Microphones to record engine noises

[Burras]

Hi guys,

Im after a microphone that would be capable of recording exhaust notes of cars\motorbikes with a high clarity and with as little distortion as poss. Ive had a good search but can only seem to find dictaphones and vocal\musical microphones...

Any help would be much appriciated (got around £150 budget)

Cheers,
Sam

[Knyght_byte]

Hello there, I'm going to move your thread because this section pertains more to the recording of AV material, such as TV programs etc. Being honest i'm not 100% sure which section would be best for your question. I think General Chat may actually yield more chance of response. If there is a more suitable section that I cant see then one of the Mods there will no doubt move it for you.

I would say your best bet would to contact the BBC and ask for the department that deals with such things, they may be able to link you to a supplier of more industry standard equipment, it sounds like thats what you would need to obtain clarity and low distortion from something like a car/motorbike.

anyhow good luck

moving....

[wombar]

I suspect you could probably get away with something like a shure SM57. That's what I've used to record drums with in the past and it's certainly got the ability to record loud sources clearly as we also used that on our guitarists amp.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/sm-57/1578

Not really sure what you'd be using the recordings for or how high quality they need to be. You could also use a condenser mic(i.e. it picks up background noise as well to a greater degree) which would get the noise from the front of the car/engine as well.

Kinda difficult to answer without knowing a bit more about where you'll be recording and whether you have time to position mics etc.

[EDIT]

Sorry, you might also need a small mixer to plug the mic into as well. Again, it's all going to depend how high quality it needs to be but there's plenty of options on this page.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/p.php?n=181

[Burras]

Cheers for the reply wombar, Im in the process of developing a project website and am looking at putting some decent recordings of motorbike exhaust notes on there. Ive got a Sony MZ R55 mini-disc recorder...Just need to pick up a mic that could do a decient job.

[wombar]

Hi Burras,

Well you've got a few options really and it's all dependant on the location where you'll be recording.

Option 1
If you're able to run a power lead to the location of the bike, you could get yourself an SM57(or whatever mic you choose) and a small mixer like this one.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/...enyx-502/70279

That would allow you to plug one mic in, adjust the levels(i.e. so it's not peaking) and send the source out to your minidisc.

Option 2
Buy something like an SM57 and plug it straight into your minidisc with a relevant cable(i.e. XLR -> Jack). I tried that this morning with my minidisc recorder and my SM57, it was acceptable but I'm not sure how it's going to handle high volumes.

This solution would be portable, but probably won't give you the results you're after in terms of quality.

Option 3
You could also consider something like this:

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/zoom-/71334

I've never used one myself(so I can't guarantee it's going to suit you 100%) but it's portable and has in-built mics. It's probably a little overkill for what you need but it's an option.

Like I said, it's going to be a balancing act between portability and quality. If you're in a controlled location(i.e. without other bikes whizzing around) you may want to consider a condenser microphone that will pick up more of the surrounding noise.

HTH