Dirt cheap mics with great off-axis noise rejection?

[abaga129]

Hey guys, im curious if anyone knows of any mics that are ridiculously cheap that can be used to isolate sounds in a very noisy area. The specific situation I'm wanting them for is to close mic cymbals and use the signal to trigger samples. I already have some cheap drum mics that work fine on the shells.
Is this even achievable? I'm worried that the cymbals want even have enough attack to accurately trigger the samples.

Btw, by dirt cheap I mean $50 or less

 

[Kohugaly]

why don't you glue/duck-tape some old headphones mic to the bottom of the cymbals? it's basically a custom trigger. Vibrations are transfered directly to the mic, so they are way louder that what is transmitted through air. Also highpass might help to get arid of kick vibrating the floor.

 

[Fbarre]

After you recorded the cymbals use a transient designer to boost the attack for better trigger accuracy. This one here is freeware http://www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/bittersweet-v3

 

[drew_drummer]

I've often thought about getting one of those Samson microphone sets and then reinforcing the casing with something that will block the sound; some sort of glue or rubber sleeve maybe.

 

[~BURNY~]

Piezos are supposed to do exactly that. Don't know how well they'd pick cymbal transients vs decay though.
I used these to trigger a kick years ago taping it on the shell. Worked alright.
http://www.thomann.de/fr/barcus_berry_soundboard_transducer.htm

 

[abaga129]

By headphone mic do you mean like from a headset? And the transient designer is a great idea. Never thought of that. However when I used bittersweet, it had a bug where every now and then it would play as off the attack knob was at max.. but I just bought SPL attacker a few days ago so it should do the job.

 

[Kohugaly]

I mean something like this

I'm sure you and your friends have a couple of these laying around. Yeah, it's basically to replace piezo-triggers. I mean, that mic inside is like 1.50€ and it needs 3-5v power to ring...tip is signal and sleeve is the ground. You can salvage them even from mobile phones and separate them from the headphones, if you're not afraid of soldiering and manufacturing custom powering box (they will not work connected to professional equipment, as they need powering explained above). You can very easily find schematics by tiping "electret microphone" to google. I've made working 3AAbatery-powered stereo microphone basically from electronic garbage and a toilet-paper-roll and with zero experience. Sound is very noisy and shitty in general, but as triggering microphone it works (worked... my mom threw it out thinking it's garbage).

I recommend you simply buying the piezo-triggers. They will be much more reliable.

 

[abaga129]

Piezos are supposed to do exactly that. Don't know how well they'd pick cymbal transients vs decay though.
I used these to trigger a kick years ago taping it on the shell. Worked alright.
http://www.thomann.de/fr/barcus_berry_soundboard_transducer.htm

I just looked into those and they definitely seem like the best option. I'm gonna get 4 of then and wire them up. Do you know if they need any set of power/preamp or can I just wire them to an xlr cable and run them straight into the line ins on my interface?

 

[~BURNY~]

I just looked into those and they definitely seem like the best option. I'm gonna get 4 of then and wire them up. Do you know if they need any set of power/preamp or can I just wire them to an xlr cable and run them straight into the line ins on my interface?

You need to run them into a mic pre rather than a line input. Wire them to an XLR yes. Putting phantom power trough them is a definite no-no. You might damage them and even get an electric shock.

 

[abaga129]

Haha I just realized I said "wire them to an xlr cable and run them straight to the line ins" that makes no sense lol. But okay sweet, I'all have to be careful not to hit that fantom power switch.

 

[Sloan]

I have seen e609's used for cymbals in live settings. They have pretty good isolation.

 

[Trevoire520]

I just looked into those and they definitely seem like the best option. I'm gonna get 4 of then and wire them up. Do you know if they need any set of power/preamp or can I just wire them to an xlr cable and run them straight into the line ins on my interface?

No need to spend that much money on them, you can get drumdial triggers from America for about £10 each and they look like they're the same design as those. Or you could just buy piezo transducers on ebay and wire them up to a jack/xlr yourself. The piezo's literally cost pennies!

 

[abaga129]

I actually just bought 4 of the transducers from radio shack along with some male xlr connectors. If these work well, I'll definitely buy some more. Can't beat $15 for 4 drum triggers.