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Pearl Microphone Laboratory ELM-C

Cardioid Condenser Microphone

The ELM-C is a fixed-cardioid version of Pearl’s ELM-A.

Both are large-diaphragm FET condenser microphones with Pearl’s innovative long, rectangular mic capsule.

The single difference between the two mics is that the ELM-A has two channels of output, one from each side of the capsule. In contrast, the ELM-C is a mono cardioid microphone, whose rear diaphragm is probably not even connected to the amplifier circuit.

SoundOnSound, 2006

Once you have mastered positioning this mic, its sound quality is impressive. There is something of a ribbon mic’s smoothness and naturalness about the sound… [T]he ELM-C seems slightly brighter than a typical large-diaphragm mic… and the top end seems a little more detailed, yet the sound is also smoother… [It is] not quite as bright, crisp, and clinical as a typical small diaphragm, yet brighter and smoother than a typical large diaphragm while retaining much of the same sense of scale.

MIX, 2005

Although the ELM-C sounded great on most recordings carried out for this test, it was simply awesome when used in stereo on a Yamaha C3 grand piano. The mics were placed about a foot over the strings and provided a beautiful rendition of the C3’s brightness and body.

Resolution, 2004

A technique I like to use on drums… is to position a stereo pair in front of the kit, and raised slightly higher than the cymbals… I was supplied with a pair of ELM-Cs, together with a shockmount for each and a stereo bar, which makes short work of setting up either a coincident or near coincident pair. The result was pretty staggering, yielding a kit sound that had great focus and space, but with none of the room ?honk? that you generally need to dial out with EQ and then supplement with individual microphones. Moreover, I was able to move the stereo pair quite some distance away to tame a slight splashiness to the cymbal sound without losing too much of the detail of the direct sound.

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Specifications

Frequency Response - CardioidClick Graph to Compare!

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
Cardioid (22 mV/Pa; 20 - 25,000 Hz)

Capsule Dimensions	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Diaphragm diameter: 10mm Capsule diameter: 69mm	100 Ohms (Low)	Max SPL: 126 dB Self-noise: 10.0 dB(A)

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
305g (10.76oz)	192mm (7.56'')	32mm (1.26'')	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power Phantom voltage: 48v

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