A good but small mic?

[AndreBlanks]

I was wondering what you guys consider a good but decently small microphone suitable for if you had to sneak it into a venue? Thanks.

[raintheory]

Here is a good place to look:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...tegory/110/mics

They have a good variety and price range. You definitely will want binaural mics so that you have some stereo separation in your recordings.

[A440]

Here is a good place to look:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...tegory/110/mics

They have a good variety and price range. You definitely will want binaural mics so that you have some stereo separation in your recordings.

Ditto on Sound Professionals. Very reliable, very good prices. Even the bottom of the line BMC-2, which are the size of pencil erasers, sound good, especially when you run them into Line-in through this little gizmo:

http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm

Microphone Madness, although of course you'd never guess from the name, also has a lot of microphones.

At both sites, you'll see two kinds of mics: Cardioids, which are directional, and Omnidirectional, also known as omni or binaural.

I prefer omnis for three reasons:

1) cheaper ones have better bass response than cheap cardioids

2) more flexibility: you don't have to be pointing them directly at your sound source

3) more three-dimensional soundstage: heard through headphones, some cardioids sound as if there's nothing behind you, just a weird void

However, if you want to record exclusively what's in front of you, and cut out sound from behind and around you, then cardioids are preferable.

Croakies mounts fit into elastic eyeglasses holders, placing the mics right where your ears are (assuming you wear glasses or have a dummy pair), for a good stereo effect. You can also get mics mounted in innocent-looking headphones.

Search this site for "stealth" for more tips.

Edited January 11, 2007 by A440

[AndreBlanks]

. . . especially when you run them into Line-in through this little gizmo:

http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm. . .

I feel like an idiot asking this, but I'm going to anyways just to make sure. When they say battery/FILTER--that also means the batt. box includes a bass-roll off filter? Thanks.

[A440]

When they say battery/FILTER--that also means the batt. box includes a bass-roll off filter?

A reasonable question.

It looks like they call everything in that category a battery/filter module, even if there's no bass roll-off. Then the description usually explains that there's no bass filtering. The mini classic, which I use, has no filter. The CBM-1 description explains it has no filter: "This battery module which has no bass roll off (bass reduction) is recommended were the recorded sound has little to moderately loud bass content."

I don't think a bass roll-off filter is necessary or desirable. Bass roll-off may possibly be useful for recording through the mic input, which has a preamp that overloads with any significant bass. But recording into Line-in, which is what you'd be doing with the battery module, you are much less likely to overload from bass. In fact, if you do overload from bass, it's probably the mic itself overloading, which the bass filter won't affect (because it's later in the chain).

Unless you know exactly how bass-heavy your concert is going to sound, and unless you can adjust the bass roll-off to the right frequency, bass roll-off will make your recording sound weak and tinny. It is better to get a good, full-frequency recording and then--if it's really bass-heavy--equalize the recording afterward.

You can get much more flexibility with an editing program than you can with a bass filter. And you can't restore the bass if you've filtered it out before it's recorded.

[greenmachine]

A typical BB (battery box) contains a condenser for each channel to filter out / prevent DC (direct current) fro the battery entering the recorder's input jack. But, depending on the size of the condenser, it will also filter some AC (alternating current). When using a relatively large condenser (>≈1µF), the cut off frequency will be set below the audible range (<≈20Hz)*.

So, what's the point? There's pretty much always a filter present, sometimes it's audible, sometimes it's not - this might be the reason why they call all their modules battery/filter.

(*)

< = smaller than

> = greater than

≈ = approximately

Edited January 13, 2007 by greenmachine

[joteo]

Sorry to crash, but since you're talking about the battery module, I've got a question.

The Battery modules only mention not overloading the mic-in amp for loud sounds and it also increases the dynamic range correct?

So will it help with soft volumes if you wanted to use a mic on line-in?

Thanks

joanne

Edited January 14, 2007 by joteo

[greenmachine]

A BB does not preamplify, you will get much quieter recordings via the line-in, which is useful for loud sounds (no preamp overload), but less useful for quiet sounds (low levels, noisier after normalization). An increased dynamic range does not necessarily mean a higher output, but because of the higher voltage, the mic can handle louder sounds with less distortion (only important when recording loud sounds via line-in, the preamp/mic-in usually overloads sooner than the mic itself).