What to Expect from the Telefunken M80 Supercardioid Dynamic Mic?
Quality
You get fairly good quality recordings when using the Telefunken M80, especially when placing it on snare drums or toms.
When it’s on a snare, it does a good job of capturing the force and crack from rimshots. It also picks up ghost notes well.
On toms, you get a warm and open sound, making your toms sound quite resonant.
The mix you get when using the mic is relatively simple to work with, as the wide frequency response makes it great for picking up whatever tuning your drums have.
The microphone also cuts bleed out extremely well. This means that you can’t hear other drums apart from the one you have it placed on, which is something many microphones struggle with on a drum set.
Construction
Keep in mind that this is primarily a vocal microphone, so it’s designed to feel comfortable when being held. So, the casing is a bit larger than some other drum kit mics, making positioning a bit tricky.
However, the casing is very durable. If you hit this mic with a drumstick, it will likely be fine.
It’s also just a solid microphone that will give you many years of reliable use.
Performance
As we said earlier, this mic does a good job of giving a warm and open sound to whatever drum you place it on. If you use a bunch of these as close mics for your snare and toms, you’ll get a solid drum kit sound in your mix.
The mic also works very well for live performances, as it accurately reflects your drum tones and puts them out to the crowd.
With that said, the mic doesn’t perform as well as dedicated drum kit dynamic mics. Something like a Shure SM57 would be a better option for drummers.
It’s good for versatility, though, and that’s often what people want when owning microphones.