Crown Microphone CM 700 User Manual

Mic Memo  
Crown’s Quarterly Microphone Newsletter  
Fall 2002  
Bruce Bartlett, Editor  
CM-700 Chosen for “Dream” Studios  
if the room acoustics are very  
dead. Otherwise the mics pick  
up a lot of room reverb which  
muddies the sound. Also, ceil-  
ing mics work poorly for sound  
reinforcement. The distance  
from mic to source is just too  
great to allow much gain-before-  
CM-700 for  
Stage Vocals  
Although the CM-700 was not  
designed to be a stage-vocal  
mic, it can be made to work  
quite well in that application.  
Singer/guitarist Bob Lichty used  
the CM-700 for vocal pickup at a  
recent concert. He had this to  
say about its use:  
CM-700  
feedback. If at all possible, use  
table-mounted mics for best  
gain and clearest sound.  
In the July, 2002 issue of Elec-  
tronic Musician, in the article  
"Build a Personal Studio on Any  
Budget," the Crown CM-700  
cardioid condenser microphone  
was chosen to be part of three  
proposed "dream" studios.  
If you want to use an omni ceil-  
ing-mounted mic, try a Crown  
PZM-11 in an electrical box. It  
costs little, and its high frequen-  
cies are boosted for extra clarity.  
"I used the double low-cut filter  
on the CM-700 for vocals. For  
guitar, I left the low-cut switch  
flat and rolled out a bit of the  
lows at the board. I learned how  
to "mask" my p's and t's with  
singing technique, so they are  
rarely an issue for me. I love the  
sound of the 700, and even my  
wife can't believe how different I  
sound 'all miked up' versus just  
singing at home in the bed-  
room."  
For less reverb pickup, try four  
Crown MB-4 mics on the ceiling  
angled 90 degrees from each  
other. Feed the four XLR out-  
puts to an automatic mixer.  
Recommended settings on the  
mixer are: release time very  
long, and automatic gain control  
on. Again, this setup is not rec-  
ommended for sound reinforce-  
ment.  
Those studios were the $6000  
portable digital studio, the  
$15,000 Windows studio, and  
the $30,000 studio without com-  
puter.  
Ceiling-Mounted  
Conference Mics  
What’s Inside  
• CM-700 Chosen for "Dream"  
Studios  
• Ceiling-mounted Conference  
Mics  
• CM-700 for Stage Vocals  
• Harp Miking  
• Lavalier Mic EQ  
Mics are commonly used in con-  
ference rooms for recording,  
teleconferencing, and sound  
reinforcement. Many customers  
do not want to see the micro-  
phones, so they specify ceiling-  
mounted mics. In this case,  
appearance is a higher value  
than sonic performance.  
• Miking an Electronic Organ  
• PZM Piano Miking  
• CM-311AE Fan  
Ceiling-mounted mics are feasi-  
ble for audio recording, but only  
• What’s a PXT?  
Crown MB-4 boundary mic  
For more information, call 800-342-6939  
1
 
