Behringer Single Diaphragm Condenser Microphone B-5 - Manual (Page 3)

3 SINGLE DIAPHRAGM CONDENSER MICROPHONE B-5 User Manual
1. Power Supply
Phantom power (+48 V) is required to operate your microphone. We assume
no liability for damage caused to your B-5 through deffective phantom power.
Before activating phantom power, mute your playback system and connect the
B-5 to the microphone input of your mixing console. After activating phantom
power, the B-5 requires several seconds to stabilize itself.
2. Pickup Patterns
Your B-5 was delivered with two capsules allowing different pickup patterns:
cardioid ( ) and omnidirectional ( ).
If you use the cardioid pattern capsule, the pickup pattern is such that the sound
produced by sources located in front of the mic is strongly picked up, while sound
sources to the side are picked up less pronouncedly. Therefore, the cardioid
pattern capsule is ideal for directional pickup of acoustic instruments. It is
often used in recording situations in which several sound sources are present.
Since this capsule selectively tones down the pickup of sounds located to the side
of the microphone, this way you can achieve good separation of sound sources,
thus easily avoiding feedback.
The so-called proximity effect is typical for microphones with the cardioid pickup
pattern. Depending on the distance between the microphone and the sound
source, a slight increase in the lower frequency range occurs. The shorter the
distance, the more pronounced this effect. By cleverly selecting the position and
the angle of your microphone, you can effectively manipulate the proximity effect
and thus affect how your recording sounds. Experiment with various positions in
order to gain more experience.
The proximity effect does not occur with the capsule featuring the omnidirectional
pickup pattern; its strength is its ultra-linear frequency response. With this
pickup pattern, your B-5 picks up a large portion of diffuse ambience sound
and is therefore particularly well suited for atmospherical, natural-sounding
recordings. Similarly, you can also use the omnidirectional pickup pattern capsule
in situations in which several sound sources (e. g. a group of singers) need to be
picked up together.