DPA 4055 Kick Drum Microphone for a very high SPL sound recording?

[Masaki Hatsui]

Hi there,

 

Basically, I don't have much interest in microphones focused on musical instruments, but I've just looked at the specification of this microphone and thought it might be interesting to record something other than a kick drum.
It seems to have a very flat frequency response with a slight boost at 10k,

Distortion, THD < 1% is 156dB SPL RMS, 159 dB SPL peak,

Max. SPL, THD 10% is even 164 dB SPL peak.

This may be a good candidate for recording a gunshot, an aircraft engine, etc.

 

Does anyone who uses it for PA or music recording have any comments or impressions to share?

 

 

 

 

 

[Izen Ears]

I bet it'll sound great for screaming.  I use kick drum mics to record bass and also tom toms.  My pal Mark told me he used drum mics for the screaming scenes in Beasts Of The Southern Wild and they sounded great.

[OB1]

I use a 4099 for very loud screaming, gunshots, etc. Works fantastic. Never used a 4055 but on paper many of the upper thresholds exceed that of the 4099 so it should be sonically appealing.

[Rick Reineke]

For high SPL sources, I use a Sennheiser 421, I also have a Shure Beta 91a, but I have never used it on anything other than a kick. The Phantom Powered Beta 91 is a half-cardioid boundary mic. SM57s can handle high SPLs as well. I have a few of them for snare and guitar amps and as a podium/lectern mic.

I am sure the DPA 4055 sounds good, It's a little pricey for occasional use and I already have the above.

[Masaki Hatsui]

Thank you very much for these inputs.
One point that differentiates this microphone from the other bass drum microphone is that it is not a dynamic microphone but rather a condenser microphone.

Its price tag is indeed higher than that of other competitor, but less than other 40xx series mic. What intrigues me from its price tag is, if it is whether an equivalent of the recently released 20xx mic rather than more familiar (for us) 40xx series despite its numbering...