Topic: Stxxxth microphones (besides omni's)

[George]

I always see miniature omni's, but what about cards, hypers, etc?   I have a pair of Countryman B3's and would like to compliment them with a pair of lavalier-like cards and hypers as well for a reasonable price.   The at853's I have are a bit too heavy to be clipped onto a t-shirt, pair of glasses and so on.   I see the church audio stuff, but I'd like something of a higher caliber, if there's anything out there. 

[hi and lo]

Simple physics places limitations on how small a high quality pressure gradient (i.e. directional) microphone can be made. It's easy to make a miniature pressure transducer (omni), but not so much a directional microphone.

[shadowfax1007]

I run SP-CMC-2(AT831) stealth, clipping them onto a bag or my shirt. I don't run them in super stealth situation, but in situations where I know I won't be see (very dark, big crowd, festivals, etc) they are easy to use and pull excellent results. They are smaller than a lot of other stealth cards people use, and still people excellent, if not better results. Added bonus is you can attach AT853 caps to them

[fandelive]

I run MM-HLSC-1 (with 4.7k mod). Here are two samples from a hard-rock show recorded in a club :

soft part : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZF2LOHB7
loud part : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IA23YLXC

Location : 10th row, extreme right side of the room (so not the sweet spot), mics above a noisy and bouncing crowd.

And another one for people that keep saying MM-HLSC-1 lack of bass : http://hotfile.com/dl/107495444/2ee241d/Labor_of_Love.mp3.html
(BTW, this is a full song by an open taping rock band called "The Gracious Few")

Location : 4th row, dead center. Mics on hat.

The best advice I could give you is to get a few shows recorded with different stxxxtl cards and make your own mind.
Stxxxth tapers popular choices are said to be SP-CMC-8, MM-HLSC-1 and CA-14.

[Seth01]

I use CA-11 cards very frequently and have run with the CA-14 cards for an entire festival season and have to say that they give excellent pulls and are about as stxxlthy as they get for cards. 

[achalsey]

I use CA-11 cards very frequently and have run with the CA-14 cards for an entire festival season and have to say that they give excellent pulls and are about as stxxlthy as they get for cards.

While I love my -14s they're not exactly really 007.  Clipped onto a pair of glasses or something you might get some funny looks.

[Seth01]

I use CA-11 cards very frequently and have run with the CA-14 cards for an entire festival season and have to say that they give excellent pulls and are about as stxxlthy as they get for cards.

While I love my -14s they're not exactly really 007.  Clipped onto a pair of glasses or something you might get some funny looks.

Agreed but how much smaller can cards get?  I have Chris Churches CAFS's and as omni's, I don't think they get much smaller than that - about the size of a grain of rice each.  As hi & lo mentioned, cards are limited in how small they can get.  I run 4 channels so I frequently record with 2 pairs of CA-11's (cards & omnis) stuck on a hat with a piece of acoustically transparent cloth over them - makes me look a bit silly but does the job and is quite invisible.

[nicegrin]

If size is a big matter and you find the AT853 (SP-CMC-4U) too big, the only smaller good quality card or hyper I can think of is the SP-CMC-8 (AT934s).

All other options (MM HLSC-1, Audix 1280, Church CA-11/14,...) are about the same size but a little bit bigger than SP CMC-8...

All mics mentioned above are surely very st***hable for sure...

 

 

[ashevillain]

There is also the SP-CMC-25 which I haven't seen anyone around here using but there are a few recordings on the LMA.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=sp-cmc-25%20AND%20collection%3Aetree

The specs are very similar to the SP-CMC-8, although almost the same size as well...slightly smaller diameter, probably not enough to make a difference

[WiFiJeff]

DPA 4081 Supercardioids (I actually have the 4099s cut out of their mounts, the 4081 is a better way to go now) fit in a croakie.  They even fit in a croakie with a pair of DPA omnis along side, which allows you to record 4-track and then mix the bass from the omnis with the cardioids.  I have been doing this for over two years and I don't know anything small that comes anywhere near this.  Alone, the 4081/4099s are the best sounding small directional mics I have heard (I've tried MM, AT, SP, others too).

Jeff

[mfrench]

i get so horny when people start talking about stealth!

[ashevillain]

i get so horny when people start talking about stealth!

[Belexes]

Go big or go home. I like the CA-14's and AT853's for 007 work.

There are other ways to run these short of putting them on glasses, which just screams HI I'M RUNNING AUDIO PLEASE BUST ME.

[George]

Go big or go home. I like the CA-14's and AT853's for 007 work.

There are other ways to run these short of putting them on glasses, which just screams HI I'M RUNNING AUDIO PLEASE BUST ME.

Well yeah, I seriously never clip them to my eyeglasses.  Just looking for something that has "better" sound quality and smaller.   

hi and lo pretty much answered my question   

[George]

I run MM-HLSC-1 (with 4.7k mod). Here are two samples from a hard-rock show recorded in a club :

soft part : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZF2LOHB7
loud part : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IA23YLXC

Location : 10th row, extreme right side of the room (so not the sweet spot), mics above a noisy and bouncing crowd.

And another one for people that keep saying MM-HLSC-1 lack of bass : http://hotfile.com/dl/107495444/2ee241d/Labor_of_Love.mp3.html
(BTW, this is a full song by an open taping rock band called "The Gracious Few")

Location : 4th row, dead center. Mics on hat.

The best advice I could give you is to get a few shows recorded with different stxxxtl cards and make your own mind.
Stxxxth tapers popular choices are said to be SP-CMC-8, MM-HLSC-1 and CA-14.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up and post some links, the loud part sample sounded great!