vocal mic position

[griff71177]

For a ribbon mic with a figure 8 pic up pattern, would i be ok with pointing the mic right at me when I record to use both sides of the mic or should it be up and down? Just wondering if anybody has had different results with different setups.

[ThatSoundsWHAMMY]

Originally Posted by griff71177

For a ribbon mic with a figure 8 pic up pattern, would i be ok with pointing the mic right at me when I record to use both sides of the mic or should it be up and down? Just wondering if anybody has had different results with different setups.

I'm not too sure what you mean but under normal circumstances you would only want to sing into one of the two pick-up zones. To positon yourself with 50/50 access to each pick-up zone would place you in the dead zone where most of the sound will be canceled out.

Hope this helps.

[griff71177]

I was thinking that the figure 8 polar pattern would cancel out on the sides of the mic (left and right) but not if it was pointed directly at the sound source (top of the mic). That's what I meant.

...................90 degrees
..........................|
mic..........--------0<) ((((sound source
..........................|
.................180 degrees

Would it still cancel out my vocals? Sorry, just imagine the dots are not there, I tried damn it!!!

[drtechno]

you need to point one capsule face facing you and the other away. a/b which side you want to use facing the subject.
one element is picking up the vocal directly, the other one picks up the vocal as it disperses through the room

a figure 8 mic actually has two pickup capsules, one out of phase to each other. most figure 8 mics have an apparent bright sidie and dark side due to phase difference to distance between the two pickup elements inside the mic.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by drtechno

you need to point one capsule face facing you and the other away. a/b which side you want to use facing the subject.
one element is picking up the vocal directly, the other one picks up the vocal as it disperses through the room

a figure 8 mic actually has two pickup capsules, one out of phase to each other. most figure 8 mics have an apparent bright sidie and dark side due to phase difference to distance between the two pickup elements inside the mic.

The above is wrong and does not answer the original question at all - sorry.

A proper figure-8 microphone - and certainly ribbon figure-8s as in the original question - have a single diaphragm that is open both sides.

Edge-on it is virtually dead. So a single person cannot use both sides at once as he would be in the dead zone.

If you are using a ribbon as a vocal, be very careful as these can be delicate (ideally use a popperstopper).

You *can* have two people singing into one mic - one each side - as has been done by the Beatles - if you want.

Position the mic. as best suits your voice and the acoustics, bearing in mind what the polarity-reversed rear lobe will pick up.

**

To go back to the post I quoted - yes, many condenser fig-8s (but definitely not all) make up the fig-8 by using back-to-back cardioid capsules (mostly in switchable-pattern mics) - but these would not normally have a bright and dark side unless deliberately designed to have such a characterstic, as any effects caused my micro-spacing the diaphragms would effect both sides equally.

[Fletcher]

Originally Posted by griff71177

I was thinking that the figure 8 polar pattern would cancel out on the sides of the mic (left and right) but not if it was pointed directly at the sound source (top of the mic). That's what I meant.

...................90 degrees
..........................|
mic..........--------0<) ((((sound source
..........................|
.................180 degrees

Would it still cancel out my vocals? Sorry, just imagine the dots are not there, I tried damn it!!!

The top of the mic is just another side... give it a try, you'll hear what you're trying to ask about!! [10 seconds of "trying" will trump 10 minutes of reading this thread!!]... in fact, I spent more time typing this post than it will take to try your theory.

Peace.

[griff71177]

Yeah, I guess I'll just have to try it I guess... Thanks for the assist...