Earthworks DrumMic DM20, User Manual

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Earthworks Near-Perfect Polar Response
One of Earthwork’s proprietary technologies is near-perfect polar re-
sponse i.e. very uniform response over the front 160º of the micro-
phone. Conventional microphones (even expensive ones) have a loss
of high frequencies at the sides of the microphone. Have you ever tried
to put three singers on a single directional microphone? The singer at
the front of the mic sounds great, but the two on the sides of the micro-
phone sound muffled due to the lack of high frequency pickup at the
sides of the microphone. In contrast, the Earthworks proprietary po-
lar technology provides virtually the same frequency response on the
sides of the microphone as at the front with no more than a 3dB loss
at any specified frequency out to 80º off-axis). This extremely uniform
frequency response at the front and sides of the microphone dramati-
cally reduces phasing issues when using Earthworks microphones. Refer
to Figure 2 A & B to see how uniform the Earthworks microphone (A)
polar response is, in comparison to the conventional microphone (B).
4
A
DM20 Polar Conventional Polar
Earthworks SR30 Cardioid
500
1K
2K
4K
8K
15K
Competitive Cardioid
500
2K
15K
10K
1K
20K
5K
500
1K
2K
4K
8K
15
B
Within 3dB
500Hz to
16kHz
Within 12dB
500Hz to
15kHz &
Within18dB
to 20kHz
Figure 2-A & 2-B Earthworks vs. Conventional Polar Response
Nearly Twice the Amount of Rear Rejection
Another disadvantage of the multi-microphone approach is picking up
the unwanted sound of other elements of the drum set from the rear of
each microphone. Earthworks cardioid microphones have a very high
rejection of sounds at the rear of the microphone. This greatly re-
duces the leakage of cymbals or other drum sounds at the rear
of Earthworks microphones. Conventional microphones provide only
about 18dB of rear rejection, while Earthworks microphones provide
nearly twice the amount of rejection of conventional microphones. The
Earthworks drum mics will nearly eliminate any leakage present at
the rear of the microphone. Figure 3 shows conventional drum micro-
phones with 18dB of rear rejection and Figure 4 shows the Earthworks
drum microphones with nearly double the amount of rear rejection.