Old 02-26-2015, 08:39 PM   #1
SaulT
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Default narrow the pickup pattern of a condenser?

Is there anything that you can do to narrow the pickup pattern of a condenser microphone?

I just got an MCA SP1 today with full intention of modding it... then opened it up to find that it was SMD instead of discrete, so that complicates things a little (until I learn how to solder SMD, at least). I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really isn't that bad of a mic, all things considered - typical 8 kHz+ presence boost you find in these types of mics, but it was fairly hot, flat response, and quiet.

Now, I'm not sure if it's a sensitivity thing, quirk of mic construction, or that presence boost, but it picked up more room noise than I'm used to. There are any number of reasons for this - increased sensitivity, the presence boost, some quirk of mic construction, etc, but it got me wondering if there was a way to have the benefits of a condenser's sound but narrow its polar pattern, make it more cardiod than it currently is.

Any thoughts?
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Old 02-27-2015, 01:06 AM   #2
clepsydrae
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As far as i'm aware, the narrowness is more or less purely a function of the capsule construction, so i'm not sure there is any way to do what you describe, aside from swapping in a different capsule.

But, hold the phone: note that the recordinghacks description says that "the capsule is mounted within a brass baffle ring (which affects the cardioid pattern)". I wonder how. Some research on google suggests that it affects the frequency response and polar pattern... looking at pics, seems like it might be possible to remove it and see what effect that has?
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Old 02-27-2015, 01:07 AM   #3
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(i'd wildly guess that removing the baffle would narrow the pattern? maybe more in the highs?)
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Old 02-27-2015, 08:30 AM   #4
drtedtan
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A mic can be made cardioid by either capsule design (blocking the sound coming in from behind the capsule) or by supplying an out of phase copy of the signal coming from behind the capsule to phase cancel it. I don't think either option will be a particularly easy mod, so I would suggest building some movable gobos (OC703 or rockwool) to place around the performer and mic to control how much room you get. You could also try a moving blanket or heavy quilt hung around the performer to block out some of the room sound.
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Old 04-28-2015, 03:49 PM   #5
SaulT
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I wanted to do a follow-up on this post. Sooo I spent a few days trying to figure out why the mic was so quiet and picked up so much room noise, right? Well, it wasn't until I popped open the body a second time and actually looked at the capsule that I realized why... the capsule was installed backwards. I flipped the body around, oriented it properly, and gee it works a lot better now. Sigh.

Admittedly, I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I might. It sounds good on acoustic guitar, but the upper end hype is just a little too much, I get too much sibilance on vocals. Instead I ordered a CAD GXL2200 because it has through-hole circuitry (so at some point I'll get around to swapping components). It had much the same high-end hype, so I swapped the capsule with an RK-47. The output dropped by 5-6 dB but the hype was significantly tamed and it sounds a lot more natural/neutral now.

The SP1 is destined for modding, probably some headbasket mods, maybe a capsule swap. I'm thinking an RK-7, the higher gain of the SP1 should offset the loss of the hyped upper end... we'll see. *shrug*
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Old 04-28-2015, 03:56 PM   #6
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Love it. Reminds me of a friend that saved her pennies to buy an AT4050 and recorded a bunch of stuff... too much room sound... she sent me the recordings and we figured out over email that she was accidentally recording everything through her built-in laptop mic. :-)

My next mic will have the RK12 in it, i think: http://microphone-parts.com/rk12-microphone-capsule/

...maybe worth a look for less-hyped highs? (Note the different vertical axis scale in that graph vs. the RK47 graph).
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Old 04-28-2015, 03:58 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SaulT View Post
I wanted to do a follow-up on this post. Sooo I spent a few days trying to figure out why the mic was so quiet and picked up so much room noise, right? Well, it wasn't until I popped open the body a second time and actually looked at the capsule that I realized why... the capsule was installed backwards. I flipped the body around, oriented it properly, and gee it works a lot better now. Sigh.
Classic that never ceases to be funny. Just be lucky you didn't have it pointed the "wrong" way and were two hours into a session. I've heard that can be uncomfortable.

Quote:
I get too much sibilance on vocals.
That's more a problem with vocal technique than equipment.
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