Sony ECM-CS10 stereo business microphone

[MZ-1]

Hello,

I use a Sony ECM-CS10 business stereo microphone for live recording and it works for me very well.

1. <<<--- STEREO --->>>

2. Incredibly small.

3. Small clip can double as a stand, clever design.

4. Cord is nylon covered and is very durable.

5. Decent sound, in my view.

6. Not too expensive (less than $50USD).

7. Metal construction.

8. Can use power from the recorder.

Paul

[The Low Volta]

hi, thanks for sharing your views... I firmly believe it is useful and interesting to learn about ppl's ideas/experiences, but I do have a few remarks about using that mic (please do not take this personal! I just would like to point a few things out so you might even improve your recordings...)

according to the specs provided by minidisco:

- it is a single point stereo mic which means the stereo image is rather limited. A stereo mic with two separate elements provides a better stereo soundpicture

- it uses two opposing unidirectional elements to reach a sort of stereo omnidirectional pick up pattern. This could be nice for meetings with the mic in the centre, but for music coming mainly from upfront I doubt it is preferable... I would recommend two omni elements with a physical separator (like a head) in between

- like most Sony mics it has a frequency response of 100 - 16,000Hz. As the human ear can hear 20 - 20,000Hz, you should realize that you are missing out on a lot of info with this mic. The relatively 'high' lower limit will be usefull as some sort of bass cut off in boomy clubs, but the info is simply missing from the recording and can never be restored...so I would prefer eq'ing afterwards during playback to remove excessive bass from the listening experience...

So for recording meetings, lectures etc. this would seem like a nice mic (I use the mono version for interviews/lectures etc. myself) but I would definitely think about other options for recording music.

At $50 it isn't really expensive... but for that amount of money you already have a SoundPro SP-BMC-2 (which surely is much better suited for music, just check A440's recordings in the gallery section) and still have some money left for a few beers at the venue you want to record

If you are a bit handy and know how to solder, just look up greenmachine's instructions for DIY-mics and you have a pair of stereo mics that will even outperform the SP-BMC-2's for close to no money at all

both options mentioned above (the SoundPro or the DIY mics) can be as small as 2x the Sony size (two pencil tip eraser sized elements) which is still ideal for those moments you do not like the mic to be easily noticable

so no offence, but I think you could do a lot better for $50 if your main idea is recording music... actually I think you could always do better than a Sony mic, even when not mainly interested in recording music...

just my opinions though...feel free to disagree

[MZ-1]

No offense here!

The CS10 does have its limitations and to get good separation it needs to be up close. Still, I am surprised by the sonic results (Sony spec's the mic at 50Hz - 16kHz) and it passed a pat down check.

So, I sort of feel lucky with it!

Some years ago, I built and tried the separate microphone method and while the sonic results were quite good it just seemed too cumbersome and conspicuous with the wires. It sort of took away from the concert experience. Maybe I'll try a build another pair.

With the CS10 -- it's clip and pretty much forget.

Paul

[The Low Volta]

you really should look into greenmachine's tips for building and hiding the mics

that way even binaural recording can become easy and stealthy, eventhough I do not know whether the mics (well the cables on your back more likely) wouldn't be noticed in a patdown (I have inserted a pair of greenmachine's mics in existing croakies so I can remove them at the entrance, smuggle them in and attach them later...