Strangest thing you've seen a PZM taped to...?

[matthew mcglynn]

The first time I saw PZMs in use, they were taped to Manhasset music stands, one mic per stand, being used as drum "overheads" at 10:00 and 2:00 around a drum kit. Kind of a cool idea. I didn't get to hear them, but I believe they were used on the record.

 

I've tried taping them to a 10' wide glass mirror in the room adjacent to a home studio. I think that mic mic mostly heard the rattling of toiletries rather than the drums in the next room.

 

I've tried taping a PZM to a long wooden board in an effort to extend its LF response within a drum room. I didn't use that track either.

 

Where do you put your PZM mics?

 

http://cdn.recordinghacks.com/images/mpn/201909/pzm2.jpg

[Joe Muscara]

Good question. I know over the years I've seen them taped to things and went, "huh" but I can't recall ATM where any of them were.

[Mike Rivers]

I remember PZMs being taped to the drummer's chest, usually to a shirt. Peeling gaffer tape off a hairy chest could be painful.

 

Another trick that I've seen for choir recording was to attach PZMs to a couple of 4-foot squares sheet of 1/4" clear Plexiglas and hang them over the choir. It didn't look ugly like tall mic stands and gave a pretty balanced recording with some stereo width and not too bad comb filtering.

 

Then there's taping them to the underside of the lid of a grand piano and either close the lid or leave it open on the short stick. It sounded boxy but gave some separation for a singing pianist. And sometimes they were taped to a wall a foot or so behind an upright piano.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

One of the better local studios keeps a pair of PZMs on the wall behind the drum kit in the main room, and mixes them in for ambience. That's not particularly weird, but it does work.

 

I think the weirdest placement for a PZM I've ever seen was the time I saw a waitress in a bar with a pair of them stuck to her --- you know, I'm just not going to go there. Sorry, Matt.

 

mike

 

[matthew mcglynn]

I saw a waitress in a bar with a pair of them stuck to her --- you know, I'm just not going to go there.

 

Mike, I think we're all there already. Thanks for that vision. Beats the heck out of imagining some sweaty drummer's chest.

 

(The waitress option wins points for being miked in stereo, too.

 

[Phil Manning]

- mounted to mic stands for drum overheads - worked fine several times, live and studio, used the tracks

- taped to the underside of grand piano lid - fabulous closed-lid solution for a loud live stage

- throw one inside a kick drum

- on the floor underneath floor tom

- taped 2 back-to-back when gathering close-up foley - aggressive stereo image - I stuck this pair inside a fireplace - realism was intense

- I've used them a lot in the past before I built up my mic collection

- cheap mod: I added an xlr connector on a much shortened cord in place of the original 1/4" on the Radio Shack versions, then added 2x 9v batteries (18v) in place of the 1.5v - much higher gain and lower noise