blue "the ball", anyone use it?

[J. FO]

hey, getting curious about this mic. anybody tried it? wondering what good applications for it exist. looking for a different flavor for snare [other than a 57]. thanks.

[nightshadecrisis]

ive played around with the mics and they are pretty good for some applications, but ive found that it sounds very similar to the sm57. Its used in pretty much any situation where a dynamic mic would be used. the only real differences between the sm57 and the blue is that 1.) the blue obviously has a very different visual appeal to it, and it has a rather muddy middle low end. and as for snare, i wouldnt use it in general because it picks up a good amount of ambience so you'd get substantial bleed. i would look into the Earthworks TC30 . a buddy of mine has some of these and they sound incredible on the snare, and have little bleed. thats my $.02.


evan

[J. FO]

thanks for the info and the suggestion.

[graveleye]

uh,.... there is a little price difference in those mics if I am not mistaken. heheh

[qbert1]

I auditioned one recently. I know this is a rare mic-ing situation for most, but it may offer some insight - The Blue Ball was absolutely terrible for tenor sax. It was as if I was listening to myself (on tenor) through a plastic coffee cup. Not good for me, maybe good for you.

[nightshadecrisis]

oops my bad...yeah there is about a 250 dollar difference, which in recording talk is not much, but im sure most of us agree that the cheaper the better. well i would still stay away from the Ball for snare...maybe save an extra couple hundred for an earthworks?

evan

[J. FO]

thanks again. i like earthworks too, but yeah, a little out of my budget right now as i'm getting ready to go from 001 to 002R. of course a 57 is sounding good right now, just looking for options and intrigued by what may turn out to be a gimmicy mic.