The Lauten Audio Tom Microphone is a purpose-built large diaphragm condenser microphone expressly designed to capture the sound of tom toms on a drum set, and deal with the challenges implicit in recording them. Featuring a newly designed super-cardioid capsule and dual-bias circuitry, the Tom Mic is intended to capture pure, high-definition rack and floor tom sonics with maximum impact and tone. Additionally, a new bleed-blocking head design provides up to 28dB off-axis rejection and promises far less cymbal bleed than a traditional dynamic or condenser microphone. With this enhancement, the Tom Mic achieves crisp, clear tom sounds with depth and massive bottom.
Intended for both studio recording and live sound reinforcement, the Tom Mic is compact. Built to withstand the high-pressure environment of the drum set, the Tom Mic has a solid brass headframe and mildew-resistant dust filter to protect against stick hits, dust, and debris. Being a side address pickup, the Tom Mic can fit in tight spaces, as is often required when navigating cymbals in close quarters.
Lauten Audio sent me three Tom Mics to audition. I recorded them on a DW Custom drum set that had four Tom Toms. I immediately noticed that the Lauten Tom Mics sound big and open with beautiful definition, detail, and plenty of output. The fourth tom tom had a more traditional dynamic microphone which also sounded great, but the Lauten Tom Mics definitely have their own thing. And as mentioned, the Lauten mics had substantially less leakage from the kick drum, snare, and cymbals.
An interesting feature is a set of Hi Pass and Low Pass Filters with multiple settings. Lauten calls this “onboard sound shaping.” The High Pass Filter offers Flat / 80Hz / 140Hz roll off settings and the Low Pass Filter offers Flat / 5kHz / 12kHz roll off settings so you can really tailor the frequency response of the Tom Mic with a large degree of variability. Lauten has a cheat sheet for filter settings with names like “slap reduction,” “no problem,” “rack attack” and more, so I suggest looking at their website for some good starting points on filter settings. All this of course begs the question about whether the Tom Mic has or needs a pad, but with SPL Handling: >135dB (0.5%THD@1000Hz) and a dynamic Range rated at 135dB minimum, the Tom Mic is built to handle the softest and loudest drum set situations.
Tom Mic comes with an articulating swivel mount and a Cordura padded bag. $398 Street; $549 MSRP
