anything like your ears would hear it... right?

Well, just the fact that anything is being played back on speakers would pretty much mean it wouldn't be like your ears would hear it, don't 'ya think? That doesn't mean it isn't still a pretty cool effect with very realistic stereo placement (when used sparingly on a tamborine track). So long as you don't try to get all freaky and use it on every track.