dynamic vs condenser

colorsound said:
also, i've found my one an only condensor mic to get distortion when i play acoustic guitar and sing simultaneously into it. I think when i first bought it it didn't but it has for a while now. I took it back to the store, got a brand new one with my reciept, and took it home to find it was still just as distorted. it's not the cable either....
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Looks like you’ve isolated the mic and cable. Now you need to continue with the rest of the signal chain.

First, check the minipre. Turn the gain control down and play into the mic while turning the gain control back up. When the “Clip” LED lights, back off the gain just a tad and it should be correctly set. Incidentally, for condenser mics in general, the input gain will end up being lower than with a dynamic.

Once the input gain’s set correctly, look at you recorder’s meters (or soundcard’s software and recording software’s meters) and adjust the minipre’s output control so that it’s not overdriving the recorder’s input. If the distortion persist, you have a faulty component somewhere.

One really big clue here is what you said about it working well when you bought it, but not now. It could very well be that the minipre's tube (or some other component) has gone bad.
 
guitarist said:
The mic I have says it's a hypercardioid dynamic Lo-Z(Low impeadence, right?) That probably has something to do with it...
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Nope. You’ve either got problems at the preamp/mixer or your mic just isn’t doing it’s job very well. You have to swap mics and/or preamps before you’re going to know. See my reply to colorsound above.
 
There's another significant difference between dynamic and condenser mics.

The dynamic has a natural kind of compression, which the condenser has not.

Think of it this way: the dynamic is a smal alternator, we say dynamo. Sorry for some bad English, I'm Dutch.

Just like the dynamo in a car is going to slow down the engine's RPM if you turn on the headlights, the dynamic mic is going to do something alike when it has to work hard because of a high SPL.

This causes a nice compression. All because of Lenz law.

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/java/lenzlaw/
 
if the tube lights up, can it still have gone bad?

it's getting worse! now everytime i use my condensor i'm prone to get these clicks and bumps, like when you have a loose cable, and the signal keeps going on and off fast. maybe it is the preamp. help please!
 
I just gotta put my vote in for having both. I've had dynamics only for years. The standard sm57/58, but after being here for a year or so, I had to get a condensor. I'm glad I did, I now use condensors a lot.
 
colorsound,

do you know anyone locally who you can borrow a mic pre long enough to test your mic (or mics) on? That should tell you immediately, but I suspect you may need to buy yourself a new preamp. Which sucks.

Are your other mics doing this now as well? I'm not technical nor nearly as adept as any of these other guys, but just curious.

Good luck,
Kirstin
 
Also, does anyone here think it could be a cable problem? I just don't know...but colorsound made a comment that it "sounds" like it would if he had a loose cable.

Ignore me if I'm ignorant...I wouldn't deny it.:)

-Kirstin
 
Neither Guitarist or colorsound ever came back and gave us an update. I guess they either didn’t fix their problems, or did and forgot to tell us...:p
 
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