Lauten Audio has announced the launch of Tom Mic, a large-diaphragm FET condenser microphone built explicitly for use on tom drums.
Tom Mic has a tailored frequency response attuned to toms and utilizes the company’s newly designed supercardioid capsule and dual-bias circuitry to provide stated off-axis rejection of up to 28 dB. The result is more crisp, high-definition sounds with less cymbal bleed for use on stage and in the studio.
The microphone is tuned to elevate the key frequencies for tom drums and provide the desired impact, dynamics, and tone with minimal equalization. Tom Mic’s bleed-blocking head design and dual bias circuitry are intended to minimize cymbal bleed. Tom Mic also includes a pair of Lauten’s high and low-cut filter switches, enabling users to musically rebalance the attack and body of any tom at the flip of a switch.
“Being a fly on the wall during studio sessions, we learned that big, large diaphragm condenser microphones on Toms are a recording engineer’s dream,” explains Lauten Audio founder Brian Loudenslager. “Typically though, they are limited to rooms in the studio with amazing acoustics and are unusable live due to bleed and the fact that they would get in the way of performing. We’ve made that dream possible in any situation. Tom Mic has that sound without the footprint or bleed. The most common feedback is that they’re so easy and forgiving to get a good tom sound without any processing.”
Tom Mic’s compact size and mounting options are designed to make it easier to fit on even the most crowded drum kits. Its newly designed capsule is hand-tuned and vibration-resistant to provide quality tone while minimizing overtones from neighboring drums. A solid brass headframe and mildew-resistant dust filter protect Tom Mic from stick hits, dust, and debris.”
“Tom Mic is three-plus years in the making, and much thought and effort went into making a microphone with this timbre, this much rejection, and in this size,” Loudenslager continues. “Tom Mic is also very different from our LS-308: a new large diaphragm pressure gradient supercardioid capsule, a new circuit, and a much smaller body; literally less than half its size.”
“On a more humorous note, it’s also our most leaked product ever! Over the past seven months, I’ve been getting lots of DMs from people saying they’ve spotted LS-308s on toms. The reality is that it was almost always Tom Mic hiding in plain sight at live gigs being field-tested. For example, Antony King and Ian Beveridge have had them on Josh Freese’s kit for the Foo Fighters since November last year.”
