upside-down vs. right-side-up?

[Digidude824]

Is there some good reason why some people mount some mics upside down? For example just for a singer to use. And not for a figure 8 or omni technique, just 1 single mic in an iso booth for a singer situation; upside down wtf?

 

[DeadPoet]

I think it's about singing technique. When tilting your head down you're kind of blocking the air flow in your throat, when looking just a bit up, air gets to flow better and so it will improve your sound.

I guess...


Maybe...


Don't actually know for sure...


shoot me.


Herwig (humming and moving his head up and down and noticing a different sound)

 

[fprod south]

so you can rock!

 

[Track Rat]

It's a throwback to the days of tube microphones. They'd mount mics upside down so the rising heat from the tube wouldn't cook the mic diaphram.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

That's not really true. The "rising heat" from a tube mic was helpful in keeping the diaphragm dry in high humidity environments and actually prolonged the life of most diaphragms.

There are two reasons for hanging mics upside down in studio situations:

1. It lets the singer see the sheet music or lyrics without getting in the way.

2. It gets the mic out of the air blast from the singer's voice. Most singers tend to produce air blasts on "p"s and "b"s.

If you hold your hand out a little way from your mouth, you'll notice that the air blast is slightly downward rather than straight ahead. Putting the mic higher (around forehead height) can eliminate a lot of the blast so that a windscreen is often unnecessary.

 

[Tomcat]

I do hang my new SP TB-1 upside down but, so far, after 8 hours I can't feel any warmth in the mic housing, so I don't think it's generating much, if any significant heat. I do it, as Harvey says, to get it out of my line of site (I don't memorize lyrics). I also use a pop filter but I do it as much to catch spittle as pops; it's better to go wash off the pop filter after a while (from little bits of moisture coming out of your mouth while singing) than to try washing off the mic!!!!!

Tom

 

[Track Rat]

Possibly an Urban legend. Just what I've always heard.