The Combine assessment group places the Lauten Audio Snare Mic to the check within the studio for a Actual-World Evaluate.
The Lauten Audio Snare Mic is a specifically designed FET condenser microphone for snare drums. It has a 32mm-diameter capsule with a cardioid polar sample and a 20 Hz to twenty kHz response. It has as much as 28 dB of off-axis sound rejection (when correctly positioned) to attenuate leakage from the remainder of the package (hi-hat and cymbals), or any extraneous sounds within the studio or on dwell phases.
Snare Mic requires +48-volt phantom energy and has a fastidiously tuned frequency response with ultra-high dynamic vary. It’s able to dealing with as much as 135 dB SPL minimal for 0.5% THD. Measuring solely 4.2 inches lengthy, the Snare Mic makes many new placement areas doable—even sometimes impractical placements {that a} drummer may hit.
The included fast begin is a pictorial information with three placement options as beginning positions. In all three positions, the mic is aimed on the middle of the snare drum however angled in levels relative to the horizontal airplane of the snare drum head when stage at 0 levels. The three mic placements/ angles proven are: 20-30 levels, 30-40 levels, and 40-50 levels. The sound obtained when utilizing the mic positioned at these angles is described. Moreover precise positioning, a part of getting snare drum sound contains “shaping”
the sound with the built-in lowpass and highpass filters.
There are a pair of three-position toggle switches on the mic’s physique positioned just under the windscreen. Swap 1 controls the beginning frequency of the highpass filter with Flat, 80 Hz and 140 Hz positions. Swap 2 units the beginning frequency of a lowpass filter to begin rolling off with: Flat, 5 kHz and 12 kHz.
These are easy, 6 dB/octave, low-Q filters that sound nice. Not like an outboard or plug-in filter operating in your DAW, these filters modify the conduct of the mic itself. Numerous mixtures of those two switches really change the microphone’s sensitivity above and under the cutoff frequency, however with out altering the “form” of the polar sample.
IN THE STUDIO
In all studio assessments, we arrange a small drum package and simply 4 mics: kick, snare and L/R condenser overheads. The snare drum was a 6.5 x 14-inch Ludwig Black Magnificence with Remo Management Sound Coated Heads. I used to be all in favour of holding the drum package and participant constant in order to concentrate on the sound of the mic. I additionally needed to verify the close-in Lauten Audio Snare Mic blended properly with the opposite mics for a wonderful total drum sound.
My first check used the 20-30 diploma angle, and this did “enhance crack and prime head snap” as described within the information. Our personal “spin” on this beginning placement was to set the mic about three inches immediately above the rim. Instantly, we bought an ideal sound that often takes two mics (prime and backside) on the drum. Success! The studio has a Trident 88 console with Lundahl mic enter transformers, and solely about 5 to eight dB of mic acquire was required, with no pad or EQ. Except I used to be going for a specific sound, typically the Snare Mic required little or no further EQ.
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I attempted switching in/out the filters on the mic whereas it was linked and up (listening within the headphones) with little or no “pop” heard. This can be a full-range microphone, with a few of the subsonic vitality of the kick drum simply heard. This provides you the choice of eradicating that with HPF, or not. Usually, the 80 Hz or Flat have been good beginning positions.
The information has the filter settings for the “Bleed Decimator,” which makes use of each the 140 Hz highpass and 5 kHz lowpass filters. Initially this sounded excessive, however inside our four-mic setup, a lot of the package’s measurement, “air” and brightness got here from a pair of AKG overhead condensers. I most well-liked utilizing the 12 kHz place for less than barely closing down the air and brightness of the snare drum. This additionally improved any leakage from the hi-hat—even from these hi-hat bashers you might encounter.
The Lauten Snare Mic is a really versatile microphone able to capturing all of the sound out there with good constancy and minimal hi-hat leakage. It affords some ways to additional sculpt the sound.