Mic Memo  
we'd recommend using the bat-  
tery rather than phantom.  
The PZM-185 has a high-fre-  
quency rise for speech clarity. If  
you want to flatten the response  
to get a more natural sound,  
obtain a microphone foam wind-  
screen. Cut off a 1/4" square  
about 1/8" thick and insert it into  
the gap between the mic and the  
plate. The thicker the foam  
piece, the less high frequencies  
(treble) you'll hear.  
Letters From  
Crown Mic  
Users  
PZM Piano Miking  
I am a pianist, but totally new to  
the recording process; my  
unique situation is that I need a  
very portable solution because I  
have to record from a piano at a  
local music school. I have a  
Minidisc recorder and I wonder if  
it would be possible to make a  
decent recording directly into the  
Minidisc using the kind of micro-  
phones you've described. Could  
I input two microphones into the  
Minidisc player itself, or do I  
need to invest in some kind of  
pre-amp also?  
Figure 1 shows some suggested  
places to tape a PZM mic to the  
underside of the raised piano lid.  
For a mono recording with one  
mic, tape it in the middle of the  
lid, a few inches horizontally  
from the hammers. Raise the lid  
on the long stick. For a stereo  
recording with two mics, tape  
one over the treble strings near  
the hammers, and one over the  
bass strings near the tail, as  
shown.  
How do you connect the mics to  
your MiniDisc recorder? Check  
the manual that came with your  
recorder. It describes the input  
connectors. The recorder  
should have a mic input, so you  
won't need a mic preamp. Prob-  
ably the mic input is a single  
mini phone jack that is wired for  
stereo. If so, you or an electron-  
ics-savvy friend would need to  
make an adapter cable (Figure  
2, next page). On the mic end of  
the adapter cable is a 3-pin  
female XLR connector(two for  
stereo). On the recorder end of  
the adapter cable is a mini ste-  
reo phone plug.  
Please offer some input if you  
would about how I could mic a  
piano decently (not professional  
by any means) while under-  
standing I am not in position to  
haul around a lot of equipment.  
I'd appreciate it very much.  
Figure 1. Some suggested mic  
placements for PZMs on a piano lid.  
The kind of sound you will get  
with this miking is up-close and  
clear, with little or no room  
acoustics. It might be suitable  
for pop, jazz, ragtime, or folk  
music. If you are recording clas-  
sical music and you want to  
include the room acoustics  
(such as in a recital hall), you  
should place the mics several  
feet from the piano. Either place  
them on the floor about 4 feet  
apart, or mount them back-to-  
back on a mic stand, aiming the  
edge of the plates at the piano.  
The mini stereo phone plug has  
three terminals to connect to:  
tip, ring, and sleeve. The tip ter-  
minal is the small one that goes  
to the tip of the phone plug. The  
ring terminal is a little longer,  
and goes to the ring of the  
phone plug (the metal cylinder  
justbehindthetip). Thesleeve  
terminal is the longest, and it  
goes to the sleeve or long cylin-  
der part of the phone plug.  
Thank you,  
Gerard Cox  
Reply:  
You should be able to make a  
very good piano recording using  
one or two PZM-185 micro-  
phones and a MiniDisc recorder.  
The PZM-185 is an inexpensive  
Pressure Zone Microphone that  
is powered by an internal battery  
or phantom power. Since you  
want a very portable system,  
(continued on next page)  
For more information, call 800-342-6939  
3
 
Mic Memo  
PZM Piano Miking  
(Continued from page 3)  
stereo mini phone plug (Figure  
3). On the mic end of both  
cables, wire a female XLR con-  
nector as described above. At  
the other end of both cables,  
connect both shields to the  
phone-jack sleeve, connect one  
cable's center conductor to the  
phone-plug tip terminal, and  
connect the other cable's center  
conductor to the phone-plug ring  
terminal.  
CM-311AE Fan  
I just purchased the CM-311AE  
and I am so pleased with the  
headset, that I have placed a  
link to your site on our band's  
site.  
Inside the female XLR connec-  
tor, connect pin 1 to the cable  
shield, connect pin 2 to the  
cable center conductor, and  
connect pin 3 to pin 1. Inside  
the stereo mini phone plug, con-  
nect the cable shield to the long  
sleeve terminal, and connect the  
center conductor to the tip and  
ring terminals. (That's assuming  
you're using only one micro-  
phone).  
I would like to spread the word  
to the folks that visit our site,  
that this is the best headset mic  
I've ever used! I've used two  
other headsets and they don't  
even come close to reproducing  
my voice the way I need it to be  
done, the clarity is incredible.  
If you hear distortion when  
recording the piano, set the  
MiniDisc recorder’s gain switch  
to lower gain. If you’re using a  
DAT recorder, switch in the input  
pad.  
If you're using two microphones  
for stereo, you need two adapter  
cables that connect to a single  
Sincerely,  
Jay Tucker  
Figure 2. Female XLR to stereo mini phone adapter cable.  
Figure 3. Dual female XLR to stereo mini phone adapter.  
What's a PXT?  
is used with older PZM mics like  
the PZM-30GPG and PZM-31S.  
Those mics have an unbalanced  
high-Z output and are powered  
with a unipolar DC voltage. You  
connect each mic to a PXT  
A PX-18 is the same but works  
off two internal 9V batteries and  
has a 1:1 internal transformer to  
balance the signal. A PA-18 is  
the same but works off two inter-  
nal 9V batteries and has an  
active circuit to balance the sig-  
nal.  
I came across an older PZM that  
doesn't work. Someone told me  
that it needs a PXT to operate.  
What is that?  
using regular 2-conductor  
Phil Burns  
Seattle, WA  
shielded mic cable. The PXT  
converts the mic output to a low-  
Z balanced signal, and converts  
phantom power to a unipolar DC  
voltage that powers the mic.  
Newer Crown mics have the  
electronics built into the mic or  
its connector. They have a low-  
impedance balanced output.  
Reply: A PXT, which looks like a  
short chrome-plated tube, is a  
discontinued Crown product. It  
For more information, call 800-342-6939  
4
 

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