I don't know the answer to your question, but regardless the answer you should get in touch with Blue just to see how they react. Be sure to let them know it's not your only Blue mic. While they aren't obligated to do much about a mic that was dropped like yours, it will be instructive to see how they treat you. Please report back.

I had the exact same thing happen with an AKG c4000b, it hit the wood floor too. It did not do anything but scare me, I thought that I ruined the mic. Of course, the mic had the shockmount and the windscreen attached so I imagine that kept the mic from getting damaged. More than likely your mic should be fine, they usually can take a fall like that. If you really want to take it in and have a professional check it out I am sure it would not cost much. Just find someone local that you trust.

Best wishes to your recordings,
Bret

i'd get 50 bucks just to look at it, plus shipping unless you find someone local

Interesting.

I have a similar issue with my Bluebird. Didn't drop it, but experimented and put it on a couple of sources that REALLY clipped the mic. Now even moderate female vox and guitar amps distort it sometimes.

Maybe something w/ the particular production series?
Im curious, when did you purchase this particular Bluebird?

I'm contacting Blue as we speak.

soapfloats, in all likelihood you damaged your speakers. Crappy speakers have a tendency to fail much in the way described. Especially when you clipped your microphone preamp. Then it produces rich odd harmonic distortion's that easily overheat & damage tweeters before you even know it's happening.

Clipping condenser/capacitor microphones doesn't hurt them. I don't care how low in quality they are. Whether they are made in China Latvia or the Baltics, microphones don't blow up from excessive signal level. You can however rupture a diaphragm if you consistently Mike the inside of the bass drum over a long period of time. But I know guys that won't use a Neumann U47 FET for anything else. I wouldn't even worry about such things. Doesn't happen.

I've been trying to blow up microphones for years.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Remy -

Noted on the damaging the mic. Thank you!

However, the monitors used were at a low volume, powered by an amp, and while the preamp DID clip, neither the ADC or monitor amp did. Further, this doesn't happen w/ other mics, and it shows when I play the track mixed to a CD.

I've had problems with this mic handling SPLs it should be able to from the start.
I even got an SPL meter to insure I wasn't insane (it's a good buy regardless).

soapfloats wrote: Interesting.

I have a similar issue with my Bluebird. Didn't drop it, but experimented and put it on a couple of sources that REALLY clipped the mic. Now even moderate female vox and guitar amps distort it sometimes.

Maybe something w/ the particular production series?
Im curious, when did you purchase this particular Bluebird?

I'm contacting Blue as we speak.

I bought both of my Bluebirds at the end of this past December. They weren't matched (and I don't have the serial S w/ me) and I bought them at two different stores.

allow me to make a quick note -

apparently i typed "i'd GET 50 bucks just to look at it", when i actually meant to say "i'd BET 50 bucks just to look at it."

i am not a microphone repairist at all. in face, last night i killed an SM57 !!!!! i've never ever seen one die until last night. wack, right?

rockstardave actually, the only microphones I've ever had fail on me, were a pair of Beta 58's. Both failed during low level SPL acoustic guitar & vocal recordings on 2 different occasions. Right in the middle of vocal passages. Go figure? Never had a SM58 fail. So I'm not really all that hot on the Beta series of microphones because of that. Of course I didn't have my Beyer M160 repaired after it was knocked over in the National Press Club. Primarily because Beyer indicated the cost of repair would nearly be the cost of replacement. At the time, over $800. That was a heartbreaker.

Broken dreams
Ms. Remy Ann David

I'd like to pose another question regarding this topic:

Say if a mic was involved in the incident I had, if it was damaged would it just go bad and stop working or can components of it continue to work but would produce bad ouput?

I guess what I'm asking is whether the mic will suffer a catastrophic failure or gradually just deteriorate from an incident such as this?

The short answer is - either clearly audible catastrophic failure or no problem at all. More nuanced answer...

In my experience with LDC microphones that have been dropped and sent to me, the most common problem has been a mechanical compromise of the headbasket which causes poor RFI or AC hum shielding - the mic may pick up radio stations or have a noticeable hum.

Surprisingly enough, I've yet to receive a mic dropped from drum OH height have a damaged capsule. Many LDCs have some form of capsule shock mounting, so the compliance of this mounting "gives" a little when the mic hits the floor and the capsule is spared the brunt of the full impact. But if you think about the construction of a typical LDC capsule - machined brass backplates with a stretched diaphragm attached to them, it would be impossible to distort the shape of the backplate and nearly impossible to distort the alignment of the diaphragm attached to its brass mounting ring which is in turn attached to the brass backplates. So capsule damage in a fall is unlikely.

Electronic damage is also unlikely - with the exception of intermittent or subtle problems that might arise from the disruption of soldered connections. But this would require a factory soldering fault so poorly executed that a fall to the floor would break the solder joint.

So the good news is - LDC can survive a fall to the floor with typically no more problems than a dented headbasket or perhaps compromised headbasket shield-to-ground connection.

Michael,

Thanks so much for your informative reply! I've been using the mic w/ no problems as of late...