Small condenser for vocals?

[pcm81]

The usual way to use the condenser mics is to use LDC for vocals and SDC for instruments. Yet, in most of truly high end recordings (think Pavarotti, or Hvorostovskiy (he won voice of the world award in 1989 while was still a student in conservatory)) I see a small condenser pair used as the vocal mic. Here are couple examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaeBRqIqQkI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceeqM5JyWI4&list=PL6E78441B7E2F8559
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voj3q96Tu3A&list=PL6E78441B7E2F8559
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7tI6NoEznw

Clearly recordings of this level were miced by people who know what they are doing, with almost unlimited resources. Why were small condenser pair chosen over large condenser mic?

Thanks ahead

My only guess is that small condensers are better (more accurate) mics than large condensers, but since most people can't sing that well, large condensers hide their faults better?

 

[Chapbass]

First off, heres a general primer on LDC vs SDC:

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University/Technology-Guide/Large-Diaphragm.aspx


All the recordings you've linked are live performances. SDC's in general (if set up properly) will have much better off axis rejection than most LDC's (though exceptions exist). One nice thing about this is you can have the microphone slightly further away from the source and still get a good sound.

This is important for live performances as people want to see the vocalist, and this is very hard to do with LDCs as they are quite big. From some quick reading, it looks like some of the Schoeps microphones that were used in those recordings had most of the electronics in the base and just the capsule at the top, making it even smaller so you can see him better.

Also, a guy like Pavarotti has some serious SPL going on from his voice...you need a mic that can handle a HUGE dynamic range and yet still sound good (hence, dynamic mics like most rock groups use aren't going to sound very good, as they don't have very good frequency range typically, and certainly don't have the clarity of a condenser). SDC's are better at this than LDCs typically.


Just found this, which should give you some info: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may08/articles/classictracks_0508.htm