Topic: Recording indoors & outdoors - omnis or cards?

[AndyLGR]

Which mic types do people use for particular settings? Is it best to use omnis or cards when taping indoors in pubs, clubs, arenas etc. And also for outside taping too.

Which type do people generally use or is it just down to personal preference?

[manitouman]

Everyone will have a personal preference. I like cards indoors and omnis outdoors (open air).

[Belexes]

I like cards indoors and omnis outdoors (open air).

Same here.

[Cyberbio]

My personal prefferences are omnis outdoors, omnis indoor when near the stage, cards when in the middle of the venue... 

[rastasean]

So what about windscreens for outdoor events? Like for CA11 and 14 omni series mics? I have long haired furry ones but are there others that people recommend?

[Will_S]

For little mics, I find dead rats are better than bare windscreens, but they still don't perform as well as a larger windscreen (perhaps with fur over that). You really want to trap some still air around the mics, which is tricky with the little ones.  Maybe see if you can rig something up with a plastic canvas egg (from an arts/craft store, google if you don't know what I am talking about) with fur over that.

That said, with the omnis, a good windscreen may be all you need.  I think the CA11s will fit something like an AT8117, but are the CA14s the same diameter?  The other challenge with mics that small is properly mounting the mic once the whole body is inside a windscreen.

[BayTaynt3d]

I'm with Moke...

The right music, right venue, close-ish location, omnis can rock (narrower split the closer I am, but I tend to never go much wider than a meter).

Bad room, poor location, etc. = cards or hypers (angle and split depending on specific situation).

Now when it comes to wind/outdoors, as someone who lives in SF (can you say always windy), I actually usually prefer cards if a good location and it's a typical PA recording, BUT... Omnis + the big ass sure windscreens = very good wind handling (even without low cut). So around these parts, I tend to fly omnis outdoors, LOL.

Also, if I'm matrixing, and I've got a good feeling about the quality of the SBD, omnis can be really nice for opening up and sweetening the SBD mix.

[run_run_run]

If the indoor venue sounds nice and the crowd is chill, Omnis all the way.

[Church-Audio]

Omni mics have the best chance of capturing a venue "the way it sounded" when you saw the show. BUT omni mics rely on good acoustics... if you have a crappy sounding room you will get a crappy sounding recording. Where as cardioid mics can be aimed at the sound source and used to overcome crappy acoustics in some situations.. There is no set rule but the other issue with omni mics is some form of post production needs to be done usually to the bottom end because with omni mics they tend to pick up the none directional low frequency very well. This creates a bass heavy recording. A bass roll off of around 12 db per octave around 100hz will usually set things back into the proper perspective.

Cardioid mics have the opposite problem they usually lack bottom end or bass. This is because they are directional but low frequency below say 250 is not.  Unless your using Meyer cardioid sub speakers in any event experimentation will often lead to the best results for you. Remember with sound everybody hears differently and its very subjective.. Some people love lots of bass some people dont. I hope that helps.

Chris