dpa (b+k) 4061 (4060), any use in recording studio?

[lowswing]

this is a lavalier mic but with spec almost as good as other dpa omnis! can a pair of this be useful in a normal recording studio?
thanx

[C.Lambrechts]

kinda unconventional maybe but except for that I can't see why not.

Any reason why you would go for miniature mics like that and why not for the other more regular types ?

[djui5]

You could stick it in a stand up bass and see what happens......

[PlugHead]

Originally posted by lowswing
this is a lavalier mic but with spec almost as good as other dpa omnis! can a pair of this be useful in a normal recording studio?
thanx

Guy,

I have a pr. of 4060's, and yes, they do get used from time to time in the studio. As mentioned earlier, they are quite good on acoustic bass, and I will use them for OH's, as well as flute, or other acoustic sources. What I've learned is to use them on louder sources, but not "too" loud (131 dB max for 4060's, 10 dB more for 4061) as their self noise can become an issue if the instrument is too quiet - their self noise is respectable, but way higher than their bigger brothers, and will reveal itself if the source is dead quiet...

All in all, they are a great pr. of mics, tho: I use them often for field use/stereo ambience indoors and outdoors - they are really very nice, and accurate sounding mics.

[lowswing]

thanks all!

[DigitMus]

I keep a couple in the studio, and they do work well for close micing things like acoustic bass, or even acoustic guitar. I made some mounts to stick them right on the instruments - as has been noted, the self noise limits their use at a distance, or on quiet sources. Well worth having at the price - being so small they can go places that are impossible with most microphones.

Scott

Originally posted by C.Lambrechts
Any reason why you would go for miniature mics like that and why not for the other more regular types ?

the mini mics are about $500 a piece arent they? compared to 1600 per for the normal sds they sell...

[jazzbutcher]

I just made use of a pair of DPA 4061's while working on a jazz recording and I was very impressed by them. They caught the low end all the way down below sea level... very impressive. The acoustic bass sounded great through it. They can be good for room/audience mics too....amazingly sensitive it seemed to me.

I did not have any problems with self-noise, but maybe I had them in the right spot to get enough sound going into them all the time. I was using John Hardy pre's with the DPA's...

The weird part is mounting them... I didn't spring for the special DPA mounts and so I just used gaffer tape on the thin mic cable about an inch from the mic itself and taped the cable to a mic clip on a stand. Alas, the XLR adapters for these kind of mics cost about $90/each extra. Still, they are great mics.

-dave

[Gerax]

Hello

I'm resurrecting this thread for a couple of questions.

I'm working with a great violin player from Eastern Europe playing Klezmer/Iddysh music with a quartet and he asked me some suggestions for a mic to use with his violin (precious instrument BTW) for some amplification in live gigs (they'll be touring Russia from the 27th of December); I was thinking about the DPA 4061. Is that miniature condenser up the the quality of the other DPA mics? Considering the price (I warned him that if he wanted quality he would've been prepared to spend a fair bit...but I'm able to get it for around 400€) it seems like a good deal. I'm a bit worried about putting a mic so close to the source, as it has to be mounted directly on the instrument with its mounts: usually classical players aren't used to listen to their sound from that short a distance, they always tell me they think the sound is too scratchy and aggressive (classical musicians... ) but for live use I cannot think of any other methods.
What do you think? Any alternative solutions?

Thanx

L.G.

[klaukholm]

They have now released the Omni version of the lavalier with a flat respose as a regular mic for ca $600.
Check it out on DPA's website as 4090 and 4091

It loooks like it will be a contender.
I cant wait to try one as we use a lot of DPA as it is.

kjetil

[roonsbane]

Hey everyone,


I would recomend you go with the 4060 and not the 4061 as 123db is pretty damn loud and noise is an issue with these small mics. By the way, they are omnis. I have two that I use for things all the time (mostly live). At AES I asked the rep why they even make the 4061 since the 4060 could take such loud levels. He said that 4061 were developed for Nascar so that they could mount them in the engine compartments of the cars during the races. He agreed that 4060's were the way to go for the vast majority of music. I would use them any time you may be worried about confining a players movements by making them stay on mic. Just stick the mic on them and let them move away. I have used them on acoustic bass and acoustic guitars like others here. I also use them hanging on opera's and I have had very good results just sitting them down on the floor in front of cello soloists in orchestral settings. They sound very full like this. I was blown away by how much nicer they are then crown PZM's, which are crap. One interesting anecdote is that the B.S.O. uses these things all the time if they are concerned about camera views. They really sound great for their size!

Cameron

[Gerax]

Hey, thank you for yor feedback, I'll be cheking those out for sure.

I wonder how they'd work as a stereo pair used in front of a full orchestra for video shoots where the director doesn't want me to put any kind of mic stand with long boom arm to hide the view of the cameras...let alone hanging a full size Decca tree , but I guess I'm exagerating this a bit, am I?

L.G.

[PlugHead]

Originally Posted by Gerax

Hello

I'm resurrecting this thread for a couple of questions.

I'm working with a great violin player from Eastern Europe playing Klezmer/Iddysh music with a quartet and he asked me some suggestions for a mic to use with his violin (precious instrument BTW) for some amplification in live gigs (they'll be touring Russia from the 27th of December); I was thinking about the DPA 4061. Is that miniature condenser up the the quality of the other DPA mics? Considering the price (I warned him that if he wanted quality he would've been prepared to spend a fair bit...but I'm able to get it for around 400€) it seems like a good deal. I'm a bit worried about putting a mic so close to the source, as it has to be mounted directly on the instrument with its mounts: usually classical players aren't used to listen to their sound from that short a distance, they always tell me they think the sound is too scratchy and aggressive (classical musicians... ) but for live use I cannot think of any other methods.
What do you think? Any alternative solutions?

Thanx

L.G.

L.G.

Check out dpa's website - not only are the 4060's/4061's made for this type of situation, they have ALL the kit available to mount them on ANYTHING - one is made strictly for mounting on the violin...

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/

MHS6001 is the part accessory

Best of luck!

[krs]

Originally Posted by djui5

You could stick it in a stand up bass and see what happens......

I've done it (live, though not w/ DPA), and if you're looking for MASSIVE bass mayhem that's the way to do it. (Can be EXTREMELY cool for pizzicato and percussion effects YMMV )

[mrhappyballoon]

They are actually pretty cool mics. I ran one on a location along with my other mics just to see what it was like. Not to bad for an ambient pickup, although I would choose others for this purpose. A friend of mine used two for a big band recording. He wanted to get really good isolation in the piano so he put them inside and closed the lid. It sounded much better than I thought it would.