Saxguy's Full Review: Audix OM3 Professional Microphone
This is my second submission to my thinly-subscribed Personal Milestone write-off in celebration of my 100,000th hit about a month ago.
In mid-July, I had my first outdoor concert where I was responsible for the sound system. While I have been a performer for many years, my performances before did not require a heavy duty sound system or the venue was providing it.
In preparation for this day, I had started compiling a sound system with a mixer, powered monitors and microphones. For the stationery mikes, I was looking for good sound, quality and durability and versatility. My band of choice is myself on saxes, guitar, bass (electric or acoustic) and drums, with myself on wireless mikes and a mike for announcements.
I wanted to make sure that I had at least 2 microphones for each application. I also figured out that microphones, as electronic devices, likely would not wear out at my intended usage level and so I looked on Ebay for quality microphones at good prices. I found a lot offered by a seller with great feedback, that had a Shure SM-57, a Shure SM-58, and 2 Audix OM3 mikes for around $200 and the guy threw in mike cords and clips for each.
Audix had a solid reputation and I saw that I could use the OM3 for guitar, snare and tom-toms. Audix’s own brochure said that it could be used for drums and I took that to mean cymbals as well. Maybe it was a stretch, but I hoped it would be ok. I hoped its features of being unidirectional (receives sound from all around) and hypercardoid (sensitivity to nearby sound sources) would help.
We got to the gig. My plan was to use one mike on the snare/toms/cymbal instead of one on the cymbal and a second on the snares and toms. I felt like dealing with one would be easier than two, if we could find a mike versatile enough to handle the high drums. The drummer agreed. I decided beforehand to use a boom stand and drop the mike in equidistant from the ride cymbal, snare and tom-tom. With the high frequency of the cymbal, I figured it, like the bass drum, would cut through the band sound and so the amplification would be more necessary on the snare and toms.
We fiddled with placement a little, between me, my son, who was working sound and the drummer and came up with a good sounding placement. I used monitor speakers to reflect the main PA sound back to me and I was quite pleased with the reproduction. I could hear the snare and drums and cymbals and they were blending well with everybody else.
We got good comments on the overall band sound during the break from some professional musicians in the audience, friends of the bass player. The concert went well and the client was happy.
For me, this was a milestone. I had wondered whether to lay out $1400 for the speakers I wanted, because I don’t get that many gigs where I have to provide live sound for a crowd of 300-500 people. This time, I rented 4 speakers (2 Yorkville Y-115 and 2 Yorkville Y-150, a powered mixer (Yorkville M810), and a couple of mike stands for a cost of well under $100. I provided the mikes, the monitors and the rest of the stands and everything worked great. I now have no intention of buying the speakers, although certainly I’ll evaluate the situation if I get more concert-type gigs where I am providing live sound.
This mike did a great job as a single snare/tom/ride cymbal mike and I would recommend it for this purpose. List price on this new is $199.95; I’ve seen it from the discounters for $129.95. You could look at buying one used on Ebay. I did and it worked well, but you probably want to do business with someone who has a lot of feedbacks and a feedback percent well over 99.5.
Here are the specs from a dealer’s web site:
Transducer type: dynamic
Frequency response: 50 Hz- 18kHz
Polar pattern: hypercardioid
Output impedance: 250 ohms
Sensitivity: 2.5mV/ Pascal
Capsule technology: VLM Type B
Off-axis rejection: >25dB
Maximum SPL: >144dB
Cable/connector: 3-pin gold-plated maleXLR
Polarity: positive voltage on pin 2 relative to pin 3 of output XLR connector
Housing: Zinc alloy
Weight: 10.87oz/308.4 grams
The manufacturer reports that this mike has a balanced response across frequencies and is able to handle high input without distortion.
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