I had my bluegrass band over this evening and decided to test the AT-4033a, the AT-4040, and a pair of AT-3031 mics to determine which reproduced the sound of the band with one or two mics (like they did in the old days). We are talking all acoustic instruments here. Martin D-21 from the late 60s, newish Gibson F-5 Mando, Recording King banjo and my Taylor AB-3 bass amplified to a similar level as the rest of the band. We stood in a semi-circle and played and sang into the mics one at a time.
I drove the band NUTS. However, upon playback, the band agreed with my thoughts. It was a unanimous vote. We recorded the same song over and over with each mic. Tried placement techniques, etc. Got what we considered the best from each mic for our needs.
I used my dbx 386 mic pre, with no tone shaping on and my SONY CDR-W33 with no tone shaping one. Pure mic signal right to the CD. Recorded each at about -3dB peak.
Hands down, for our application, the AT-4033a is the clear winner. Much more “musical” than the others. It has a strong upper mid peak that really makes banjo, mandolin and voice just jump out at you. Also has nice capacity for low end and really sounds true there.
Followed by the AT-3031 mics. The AT-3031 sounds slightly “tubby” in the lowerer mids. It is a very live mic and has great top end sizzle but cannot get the low end to be full without getting ugly. It was crisper than the 4033 but did not have the “attack”.
The AT-4040 has NO personality. The new flatter sound lacks any sense of “life”. It suffers from the same problem that I find with the AT-4050, a mic that I personally do not like at all.
Now, I do like the sound of the AT-4047 (the FET one) but that is another story and we did not test that one tonight.
I drove the band NUTS. However, upon playback, the band agreed with my thoughts. It was a unanimous vote. We recorded the same song over and over with each mic. Tried placement techniques, etc. Got what we considered the best from each mic for our needs.
I used my dbx 386 mic pre, with no tone shaping on and my SONY CDR-W33 with no tone shaping one. Pure mic signal right to the CD. Recorded each at about -3dB peak.
Hands down, for our application, the AT-4033a is the clear winner. Much more “musical” than the others. It has a strong upper mid peak that really makes banjo, mandolin and voice just jump out at you. Also has nice capacity for low end and really sounds true there.
Followed by the AT-3031 mics. The AT-3031 sounds slightly “tubby” in the lowerer mids. It is a very live mic and has great top end sizzle but cannot get the low end to be full without getting ugly. It was crisper than the 4033 but did not have the “attack”.
The AT-4040 has NO personality. The new flatter sound lacks any sense of “life”. It suffers from the same problem that I find with the AT-4050, a mic that I personally do not like at all.
Now, I do like the sound of the AT-4047 (the FET one) but that is another story and we did not test that one tonight.