M160 on Grand Piano

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2db
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M160 on Grand Piano

Post by 2db » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:36 pm

I record jazz piano trio's mostly, in a live setting.

The piano player does not like to close the lid.

The drums bleed into both the bass and piano mic's.

I tried 441 's on piano. They did a good job of isolation but the pianist thought they were to bright so I changed to 414's.

I was wondering about using the M160 on piano because they are hyper and less bright. Any thoughts on that?

I am using C480 with hyper capsule as drum OH and C12 VR on kick.

Also I am using U87 on upright bass but the drums bleed into that mic the most.

Please Advise
Jim

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Post by dwelle » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:50 pm

i've never had an opportunity to use an m160 on a piano, but from my experience with it on a variety of other sources, were i to put up mic's to record a piano, that one would definitely be up...

Mix413
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Post by Mix413 » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:09 pm

We use an M160 on piano all the time and it sounds near perfect. Usually with a 9098 preamp. It's a great mic to tame the brightness of our Yamaha G3. Often it's paired with a Coles or an M260. The Beyer M160 is one of the all-time greatest microphones ever.
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eeldip
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Post by eeldip » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:30 am

your 441 is brighter than your 414?

weird.

um, hey mr. john noll question, i have two m260s and they are one of my favorite mics. is it worth ALSO getting some m160s in my collection. what the diff?

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Post by rodabod » Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:56 pm

eeldip wrote: is it worth ALSO getting some m160s in my collection. what the diff?
The M160 sounds quite different. Less bassy, more bright. Maybe more accurate.

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fremitus
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Post by fremitus » Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:57 pm

not to jump on the post. noll should still have plenty to say when i'm done. but the big diff. is that the 160 has a dual ribbon element and the 260 a single ribbon. the 260 also has a high pass filter switch for dealing with extra lows, which is funny, because in my experience, the 160 has a much better response to low end info. the 160 is a bit flatter to my taste through the mids and the highs on both seem really accurate. i do prefer the 160, but i think they're both pretty great.

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eeldip
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Post by eeldip » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:14 pm

neither of my two m260s have that HP filter...

i have what i think is an 80's one and maybe a 60, 70's one? the second one has an on off switch, the old font, and a tapered body. anyway, they sound almost identical.


when did they start putting those filters in?

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Post by fremitus » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:33 pm

eeldip wrote:neither of my two m260s have that HP filter...

when did they start putting those filters in?
actually, mine is an older one too. the one at the studio. no filter. but the new ones have the filter. i had one in for a bit as a matched pair. they still sound remarkably similar.
Last edited by fremitus on Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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eeldip
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Post by eeldip » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:35 pm

well, i suppose i wont be buying another for a while so i dont have to worry about avoiding the HP filter model...

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Post by fremitus » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:38 pm

i also just noticed that i have a pair of 160's here at sonic. must be time for another shootout!

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Post by inverseroom » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:55 pm

I spent an hour this afternoon making a "drum kit" out of clicks, pops, scrapes, and jingles, which I recorded by whacking various things together in front of an M160. I love this microphone so much I just want to cry. It is awesome. Believe it or not, I was able to use its strong proximity effect to make the best kick drum sound I've ever come up with...by popping a packing bubble.

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eeldip
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Post by eeldip » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:59 pm

inverseroom wrote:I spent an hour this afternoon making a "drum kit" out of clicks, pops, scrapes, and jingles, which I recorded by whacking various things together in front of an M160. I love this microphone so much I just want to cry. It is awesome. Believe it or not, I was able to use its strong proximity effect to make the best kick drum sound I've ever come up with...by popping a packing bubble.
did you know that the m260 is a whole 100 better?

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Post by KennyLusk » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:07 pm

inverseroom wrote: Believe it or not, I was able to use its strong proximity effect to make the best kick drum sound I've ever come up with...by popping a packing bubble.

this is why I Love TOMB so much! :worthy:

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Post by Mix413 » Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:16 pm

The 260 has a more pronounced bottom end and a presence peak around 6k. It was designed as an announcer's mic for broadcast. The pronounced low-end gives you that "voice of God" sound that radio guys like. We used ours recently as a hand-held vocal mic for a Sinatra-type singer and it was perfect for that. As I mentioned in an earlier post, on piano we use the 160 for the treble side and the 260 for the bass side.

I believe the newest version, the M260.80 has a low-frequency roll-off. I've never tried that one. The M500 is pretty cool also. A bit brighter and with excellent rear rejection. It was designed as an on-stage vocal mic. We use it for scratch vocals when the singer is in the live room with the drums. It's very nice on electric guitars also for live tracking situations.

Beyer ribbons are superb mics and great values.
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Post by 2db » Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:34 am

~




Thanks everyone-!!







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