Earthworks CMK4 CloseMic Kit, User Manual

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Earthworks High Definition Microphones

™

the New Science in Microphones

David Blackmer, the brilliant engineer who invented the innovative technol-
ogies  of dbx, is also the inventor and founder of Earthworks. In the last few 
years of his life, David developed a number of revolutionary technologies that 
dramatically improve the sound quality and performance of microphones. In 
short, Earthworks High Definition Microphones™ pick up sounds more accu-
rately and with more detail than conventional microphones. These dramatic 
improvements are in the areas of impulse response, diaphragm settling time 
and advanced polar technologies. Those who have heard Earthworks High 
Definition Microphones™ say they have more rear rejection and more gain 
before feedback in addition to hearing more detail of the attack, more subtle 
detail from low level signals thereby providing a more pristine sound quality 
than with any conventional microphones can provide, regardless of price. 

Miking Drums

There are many ways to mic drums and it seems that most every recording or live 
sound engineer has their own way of doing this. Our objective is not to indicate 
which drum miking approach is better, but to make suggestions and look at ad-
vantages and disadvantages of each. Every engineer or producer uses their own 
methods to obtain the results they desire, and that’s what matters. 

Multi-microphone Method

The objective in multi-microphone drum miking is to place a separate micro-
phone on most or all the elements of a drum set. Typically, separate mics are 
used on snare, toms, hi-hat and kick drum, along with one or two overhead 
microphones. The overhead mics pick up the overall sound of the drum set 
including cymbals (which are typically not miked separately). By this method, 
the mixing engineer can control the level, and signal processing (limiting, EQ, 
etc.) for each element of the drum set (toms, snare, hi-hat, etc.). This provides 
a great deal of control over the sound of the entire drum set and allows bring-
ing out certain patterns on hi-hat, snare, etc. Multi-miked drums are desirable 
for live sound, providing more control and increased gain before feedback, 
and when recording in a large room with high ambient sound this reduces the 
amount of unwanted room sound and provides greater control of the drum mix.

Earthworks Near-Perfect Polar Response

One  of  Earthwork’s  proprietary  technologies  is  near-perfect  polar  response 
i.e. very uniform response over the front 160º of the microphone. Conventional 
microphones  (even  expensive  ones)  have  a  loss  of  high  frequencies  at  the 
sides of the microphone. Have you ever tried to put three singers on a single