# Mr. Mic



## PepAX7 (Mar 11, 2008)

OKay.... I see this all the time, and I'm just gonna say it.:yikes:

Who came up with the idea that laying a mic... dangling from its cord.... lying on the speaker grill of a guitar amp, keyboard amp, whatever... is technically a good, sound idea.

Now get technical with me here.... The diaphragm of a microphone has a front and back with a voice coil attached in a mag field, similar to a speaker. Some unidirectional mics are very cautious what air (sound) gets to the back of the diaphragm. Ports and the like.

Aren't we defeating the purpose of these ports by placing the mic in high dB, high velocity area? Yea... it works, because of the ports restricting the air, but I wonder if we're really getting the true "tonal" characteristics of the mic.

We all have our mic preferences per application for the "golden tone" and yet we lay this godel mic perpindicular to the capture field.:hissyfit:

OK, Guys... enlighten me. :bigsmile:


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## immortalgropher (Feb 16, 2010)

Dynamic mics are the only ones ya do that with. make sure the diaphragm is pointed at the guitar cab speaker. Works best with e609s and such. If it were a 57 or something, I wouldn't do it.


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## chonc (Jun 9, 2009)

certainly the e609 seems to be the most appropriate mic to hang that way, as the pattern of the mic is designed to go as close as possible to the source.
I imagine that the closest you can get to an amplifier (and thus getting the greatest proximity effect) is actually hanging this microphone to the amp itself.
Not only you get that fat sound from placing the capsule as close to the source as possible, but I guess you also get a big sound from getting actual vibrations from the cable and grille being in close contact with the mic.
As you and Astral point out, hanging a 57 in this position would defeat this purpose, the sound waves would be hitting directly on the ports of the microphone making it sound thinner.
But also remember there are no rights or wrongs in audio, if that is the way you get the sound you imagined... then go for it.


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## Darnstrat (Jan 9, 2010)

AstralPlaneStudios said:


> Dynamic mics are the only ones ya do that with. make sure the diaphragm is pointed at the guitar cab speaker. Works best with e609s and such. If it were a 57 or something, I wouldn't do it.


The 609 is built for that purpose (like the 906). I've done it with a 57 (mostly in live situations - one less mic stand on a cluttered club stage) and it works great. Guarantee you won't hear the difference as opposed to putting the 57 on a stand and pointing it at the same exact spot as close as possible. Of course, I've almost completely switched to using ribbons on guitar amps in the studio and wouldn't do that to a ribbon mic. 

Try it, hear for yourself with a 57.


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## Soundguy1 (Dec 3, 2008)

Darnstrat said:


> The 609 is built for that purpose (like the 906). I've done it with a 57 (mostly in live situations - one less mic stand on a cluttered club stage) and it works great. Guarantee you won't hear the difference as opposed to putting the 57 on a stand and pointing it at the same exact spot as close as possible. Of course, I've almost completely switched to using ribbons on guitar amps in the studio and wouldn't do that to a ribbon mic.
> 
> Try it, hear for yourself with a 57.


I agree, live stage it works, I do it with the an SM57 in a pinch one.


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## PepAX7 (Mar 11, 2008)

Yea, I was talking about dynamic mics. I mean I've even seen some people... (I said people, not engrs) place SM 58's and other cheap vocal mics over amps. Yea, it works ... but to my ears, it don't sound that good.

And yes.. you can channel EQ anything but then we introduce so many phasing issues.. to be mixed together into some kind of audio soup and well..... 

I think sometimes it comes out like split pea soup..... really, really, thick and grainy! :rant:

Pep


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## maikol (Nov 7, 2008)

Yes it should work well with a 57.



> As you and Astral point out, hanging a 57 in this position would defeat this purpose, the sound waves would be hitting directly on the ports of the microphone making it sound thinner.


Sound waves are not light rays (though they do have a lot in common). Lower frequencies will not be bothered by the grill (they will not even "see" it), as their wavelength is much larger than the grill's dimensions.

In fact, every mic tends to become omnidirectional at lower frequencies (even the human ear is!)

Actually, it may even sound fatter (at least less aggressive), as the mic is less sensitive to higher frequencies on its sides (which this time is partly due the the grill's ports)! Have a look at the mic's polar diagram to see what I'm talking about.


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## 0bazooka_joe0 (Mar 22, 2010)

maikol said:


> Yes it should work well with a 57.
> 
> In fact, every mic tends to become omnidirectional at lower frequencies (even the human ear is!)


Which is why when putting a sub in a room (assuming the room is flat) it doesnt matter where you put it. The human ear cannot locate low frequency information like it can higher frequencies. I.E. you when someone calls your name from behind you, you know they're behind you because of the directionality of the human voice (which is around 1k, which subsequently is the loudest perceived frequency as dictated by the fletcher munson curve. Coincidence? Makes sense that the frequency at which we communicate is that which our ears is most sensitive to.) Ever hear the low rumble of a helicopter or airplane in the distance and look up and around for a while before you can find it? case and point. 

what were we talking about again?:scratch:


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## maikol (Nov 7, 2008)

Yup!


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## Weogo (Nov 16, 2010)

"Which is why when putting a sub in a room (assuming the room is flat) it doesnt matter where you put it."

For LIVE audio it does matter where you put a sub.
You want the subs and tops to acoustically combine, and the physically closer they are, they better.
This is why hung arrays of top boxes are often accompanied by hung arrays of subs.

There are compromises with pretty much any sub location, but don't put the top speakers at the front of the hall and the subs at the back!

Thanks and good health, Weogo


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