Hi everyone. I’m looking for any advice/experience about using U47-type mics in high spl situations. My main question is: can you position a U47 within 5 feet of a loud drumkit and get a usable signal?
I had a U47 clone made for me last year by a small-ish boutique mic company, and when it arrived I quickly ran into problems using it as a mono drum overhead. On loud snare hits there would be an odd distortion, almost like a cheap limiter crushing the transient. I took a look at the waveform and noticed these unusual low-frequency wobbles, around 10-30Hz. Here's a picture (the large peaks are snare drum hits)
![Screenshot 2024-08-16 at 22.54.09.jpg Screenshot 2024-08-16 at 22.54.09.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/groupdiy/data/attachments/86/86829-7ea38df4e273aaba4e1d7f61083e92e9.jpg)
After some negotiation my mic went back to the company, who found an issue with the tension of the membrane. They also suggested changing the biasing method to self-bias. My mic is now back at my studio and is still distorting with the wobbly waveform.
Has anyone experienced anything like this before?
Thanks
I had a U47 clone made for me last year by a small-ish boutique mic company, and when it arrived I quickly ran into problems using it as a mono drum overhead. On loud snare hits there would be an odd distortion, almost like a cheap limiter crushing the transient. I took a look at the waveform and noticed these unusual low-frequency wobbles, around 10-30Hz. Here's a picture (the large peaks are snare drum hits)
![Screenshot 2024-08-16 at 22.54.09.jpg Screenshot 2024-08-16 at 22.54.09.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/groupdiy/data/attachments/86/86829-7ea38df4e273aaba4e1d7f61083e92e9.jpg)
After some negotiation my mic went back to the company, who found an issue with the tension of the membrane. They also suggested changing the biasing method to self-bias. My mic is now back at my studio and is still distorting with the wobbly waveform.
Has anyone experienced anything like this before?
Thanks