Why is a AT2035 better when used upside down?
 

I saw this comment a few times and I'm curious as to why. Is this true or an urban legend, :D

It's not true.
Tube mics are sometime hung upside down because of the heat.
The 2035 is a solid state mic.

I've never heard this before...and I would seriously doubt that it's true. I use AT4050s quite often & have hung them right side up, upside down & sideways without hearing any difference in tone. The different positions were merely a product of getting the mic into the right place for the recording.

The reason you see people hang mics upside down in old pictures comes from using old tube mics. They would get hot and engineers began hanging them upside down to keep the heat from the tube in the mic body from wafting up to the capsule & effecting the mic's sound/performance.

HTH.

There's another very practical reason to hang the mics upside down: If you hang them upside down and right about nose level, they don't get in the way of sheet music or a lead sheet on a music stand below.


Bob

In my world, big mics in general are more practical upside down about 95% of the time. Especially if they're on a boom. They're always in the way of something otherwise.

In video/photo situations, sideways is the least intrusive. Good with keyboard players who need to either read music or have eye contact, too. I try not to do it unless I have to because the strain on the mount is huge, and there's a far greater risk of having the mount or the boom allow the mic to droop (or worse) mid-take. There's no sonic benefit, near as I can tell.

Yep. The above-the-nose thing is about getting above the pop zone. Once you are up there it makes sense to run it upside down so that it doesn't get in the way of the music stand. All practical, no alchemy.

Bob

Why has no one stated the obvious reason - because they look cooler upside down.

Besides the already mentioned reasons, supposedly if you raise the mic diaphragm slightly above nose level, the vocalist has to tilt the head up slightly which can help open up the angle of the windpipe for more air flow ... whether it makes much difference I don't know

Teachers and choirmasters and opera singers and at least one recording engineer would probably disagree with you. I'm pretty sure about the recording engineer. :-)

Maybe so, I guess I must have heard it from the vocal coach, and from several recording engineers actually, so if there is disagreement if would be with them.

Okay, apologies for just quoting the gist and not the whole thing.

As for whether it makes a difference or not, we can see for ourselves without vocal coaches or engineers. Just raise your chin up wolf-howl high, sing the open vowel sound of your choice, and slowly lower your chin toward your chest. At about the midpoint, you may start to hear (and feel) a difference.

Or you may not. I don't know. :-)

Accepted, However to clarify a bit further no one but you was talking about "wolf howl" posture. For example I could suggest press your chin tight against your chest and try to belt out a note, then slowly raise even all the way to "wolf howl" posture , you may start to hear and feel that raising the head allows air flow but lowering restricts it very quickly .... And why do you think it is wolves do actually raise their head to howl :hmm: ?????? but that statement would also be inconsistent with the actual "gist" of the discussion . Also the reason most vocal coaches recommend head level is for relaxation , not max air flow (which is what I mentioned )
And last, Perhaps I should have specified .....It was just something I heard a couple of different engineers (on two different coasts ) mention as a reason for mic position , but could definitely just be individual audio engineer folklore......Lets move on shall we ?