Lauten Audio announced the launch of Tom Mic, the world’s first large-diaphragm FET condenser microphone built explicitly for use on tom drums.
Tom Mic has a tailored frequency response attuned to toms and utilised Lauten Audio’s newly designed Supercardioid capsule and powerful dual-bias circuitry, providing up to 28dB of off-axis rejection.
Tom Mic is an approach to capturing the sounds of rack and floor toms with its own specific capsule design and frequency response. The microphone is tuned to elevate the key frequencies for tom drums and provide maximum impact, dynamics, and tone with minimal EQing. Tom Mic’s bleed-blocking head design and dual bias circuitry ensure minimal cymbal bleed which results in high-definition sonics that fit in the mix. For added sonic flexibility, Tom Mic also includes a pair of Lauten’s innovative 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,” explained 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 flexible mounting options make it easy to fit on crowded drum kits. Its newly designed capsule is hand-tuned and vibration-resistant to provide tone while minimising overtones from neighbouring drums. Its solid brass headframe and mildew-resistant dust filter protect Tom Mic from stick hits, dust, and debris for a lifetime of road and studio duty.
“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 continued. “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-308’s 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,” Loudenslager added.
“Tom Mic is Lauten Audio’s most tailored, application-specific microphone ever,” he concluded. “I’m very proud of our modest team and extremely thankful to those who helped us; we couldn’t have done this without help from our extended family.”
