earthworks: i'm amazed

[jajjguy]

I fully expected to be amazed by my new (new to me -- thanks bang!) pair of QTCs. And I have been. Cello - check. Acoustic guitar - check. Stereo room - check. Amazingly lifelike and amazingly versatile in all these applications.

But vocals? Well, i want a mic to lie to me about my voice, don't we all? The mic really did a great job of capturing my voice, but i missed the LD puffiness of my 414b-uls. So, as suggested in the earthworks manual, i put both mics up (one QTC and the 414), with the capsules carefully aligned. The result: my biggest vocal sound yet! The mics blended perfectly, which i did not expect, yeilding a big puffy LD sound with a sharpness and airy high-end clarity that the 414 just can't deliver on its own.

I feel like i just acquired a new, expensive vocal mic. A big bonus that i didn't expect at all. Thought i'd share it with the class.

[j.hall]

i've beena flag waving fan of earthworks for about 5 years now

i can't say enough god things about them

the way i've always described them to others goes something like this

"if you truly want to capture a source just the way it sounds IN THE ACOUSTIC SPACE IT"S IN, then use the earthworks....if any thing sounds like crap, the room , the source.....then the earthworks will appear to sound like crap"

they have never failed me......i haven't recorded a session with out them in 5 years....i have TC-30k

the coolest app i've found for them yet is for drum "underheads"

it's hard to describe, i'll look and see if i have a pic of the set up

instead of over heads.....i put them i either side of the kick drum (half way up from the floor and the top of the kick) spaced out a few feet and pointing straight back......floor tom and snare

its the most natural, aggressive drum sound i've ever gotten

compress to taste, blend in close mics and wa-la......

[Fibes]

i can't say enough god things about them

.....

BLASSSSPHEEEM!


I don't own any but i work with a vocalist that uses an earthworks for vocals. it really astounded me when we did a mic line up on him.

[j.hall]

ooooppppppsssss

sorry....there's two "O's" in GOOOOOOOOOD

[jajjguy]

jhall: "if you truly want to capture a source just the way it sounds IN THE ACOUSTIC SPACE IT"S IN, then use the earthworks"

Right on, definitely true. But I've been really impressed with how it sounds in close-micing duties too. Getting it right up on an acoustic guitar can make the thing sound huge! Really full and beefy, not bright and thin like i sort of expected. Of course, this follows from what you said, since if you put your ear one inch from an acoustic guitar, it will sound huge. But comments like yours had led me to think of these mics as more suited to distant micing. When actually, the lack of proximity effect means you can get MORE useful low end when close micing. A great tool.

[Professor]

I love Earthworks as well and have both the QTC pair and an SR-77 pair. But I thought I would toss out a caveate to all of the blissful commentary, just for the sake of those on the fence between these and other microphones.
Small diaphram omni mics are inherently more noisy than nearly any other microphone design. Part of the reason Earthworks went from the TC-40 to the QTC (quiet time coherent) was because they were always a little embarrased by their noise specs and tried to tone it down. They are fantastic mics for close mic duties in the studio and they are great for distant recording of large and loud groups like full orchestras and other large ensemles. I prefer them to B&K (DPA) for those duties. But when it comes to distant recording of quiet ensembles like string quartet or solo flute and piano, the noise floor comes up with the gain and it can sound a lot like bad tape hiss. I usually move to a different small diaphram omni for those duties - but the earthworks definitely come back out if I can close mic those groups or if the group is larger and louder. And certainly the best piano recording I ever made for classical had a pair of TC-30 mics spaced about 20 inches apart, at a height about 2-4 inches above the piano case and about two feet off the front - piano at full stick in a concert hall. The hall sound is still present despite the closeness of the piano, but the instrument sounds like it is twenty feet wide and ten feet high.
The vocal trick and the drum tricks sound pretty cool and I will definitely give them a try at the sessions coming up next week.
Remembering that their SPL handling is ridiculously high, I may even toss the QTCs on the lead trumpet for an experiment.

-Jeremy

[j.hall]

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Russian Recording]

Without a doubt, very nice sounding mics. Always pleased with their accuracy and detail. They make great overheads, and they are so damn fast! I will second the noise issue... especially on the TC-30Ks. But for exception of the few solo violin/piano/recital gigs that I do, it doesn't interfere with my line of work.

What do you think of the SR77s? Those are the cards if Im not mistaken, correct? Ive never had the chance to hear how those sound and im interested in picking up a pair.

mike

[eeldip]

gotta second the drum underhead. i just have the lowly SRO (the stapes mic of the earthworks line), and i started out using it for "heart mic" duty (right on top of the bass drum). where it excels.

but here i was thinking i invented what i was calling the "side heart mic", but what jhall calls the underhead.

for me i stick it right between the floor tom and bass drum about a foot off the ground. then i mix in a close miced snare. really great drum sound for bad acoustic spaces--- great for rehearsal rooms. (watch out for crappy loud rides though) a very full sound that has about as much transient information as you would ever want. i like mixing that with my m260 in overhead role. the earthworks capturing all the fast stuff, all the super high stuff, and all the super low stuff. the m260 doing the pleasing mids and smooth highs, and smooth transients. then you can play with their respective levels... and get all sorts of good sounds.

and as i have said before, i love them for bass drums and bass cabs as well, but you have to stick them right up on the sources...

[marqueemoon]

I have a pair of SR77s. They sound great. They exhibit some pretty serious proximity effect though. On an acoustic guitar you really can't get them closer than about 6 inches or it's boom city.

[Professor]

As of yet I have not tried the SR-77s on anything very close. I used them on quite a few live performances around the school including some classical stuff ranging from solo piano to choral groups and on a live jazz show or two. Here again, the Earthworks noise floor comes through in the soft stuff but not as bad as the omnis. I think the cardioids are great for noisy crowds or not-so-great halls and the omnis are good for quiet crowds and nicer halls. Tonally their are similarly clean and neutral so I consider them to be like different patterns of the same mic. Certainly the specs show that the 77s don't go as high or low, but when you are talking earthquakes and dog whistles, that's not so bad. I will put them up next week for some jazz recordings along with the QTCs and give a run down afterward. Either way, I can highly recommend them.


-Jeremy

[swingdoc]

Could you describe your drum micing technique again using the omnis..
What do you mean by "straight back", towards or away from the kit? Also, do you use the underheads in addition to or in replace of overheads?
When placed down below, how do you get away from the "ump" of kick messing with the air of the cymbals, or attack of the toms? Do you still use a kick mic??? etc
would just like to hear more about it, if ya donut mind..
thanks
mc

[ISPdeRuiter]

The Earthworks cardioids have enough proximity effect to pass as a reasonable vocal mic. I prefer them for this application with the foam rubber windshield attached. They also have a useful roll-off at 300hz at greater distances (useful if you record in an appartment).
A great mike for that price.

ISPdeRuiter

[j.hall]

Could you describe your drum micing technique again using the omnis..
What do you mean by "straight back", towards or away from the kit? Also, do you use the underheads in addition to or in replace of overheads?
When placed down below, how do you get away from the "ump" of kick messing with the air of the cymbals, or attack of the toms? Do you still use a kick mic??? etc
would just like to hear more about it, if ya donut mind..
thanks
mc

are you asking me?

[F7sound]

Man, I love my QTC's. I've never been disappointed by them. Cuz they're omnis, you have to get a little closer to the source than usual. But you can get REAL close. I mean closer that you think is reasonable, and damn if they don't just sound amazing!