Austrian Audio OC-B6

Are you ready to try something a little different inside your bass drum?

Austrian Audio describe their OC‑B6 as the “world’s first purpose‑built large‑diaphragm condenser kick mic”. Such mics are certainly unusual, although I think Sontronics would point out that their DM‑1B has been around for some years now. The Neumann U47 FET has also long been a popular choice on bass drums and speaker cabs, though it wasn’t designed specially for the purpose.

Folk physics might suggest a link between diaphragm size and low‑frequency response, but this is illusory. Wavelengths of frequencies below 300Hz are measured in metres, so a difference of half an inch or so in diaphragm width is unlikely to make much difference. And any classical engineer will tell you that the most faithful capture of deep bass is achieved with small‑diaphragm omni mics, rather than large‑diaphragm cardioid models.

However, we’re not dealing here with organ recitals or Mahler symphonies, and normal rules don’t necessarily apply to a mic designed to be positioned inside the source it’s capturing. In the immortal words of Joe Meek: if it sounds good, it is good. So, does it?