using condenser & dynamic simultaneously

[Secret Clubhous]

If I have only 2 xlr inputs & 1 phantom power switch for the both of them, is there any safe way to record w/both a condenser & dynamic mic at the same time?
Would this be possible w/an external preamp on one of them?

 

[bigwillz24]

If I have only 2 xlr inputs & 1 phantom power switch for the both of them, is there any safe way to record w/both a condenser & dynamic mic at the same time?

Turn off +48v on the MIC Input you plan to use with the Dynamic.

What are you scared of? Is someone standing there with a gun to your head if the recording comes out wrong? No...? Then it's safe...

Would this be possible w/an external preamp on one of them?

Yes and it is quite common to do so....

 

[travelin travis]

phantom power won't hurt your dynamic mic, just leave it on.

 

[ermghoti]

Plug in your mics first, then turn on the phantom, turn off the power before unplugging, and you won't hurt any modern mic that I know of. Some of the older ribbons can be cooked by phantom power, IIRC.

 

[David Katauskas]

As mentioned above, there shouldn't be any issues with a dynamic and phantom power.
There may be a problem with response phasing (I forget the technical term) when using both a dynamic and condenser together. Since the condenser can react quicker than a dynamic, the waveforms sent to you mixer will be out of synch, Thus a slight delay in the dynamic signal will occur (also depends on mic position). Just be sure to re-align in your sequencer after you're done tracking.

 

[scrubs]

Yep, what David said. I wouldn't recommend doing this often (recording one voice with two mics), as it can get messy in the phasing department, but sometimes it's nice for an effect. I recorded a song that had some spoken passages and singing, so I used an RE20 and a Rode NT1 simultaneously. The results were pretty good. I did have to manually align the wave forms in Cubase, though.

 

[mrface2112]

i do this all the time with my RE38 and and LDC (usually my dragonfly or v67).

as long as the diaphragms on both mics are very close together and are the same distance from the source, you shouldn't have too much of a phasing problem. still, you might want to make sure you line up the wavforms, like scrubs said.

i do this b/c i get the "best of both worlds". i really like the meat and tone of the RE38 on my voice (which constitutes the majority of the vocal sound), and i get the sparkle of the LDC (brought up just enough so that you don't notice it, but would miss it when it's gone).


cheers,
wade

 

[bigtoe]

"i do this b/c i get the "best of both worlds"."

agreed - a coles and a 451 or a coles and a um70 on vocals...wow.

Mike

 

[Secret Clubhous]

well, thanks for all your input. I have heard elsewshere that doing this could damage the mics, that's all I'm "afraid of." The dynamic is an sm58. & yeah, it could definitely be used as a fattening effect--all that & no calories too! --on one sound soure.

Would the same principles apply to instrument micing w/a small condenser & a dynamic as well as vocals w/a LDC? would the x-y position (jeez, sounds x-rated! be best to avoid phasing issues, same as using 2 small condensers together?

actually, I was wondering about using the 2 kinds of mics simultaneously on 2 different sound sources. I realize the dynamic's signal will have to be boosted considerably to balance w/the condenser signal. Anything else I should be aware of?