Lauten Snare Mic & Tom Mic

Lauten’s classy new capacitor microphones are purpose‑made for toms and snare drums.

We’re accustomed to using dynamic mics on the individual drums in a kit, but Lauten have taken a different approach with their latest models, which are also dubbed simply the Tom Mic and Snare Mic. The Tom Mic uses a 32mm supercardioid capsule in a side‑address configuration. Its FET circuitry is combined with integral analogue sound‑shaping specifically designed to meet the challenges of tom miking, such as minimising cymbal bleed. As this is a capacitor microphone, 48V phantom powering is required. Lauten Audio use what they describe as a bleed‑blocking head design, and this, combined with their proprietary dual‑bias circuitry, is said to offer up to 28dB of off‑axis rejection. The capsule is shockmounted to minimise the effect of vibration if mounted on a rim clip, and the basket even includes a mildew‑resistant dust filter to avoid problems caused by the decay of accumulated drum stick dust.

The Tom and Snare Mics both feature the same high‑ and low‑pass filter options, but have different ‘default’ frequency responses to suit their respective sources.With a stubby, side‑address profile, the mic comes with a swivel mount secured via a locking ring, and I’m pleased to see that it has a very strong locking mechanism so mic droop shouldn’t be a problem. The overall size of the mic is 127 x 60mm, or 131 x 106mm if you include the mount. Weight is 450g with the mount in place. A satin black finish is applied to the mic body, basket and mount, embellished with a red Lauten crest that denotes the front of the mic.

A pair of three‑way toggle switches on the mic body engage high‑pass and low‑pass filtering, with two frequency options for each filter, plus a flat setting. This filtering isn’t as straightforward as it seems: the response curve has been shaped specifically for toms, and the same is true of the Snare Mic, the latter having a 1kHz dip combined with a small peak at around 3kHz.

With the low‑pass filter set to its ‘flat’ position, the frequency response is not actually flat but rather unmodified. The mic’s ‘default’ frequency response exhibits a lift from 1‑2 kHz, dips sharply at 3kHz, then rises at around 5kHz to capture the stick attack. There’s also reduced sensitivity from 9kHz to 14kHz to minimise cymbal bleed.

Using the 12kHz low‑pass filter tames bright tom strikes and further reduces cymbal bleed. The 5kHz setting attenuates cymbal bleed even more, while still preserving the general impact and tone of the tom.

With the high‑pass filter switch in the flat position, low frequencies are not filtered out. Since smaller toms may not produce so much low end, there are 80Hz and 140Hz high‑pass options for cleaning up the lows and reducing kick‑drum spill. The frequency response of the mic (without filtering) is quoted as 20Hz‑20kHz, though with no ‘dB down’ limits specified, those figures are not particularly informative. Dynamic range is specified as 135dB minimum and the self‑noise a low 15dB A‑weighted. Expressed as a signal‑to‑noise ratio, this works out at 79dB. While normal drum miking doesn’t require particularly low noise figures, it is good to know that this mic is quiet enough to use on alternative forms of percussion that may not be so loud. Both the Tom and Snare Mics have a deliberately lower sensitivity than for a typical general‑purpose capacitor mic, as close‑miked drums present a loud environment. The LS‑508’s sensitivity is specified at 1.3mV/Pa.

Unlike the Tom Mic, the Snare Mic is an end‑fire design.

LS‑408 Snare Mic

The Snare Mic is also a FET capacitor microphone, with a similarly stubby form factor body and the same mounting hardware, but this time configured as an end‑fire mic. The capsule is also a 32mm design, but here with a cardioid pickup pattern rather than supercardioid, and it has a different response in the mids and highs. This model has an overall size of 109 x 50mm, or 112 x 71mm with the mount. There are the same body‑mounted EQ switches, with the same options as for the Tom Mic. As before, the flat low‑pass option delivers an unfiltered high‑frequency response to capture the stick impact, maintaining an airy high end while the low end captures the punch of the fundamental frequency.

Lauten Audio Snare MicAs with the Tom Mic, the low‑pass filtering options can be used to shape the high end or to reduce bleed from cymbals and hi‑hats. Overall, the general specifications are very similar to those of the Tom Mic, but with a slightly different sensitivity of 0.5mV/Pa. Both mics are shipped in cardboard boxes and include the mount, a cleaning cloth with Lauten logo, and a padded zip‑up storage bag.

Performance

While they’re not the cheapest options for recording toms and snares, given that these are FET capacitor mics they are not unduly costly either, especially taking into account the reputation of their manufacturer. The mounting hardware is excellent, and the short, stubby bodies make positioning easy. They are also solidly engineered so the odd wayward drum stick shouldn’t upset them too much.

As with most drum mics, you have to know what to expect from a close‑miked tom position, as some of the stick articulation invariably gets suppressed, and the proximity effect of the supercardioid capsule also beefs up the low end as you get closer. If that becomes too much, the built‑in high‑pass filters on both models are a very welcome addition. Once you add in your overhead mics, you get a really solid tom sound with just the right amount of stick impact. I also tried the Tom Mic on my set of three Rototoms; positioned maybe half a metre above the toms, the drums stayed pretty well balanced and I didn’t lose the ringiness and stick impact as you often do when putting a mic very close.

With both models, you will capture more stick attack by aiming the mic across the head, starting from the usual ‘just inside the rim’ position around 50mm above the head, which means that you can get a good position using a rim clip if that is your preference. Aiming the mic across the head in this way is Lauten’s recommendation.

The Snare Mic captures all the snare snap and rattle you could wish for, and you can filter out the lows using the onboard EQ to avoid too much kick drum spill...

The Snare Mic also demonstrates what most engineers already know about positioning. If you just mic the top head, you lose some of the snare sound but capture a good solid punch, so the overheads might bring back just enough snare rattle for the drum mix to work. If not, you can mic the bottom of the snare (remembering to invert the polarity relative to the top mic, if using both). Used beneath the snare, the Snare Mic captures all the snare snap and rattle you could wish for, and you can filter out the lows using the onboard EQ to avoid too much kick‑drum spill. Used on its own, the sound from an under‑snare position becomes very snares‑heavy, so balancing the top and bottom mics in the context of what the overheads are capturing is the key to a well‑balanced snare sound. Another advantage of adding an under‑snare mic is that you can use the filters on the top mic to suppress the spill from hi‑hats and cymbals without losing high‑frequency articulation, as the under‑snare mic puts that back in. Having two different HF roll‑off positions is a big help in that respect.

Verdict

Both these mics are strong performers, and though they won’t compensate for poor miking technique, they do allow for more flexibility than most commonly used snare and tom mics when in the right hands. Their drum‑specific voicings are invaluable, as are the flexible filter settings that are specifically tailored to the job in hand.