Crown Sound Grabber II

The Crown Sound Grabber II is a PZM (pressure zone microphone) that can be suited for both live shows or in the studio.  I personally only have experience with this microphone in the studio, although it is definitely suitable for use outside of the studio.  The mic is definitely a unique one and those who don't know about PZMs, basically all you need to do it place it in a room in order for it to do its job and pick up everything around it.  The mic has a hemispherical polar pick up pattern and will pick up frequencies between 50 Hz and 16 KHz.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the Crown Sound Grabber II PZM microphone for a little less than a year and I have found it to be an effective PZM mic.  I don't usually use this microphone as the only mic around to pick up sounds, rather I use it as a supplemental microphone.  I often won't use the sound in the final mix, but sometimes I find that it sounds great and is perfect to blend with.  Beyond just using it to pick up all of the sounds in a room, it is also good for some specific applications like piano, as it is easy to place on the inside of the cover of the piano.  I find that this does a great job of picking up the signal, but unless there are other things going on the in room I will generally again, use this a supplemental microphone with a condenser or a more detailed microphone.  While this isn't the best PZM microphone that I have used, it definitely gets the job done and because of its reasonable price, it won't break the bank.  This is the perfect microphone for someone who is looking for a PZM on the cheap, but who also doesn't want to get something that will break easily as I have found Crown to generally make reliable products, including the Sound Grabber II.  All in all, the Crown Sound Grabber II is a unique microphone and is the perfect way to try out a PZM microphone.