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Some of the orchestras I've seen have engineers using various types of mics hanging from the ceiling and I've been wondering which ones the tiny ones are in this video from Symphony Hall,Boston. From what I've seen they generally use maybe a half dozen hanging across at the front of the stage, what appear to be "full size" small-diaphragm, omnis maybe. But over different sections of the orchestra they use small-diaphragm mics that look like they're no more than 2" or so.
In this video you can see a good array of them at :20 and closer detail of the tiny ones at :35

What types of mics are these and are there any places online I can read more about models, specs, pricing, experiences with them, further sound samples,etc?

Thanks,
a

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Keith Johnson Fri, 03/25/2016 - 06:17

Aaron, post: 436024, member: 48792 wrote: What types of mics are these and are there any places online I can read more about models, specs, pricing, experiences with them, further sound samples,etc?

Thanks,
a

Bit late to the party, but the 'small' mics from 0:35 look like Schoeps Colette series on active cables. As has been said....they're not especially cheap....but are very nice!

Keith Johnson Sat, 03/26/2016 - 13:42

Careful...they're addictive...once you've got a pair, you'll want - no, need more ;)

I've not watched the whole video, but I suspect that the Schoeps may be a slung form of a Decca Tree, which means it's likely that the capsules will be MK2S or possibly MK2H. Another really great alternative is to go for Neumann KK133
capsules on the KM100-A or D bodies...but over here in the UK they're even more pricy than the Schoeps counterparts (there are alternative Neumann diffuse field omnis that are cheaper).

The rest of the slung mics are likely to just be sectional reinforcement...but what else would be there (often there's an alternative main pair - maybe spaced omnis or a Jecklin disc, left and right outriggers etc etc) would depend on the repertoire, the size of the band, the nature of the balance you want and so on.

The 'beauty' of using mics like Schoeps is that they tend to mix very well and - should you need it - they take things like corrective EQ more naturally than their cheaper counterparts. This makes it easier if, for example, you're multimiking using a lot of maybe older style Chinese or elsewhere mics that are built with quite a lot of presence...it doesn't mean you can't do it with cheaper gear, it's just easier with the 'nice' stuff.

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