Boundary Mic (pzm) for recording band practice?

[monark]

Is this a good idea? Anybody have experience with them? Could a boundary mic mounted on the ceiling of my practice space do a decent job of recording a loud band practice/jam? If so, can you recommend a specific one?

thanks,
bryan

[tremolite]

Dude... I love recording with PZM mics! They are perfect for rehearsal room recordings. I used to do tons of rehearsal recording with 2 PZM's, one taped to the ceiling over the drums and another strategically placed to pick up all the amps. This especially works well if your vocals go thru a PA.

Man I've done hundreds of recordings like this, most direct to 4 track cassette and some direct to DAT... this was back in the early to mid 90s. Just do a little experimenting with mic placement and you should be pleasantly surprised how great the results can be. I used 2 Realistic Radio Shack PZM's back then. The thing was they were actually made by Crown, the company that invented the concept of the PZM microphone!

Looks like Muscians Friend sells the Sound Grabber's for $120 a pair. Not too bad but looks like they have 1/8" plugs so you'd need a converter to turn the signal into low-z for connection to a pre or mixer. The Realistic's I had back in the day were 1/4"... I just bought a couple of hi to lo-z converters that terminated in male XLR connectors. Worked well. Crown also makes other higher end PZM's too. I've used the PZM-30D's in the studio as drum overheads and they sound fantastic for a really open, airy sound... particularly if the room sounds good.

Good luck! PZM recording is way cool...

[monark]

sweet, thanks

[Maukio]

I believe (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but I believe they are also referred to as boundary mics sometimes.  If you search for boundary on Musicians Friend you come up with some other options, like there is a Nady on there for $70 with XLR connection and a CAD brand.  I don't know anything about mics brands and their quality, but that may give you some more options.

[Maukio]

Heh, didn't even notice you called them boundary mics yourself.  I know there are some other types, like PCC.  Does anyone know if boundary mic is a broad term that encompasses PZMs, PCCs, and others?  I'd like to know... and I'm also lazy.

[northern_dirt]

Heh, didn't even notice you called them boundary mics yourself.  I know there are some other types, like PCC.  Does anyone know if boundary mic is a broad term that encompasses PZMs, PCCs, and others?  I'd like to know... and I'm also lazy.

Ive never heard of PCC's

But Ive always used boundary and PZM's interchangably..
Isnt a PZM just a brand name?..

[fuzzking]

PZM = Pressure Zone Microphone

it's a concept.

[northern_dirt]

PZM = Pressure Zone Microphone

it's a concept.

Yeah, but (after a little googling) PZM is trademarked by Crown..
So it is sorta a brand name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZM_(microphone)

make your own.. haha

http://www.uneeda-audio.com/pzm/