"cameronproaudio"
Post by Phil Allison"cameronproaudio"
I agree. Vocalists with powerful voices & great mic technique can make
pretty much any mic sound good. For vocalists with poor projection and mic
technique, nothing works well. A SM58 with a relatively forgiving pattern
will be as good as it gets most of the time. Putting an expensive mic with a
hyper cardioid pattern on poor mic users will usually make matters much
worse as they go off axis or put their mouths too far from the mic.
** Spot on.
When I initially setup for multi-band shows that's I'm not familiar with,
I'll start out with an Audix OM6 which is much better for GBF than the 58
and sounds better than a 58 *if* the vocalist knows how to use it correctly.
Otherwise it gets swapped for 58 immediately.
** There are many myths surrounding vocal mic's ability to pick out a voice
from background sound and hence avoid acoustic feedback. While there are
special twin capsule "noise cancelling" mics, we are not considering them
here.
1. Polar pattern.
2. Proximity effect.
3. Distance between the diaphragm and the top of the mic.
Omni mics have no directionality and no proximity effect, so are unable to
discriminate against background sound.
Cardioids have both, so sounds originating close to the mic and in front get
a big benefit - particularly male voices.
Supercardioids have more proximity effect than regular cardioids - so they
have an extra edge.
Point 3 is normally overlooked, but is often the crucial difference between
one mic and other similar ones.
The SM58, with its spherical grill, has a 27mm gap from diaphragm to the
top
of the grille.
Mics with flat top grilles can have rather less, perhaps as little as 10 mm.
A 17mm difference can account for 6dB to 8dB of extra level, if the singer
uses it.
Yes indeed, the capsule distance is the "trick" the Audix is relying on for
their GBF, especially on the their OM7 model along with the polar pattern.
The damn capsule is almost touching the foam on the inside of the grill
which has a big downside. I went out on a tour with Pearl Jam as a fill-in
monitor tech for a month and the OM7 is their vocal mic of choice due to
loud stage volume and very loud monitors. Because of the OM7's capsule to
grill distance being so shallow, the lead vocal mic had to be changed 2x
during the show: once half way through the set, once again before the
encore. Otherwise a bridge of spittle would form between the foam and
capsule screen resulting in a very "honky" sound.
** The OP said he had one of these and liked it:
http://www.electrovoice.com/product.php?id=87
A very flat topped, supercardioid - even has an easily removed grille for
cleaning.
The "more GBF" claim is misleading with any such mic, as there is no
difference in max usable settings on the desk.
It's all about those last 17 mm !!!
.... Phil