Jazz on 3 -- BBC Radio

[Remoteness]

Digital Primatives:

Here's Robert and Randy again with the band during setup.

I also took a picture of Digital Primatives hanging out after the show.

[roonsbane]

Hey Steve,

I see you are using the tlm49 on trumpet. What else have you used it on and what is it working and not working for you on. How would you compare it to say a KSM32. I do like ksm32's on jazz trumpet much of the time, especially with a more natural preamp (grace/millenia). I have not liked them as much with API's though I say that often on acoustic sources. I am a big fan of KSM 32's and 44's on trumpet and sax especially for the money. Are these new neumanns really worth more than twice the money?

By the way, I bought a second Beyer m160 just to check it out on drum overheads. You have to cut the hell out of the 600Hzish range or cymbals all sound very thick, but I see why you dig them. Man the isolation is incredible and they are very smooth! I was using them through an ATI MX8. I have a big location jazz session later this week. I plan on using them in XY since I plan on panning them to the same place.

Thanks for your input.

Cameron

[Remoteness]

Cameron,

Yeah, I’ve used TLM49 on horns. I’ve used them on vocals too. We’ve also set one up over a set of drums at Larry’s Deepwave Studio in LIC, NY during the New York Chapter Gearslutz get together the end of last year. I feel that mic is very workable…

Keep in mind, I usually don’t follow trends. I threw the mic up in front of the trumpet and a few different saxes and it sounded good to me. I brought a selection of other mics as a backup just in case the TLM49s didn’t do the trick. For the money, it’s a very nice mic.

I can almost make any mic work so, it’s a hard question to answer. Sometimes it’s easier to change the mic out. Other times a bit of EQ does the trick. And, sometimes it could be the mic/preamp combination that’s not working. I can go on and on about this.

I cannot compare the TLM49 with a KSM32 because the KSM32 is a small diaphragm microphone. From what I understand, it’s basically an SM81 in a different body. Furthermore, I never tried a KSM32 on trumpet. When applicable, I like them on acoustic piano, EGTR and percussion.

The KSM44 from what I heard is a completely different mic from the KSM32.

Whether they’re worth the bread is a hard question to answer because I would not consider KSM32 in the same league as the TLM49.

How high over the drums did you place those M60s? I keep them as high over the drums as possible. I really don’t have the same issues about EQ with them.

I’m not sure if I said what you wanted to hear, but in any case I hope this helped a little bit.

Originally Posted by roonsbane

Hey Steve,

I see you are using the tlm49 on trumpet. What else have you used it on and what is it working and not working for you on. How would you compare it to say a KSM32. I do like ksm32's on jazz trumpet much of the time, especially with a more natural preamp (grace/millenia). I have not liked them as much with API's though I say that often on acoustic sources. I am a big fan of KSM 32's and 44's on trumpet and sax especially for the money. Are these new neumanns really worth more than twice the money?

By the way, I bought a second Beyer m160 just to check it out on drum overheads. You have to cut the hell out of the 600Hzish range or cymbals all sound very thick, but I see why you dig them. Man the isolation is incredible and they are very smooth! I was using them through an ATI MX8. I have a big location jazz session later this week. I plan on using them in XY since I plan on panning them to the same place.

Thanks for your input.

Cameron

[roonsbane]

Hey steve,

Thanks for your input.

It's funny, I would actually consider them to be more of an anti trend kind of mic. Has shure ever made a trendy mic? You almost never hear anyone recommending them outside Tom Young who swears by them. It's just really dependable. I have used them in front of big bands as a front solo mic, and every instrument that walks up to it, just sounds natural. It actually has a 20mm diaphram that I think is not the same as the one in the SM81. I am generally not a big fan of SDC's on any horns. The KSM44 does have a different diaphram entirely. Still when we did blind shootouts with 11 mics: Beyer M160, Neumann u89, Royer 121, KSM32, KSM44, 421, Manley Ref. Cardioid, SM57, MXL 990, Audio technica 4047, Rode NT1A, listeners generally had a hard time listing a preference between the two shures and they they were both well liked by all. I think it was pretty universal that the two sounded the most similar of any of those mics. The three of us engineers, the players and some of our students weighed in. A/D was Prism Dream A/D, preamp was ATI 8MX2. We recorded Trumpet, Bone and Alto sax. Generally the manley was the favorite by almost everyone. Funny enough, the sax player loved the cheap MXL 990 on his sax and ended up buying one. This thing came free when my co-worker bought his set of M149's. It cost like $69.00. The other funny thing, we asked everyone that came in the room which was the most expensive looking mic and everyone said the MXL990. We ended up buying three KSM32's and a stereo pair of KSM44's

We were talking about beyer M160's not m60's? I will try them higher. I had them in front of the kit about chin high, pointing at the snare. The cymbals were held very low to the kit. They were probably two feet from the first cymbal. Really just spots to a main pair. It's the smooth top end that I appreciated. They do take EQ very well and I loved the finished product. So you use them pretty much flat?

Cheers
Cameron

[Remoteness]

Cameron,

Thanks for the post!

Yes, perhaps it is more of an anti trend kind of mic on GS.

Well, the SM58 and SM57 is a trend, but maybe not trendy? Hey, I’ve used SM58s for trumpet with great success. I’ve even seen them on band riders.

Yes, We were actually talking about M160s and not M60s, that was a typo on my part. I usually do not place the M160s in front of the drum kit. I have place it in my “over the drummer’s right shoulder sweet spot area when we really needed the isolation of other instruments.

Agreed, that smooth top end of the M160 is what I value so much. And, they do take EQ well. I cannot say I use them flat because I usually push or pull frequencies whenever necessary.