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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: caitjim on October 25, 2018, 02:10:47 PM
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I'm going to buy some mics from Coresound. They have advised me to get Binaurals but I thought Cardiods were better at ignoring unwanted sound to the side and rear? I'm very new to all this so any advice is appreciated. I mostly recorded at smallish venues, folk, blues, rock etc. I use a Tascam DR-40
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Get some AT853 instead and you can change mic capsules to cardiod.omni,hyper.
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Get some AT853 instead and you can change mic capsules to cardiod.omni,hyper.
To the OP, here is a source for the AT853 (if you can't find any used in the Yard Sale): https://www.soundprofessionals.com
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Thank you both. Ill look into it.
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There are a pair of CA14s in the Yard Sale right now for $60. You might want to consider those.
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Yes, you want cardioids over binaurals if you're concerned about cutting out chatty crowds (or room echo).
Having used the Core Sounds cards, the CA-14 cards, and AT-853 cards, I can tell you that the latter two make much better recordings. The Core Sounds binaurals have nice enough sound, but their cards are really tinny compared to the others.
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Thanks all. Had a look for the CA14s in Yardsale and cant see them. I'll keep looking.
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http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=188354.0 (I have no affiliation here...just passing this along)
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Just to make it clear if it wasn't: the 'binaural' CS mics are just omnis. I half assume that is understood, but the pedant in me is just slightly rubbed the wrong way calling them 'binaural mics.' Sounds weird. (I know thats what CS calls them.)
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Get some AT853 instead and you can change mic capsules to cardiod.omni,hyper.
+1 AT's are my go-to mics now. No worries at all.
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achalsey, in every case and situation I have ever heard of, binaural recording is done with pressure transducers, which would be omnidirectional if they were in a free sound field. Placing them in artificial "ear canals" within a dummy head has a number of significant effects on their response. But such placement would make no sense at all for directional microphones, which require two sound inlets per microphone to be exposed to the sound field.
--best regards
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Right, but it's mostly the recording set up itself that makes it 'binaural' not the mic (besides, as you say, specifically using omni pressure transducers).
Trying to decide between a card and a 'binaural' for audience recording doesn't make sense. I do understand the potential stretch to say they're meant to be used for stealth recording in a faux 'binaural' set up only, but even then they're still just omnis outside of the specific baffle setup.
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Thanks all.
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achalsey, sorry I didn't see your posting right away; we are mostly saying basically the same things, but you did it more clearly than I did.
Agreed: If someone is actually selling individual, omni microphones as "binaural", that's not the kind of marketing I can respect. They can maybe be an ingredient for a binaural setup, but they themselves aren't binaural.