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Crown’s Quarterly Microphone Newsletter
Fall 2002 Bruce Bartlett, Editor
In the July, 2002 issue of Elec-
tronic Musician, in the article
"Build a Personal Studio on Any
Budget," the Crown CM-700
cardioid condenser microphone
was chosen to be part of three
proposed "dream" studios.
Those studios were the $6000
portable digital studio, the
$15,000 Windows studio, and
the $30,000 studio without com-
puter.
Ceiling-Mounted
Conference Mics
Mics are commonly used in con-
ference rooms for recording,
teleconferencing, and sound
reinforcement. Many customers
do not want to see the micro-
phones, so they specify ceiling-
mounted mics. In this case,
appearance is a higher value
than sonic performance.
Ceiling-mounted mics are feasi-
ble for audio recording, but only
if the room acoustics are very
dead. Otherwise the mics pick
up a lot of room reverb which
muddies the sound. Also, ceil-
ing mics work poorly for sound
reinforcement. The distance
from mic to source is just too
great to allow much gain-before-
feedback. If at all possible, use
table-mounted mics for best
gain and clearest sound.
If you want to use an omni ceil-
ing-mounted mic, try a Crown
PZM-11 in an electrical box. It
costs little, and its high frequen-
cies are boosted for extra clarity.
For less reverb pickup, try four
Crown MB-4 mics on the ceiling
angled 90 degrees from each
other. Feed the four XLR out-
puts to an automatic mixer.
Recommended settings on the
mixer are: release time very
long, and automatic gain control
on. Again, this setup is not rec-
ommended for sound reinforce-
ment.
Crown MB-4 boundary mic
CM-700 for
Stage Vocals
Although the CM-700 was not
designed to be a stage-vocal
mic, it can be made to work
quite well in that application.
Singer/guitarist Bob Lichty used
the CM-700 for vocal pickup at a
recent concert. He had this to
say about its use:
"I used the double low-cut filter
on the CM-700 for vocals. For
guitar, I left the low-cut switch
flat and rolled out a bit of the
lows at the board. I learned how
to "mask" my p's and t's with
singing technique, so they are
rarely an issue for me. I love the
sound of the 700, and even my
wife can't believe how different I
sound 'all miked up' versus just
singing at home in the bed-
room."
What’s Inside
• CM-700 Chosen for "Dream"
Studios
• Ceiling-mounted Conference
Mics
• CM-700 for Stage Vocals
• Harp Miking
• Lavalier Mic EQ
• Miking an Electronic Organ
• PZM Piano Miking
• CM-311AE Fan
• What’s a PXT?
CM-700