What type of mic is this?

A

andrew00

Well-known member
http://vimeo.com/3112270

Hey,

In the above video, the mic she's singing into at about 3.20 that produces the more ghostly effect.

Is that a certain type of mic? If so anyone know what type?

I thought maybe it could just be a 2nd mic hooked up to a reverb pedal, but since it's a bit weird looking I thought maybe it's a certain type of mic!

Cheers!
a x
 
I can't tell you what mic that is, but I can say I've seen St. Vincent use a dual sm-58 setup on some occasions, so I'd lean towards the 'one mic runs through an fx unit' theory. The mic in the video you link looks like it's probably pretty old, perhaps and old ribbon mic?

If you get really really bored, search ebay for vintage mics and maybe you'll see something similar.
 
You can see the dual pedals on the floor so I would bet big bucks on the FX, also she sings into it at other times with out the FX. Looks like a large diaphragm dynamic. I have a 1960's vintage one that looks similar but???
 
on the same video on youtube
someone mentioned that they asked her and her response was the following..

""it's a copperphone built inside the casing of a vintage shure from the 40's.

i bought the casing special, but you can get a normal copperphone at placid audio.""
 
Ah copperphone! Those looks awesome, I want one. They're at that range of price when you can constantly catch yourself:

'they're not THAT expensive, it would be awesome!' etc heh.
 
From a review by dokushoka on GearSlutz:

Mark at Placid Audio hand builds these monstrous dynamic mics when he's not busy with the Polyphonic Spree. The rather large looking diaphragm is housed inside a copper pipe that makes the mic look quite a bit like a pipe bomb! Construction is assuredly bulky with a nice in-built pivoting clip for mounting the mic. Its very sturdy, but the fact that its attached to the mic means that you have to spin the whole mic assembly just to mount it. Additionally, it has a somewhat limited degree of movement. I quickly noticed that the Copperphone is prone to mic stand vibration, so the option to have a shock-mount would have been much appreciated.

The Copperphone is built from old style telecom components. As expected, this gives you the the "telephone" vibe but there is bit more to this mic than the typical band passed sound. The polar pattern seems to be fairly omnidirectional, which, in the context of this mic, is probably a good thing. Self-noise is surprisingly lower than I expected and the output is fairly strong, about what you'd except from a typical dynamic. While the frequency response is obviously very limited (you get mids, and that's about it) the mids that you do get are GREAT. The Copperphone has very pleasing, crisp, but not harsh mids that are naturally compressed. This works brilliantly for things like a doubled vocal or for something that you need to cut through a mix without "hogging" space.

The first source I used this on was a Hammond organ. The artist was hoping for a kind of "old timey" sound, but, with the Copperphone going into a Neve 2254e, we got a pretty great sound that was by no means lo-fi. In fact, in the mix, it was the best I have ever heard my M103 organ sound! It was simultaneously pleasing and disappointing to the artist and I. Granted, the 2254e was thickening up the sound substancially, but the two together were such a nice pairing that we went for it. Next up, we used it on a trumpet track, also going into the 2254e and got a similar result. The mids were totally cutting through, as horns need to do, but without the harsh upper mids and highs that a regular condenser often gives you on a horn. This time around, the band passed sound was more prominent, but, to be honest, I don't think most listeners would interpret it as such. Again, an equally pleasant and disappointing surprise!

Determined to get the artists his long coveted "old timey" sound on at least 1 track, we employed the Copperphone on an upright piano part along side a Neumann KM184. The idea was that the Copperphone may not work in the context of the song, so we recorded both to separate tracks. Soloed, the Copperphone gave us a wonderful, highly authentic 1930/1940's sounding piano, a perfect compliment to my 1890s upright! Similes all around. The really interesting thing came when we listened back to a mix of the KM184 and the Copperphone. The Copperphone added some very nice mids and a resonance to the piano that was highly complimentary. This made me appreciate the mic even more and has me dreaming of pairing it with ribbon mics. In this sense, the Copperphone can serve as a very unique utility mic, as well as a "special effect."

Finally, we did a vocal take, which was the intended use of the artist for the Copperphone, and got exactly what we had hoped for. A kick ass old AM radio vocal sound that just can't be faked with eq or plug ins. Very nice!

At $250, where else are you going to get a hand built mic with a vintage vibe but modern sensibility? I just wish more companies would make "bold" sounding gear like the Copperphone. Cheers to the guys at Placid Audio!


Audio samples:

http://sfrecording.com/upload/copperphone/
 
Andrew:

Thanks for posting that, great clip and really intriguing artist.

Bob:

Thanks for the heads up on that Lo-Fi mic, it sounds pretty damn cool.

Dan
 
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