Topic: When to use cards & when to user hypercards?

[fanofthemule]

I apologize if there's a thread dedicated to this question already, but a search didn't yield much.

When do you use cards and when do you use hypercards?  My most typical set up is in a venue between 20-25 feet from the stage front of board center.  Which caps should I be using from this close up?

I'm using AKG480 bodies with the ck61 & ck63 caps.  I just purchased some MBHO's w/ the card caps and want to figure out if I'll need the hyper caps.

[datbrad]

If you are keeping your 480s, you already have what is arguably the best sounding hyper cap made.

I typically use mine at about 10-15% of the shows I record each year. For my tastes, hypers work best when you are either farther from the source than you would be if you had a choice, such as behind the SBD, or in cases where a venue sounds like shit with too boomy base and you need something to clean it up.

Sometimes, the clarity of a PA mix is found with the combination of direct to reverberant sound working with the accoustics of the hall, and hypers can sometimes cut too much out and kill the imaging. Other times, the room accoustics suck and hypers cut through the mud to grab more of the direct sound from the PA.

One thing I can guarantee. You will sometimes use cards and later wish you ran hypers, and other times it will be the reverse. This to me is the main justification for running 4 channel. Not to mix them, but to have both options going and no regrets later.

Good Luck!

[grider]

I run 483 in small or very chatty smaller venues, 481's for everything else, I am learning that the cardiod cap is really the universal cap to use, hypers for occasional use and omni's for outdoor and on stage use

[fanofthemule]

thanks for the feedback, +t's

i ran the cards last night and think they sound a little better from the fob location

[cybergaloot]

Other times, the room accoustics suck and hypers cut through the mud to grab more of the direct sound from the PA.

I record mostly in a small rowdy juke joint with hard walls and the hypercards I have (SP C4s approx 25' from stage) cut through the crowd noise and the unwanted room reverberation quite nicely. You loose a bit of the bottom end though.

[grider]

also, yes, in a boomy or otherwise poor sounding room the hypers have the best chance of making a decent recording, no doubt about it

[cybergaloot]

Loosing some of the bottom end isn't always a bad thing because it seems that most bands/sound men exaggerate that end now anyways. I think we are getting a whole lot more low end now than we got 20 years ago (yeah I know, I'm old). Of the recordings I've made with the hypers, very few of them sound like they need some eq adjustments IMHO.

[RobertNC]

Obviously everyone agrees that as your location and room become less favorable, hypers become a better choice.  But even in a good room in a good location there may be times when you might want to run hypers.  For example, if I was in the sweet spot in a good small theater taping something like progressive electric bluegrass, eg RRE, I would go cards.  Same room, same spot, for someone like Phil Lesh or Gov't Mule, I would definitely consider hypers, just because even in a good room in the sweet spot when Phil or Warren crank it up you are gonna get reverb, and hypers can clean up the sound a little.

Bottom line is IMHO location and room are by far the biggest variables, much more so than patterns and configs.  Tape anyone in the mid orchestra of a venue like Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte and you are gonna pull a sweet recording with either pattern.   Tape anyone in the back of the Beacon under the balcony with a chatty NY crowd, and you'll discover that hypers don't help much and in general there is no miracle microphone pattern that can make salad outta shit...