Lauten Audio has launched Tom Mic as ‘the world’s first large-diaphragm FET condenser microphone built explicitly for use on tom drums’.

Using Lauten Audio’s newly designed supercardioid capsule and dual-bias circuitry, Tom Mic offers up to 28dB of off-axis rejection. The microphone is tuned to elevate the key frequencies for tom drums and provide maximum impact, dynamics and tone with minimal EQ. Its bleed-blocking head design ensures minimal cymbal bleed, while high-cut and low-cut filter switches enable users to 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,’ says 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 are intended to work in the most crowded drum kits. Its solid brass headframe and mildew-resistant dust filter protect Tom Mic from stick hits, dust, and debris for enduring use on the road and in the studio.

‘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 says. ‘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.

‘Tom Mic is Lauten Audio’s most tailored, application-specific microphone ever,’ he adds. ‘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.’

Key specifications:

• Type: Side-address pressure gradient FET condenser.
• Capsule: 32mm.
• Polar Patterns: Super-Cardioid.
• Freq. Response: 20Hz-20kHz.
• High Pass Filter: Flat/80Hz/140Hz.
• Low Pass Filter: Flat/5kHz/12kHz.
• Dynamic Range: 135dB minimum.
• SPL Handling: >135DB (0.5%THD@1kHz).
• Impedance: >150Ω.
• Self-noise level: < 15dB-A.
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 79dB.
• Sensitivity: -58.0dBV/Pa (0dB=1V/Pa 1kHz).
• Connector: 3-pin XLR.
• Power: 48V Phantom Power.
• Dimensions: 127mm x 60mm (mic only) 131mm x 106mm (with mount).
• Weight: 348g (mic only) 450g (with mount).

Lauten Audio Tom Mic is available now for MSRP US$549 (US$398 street).