rob aylestone
Moderator
She has them back now Dave. I still didn't have the courage to ask for the HD24, but that will have been in the same location which doesn't bode well.
A good test of small condensers
- Thread starter rob aylestone
- Start date
TalismanRich
Well-known member
I'm going to piggy-back on your SDC thread. This is how I like to test a new mic.
A bit of background story.
I have a pair of Rode M5s that came with just the mics and the clips in the cardboard box. I was looking at getting a case, but that was going to run me somewhere in the realm of $35. Then I came across the Behringer C2 setup. Two mics, windscreens, clips and a plastic stereo bar, along with a case for $45. I spent that much for a stereo bar some years back. Sign me up! Even if the mics are total trash, I have the case, windscreens and bar.
The mics showed up today, so I decided to give them a good workout against my M5s. First thing was to set one up on the bar next to an M5. I used a white noise file on my phone to set the level to within about 0.5dB. I recorded the white noise and took a profile of it with the BlueCat plugin,. Both were hitting between -55 and -60dB ( the phone wasn't loud). The preamp setting on the Rode was straight up, the Behringer was just a tick higher, maybe 12:30 on a dial. Not a huge difference.
Then I just looked at the mics with room noise, trying to be really quiet to see how their self noise levels would compare.The Rode M5 was 8 to 10dB quieter here. This somewhat surprised me since both claim 19dB self noise and 75dB S/N.
I boosted a section of the quiet room comparison for both mics by the same amount. There's a distinct difference in the noise levels. The approximate 10dB difference was confirmed with the channel meters.
The final test was to try a bit of recording. Leaving all the levels the same, I did a bit of acoustic guitar/vocal (Imaginary Western), and made a mono file of each microphone. The only processing was a 2dB drop of the guitar relative to the voice, and a tiny bit of reverb (about -50dB down) to make the vocal sound not so dry. The C2 is definitely brighter than the M5, which I have generally found to be a bit thin vs my AKG P120 or my LDCs. That works well with my Taylor 310ce, which can get a bit bassy being a dread..
So, is the C2 a piece of junk that I can toss in the Goodwill pile? Nope. Yes, it's a bit noisy, and kind of bright, but the brightness can be tamed with a bit of EQ, which should also help with the noise. But I didn't get up really close (singing about a foot away, playing about 18 inches away). It supposedly can handle 140dB so getting close for more volume might lower the noise floor plenty. Or you could just say it sounds like tape hiss.
Here are the two audio files for comparison.
Rode M5
Behringer C2
What do you think? Would it be usable? For $45 for a pair, including case and bar, it's a bargain. Now I just need to find something to store them in since the M5s are going in the plastic case.
A bit of background story.
I have a pair of Rode M5s that came with just the mics and the clips in the cardboard box. I was looking at getting a case, but that was going to run me somewhere in the realm of $35. Then I came across the Behringer C2 setup. Two mics, windscreens, clips and a plastic stereo bar, along with a case for $45. I spent that much for a stereo bar some years back. Sign me up! Even if the mics are total trash, I have the case, windscreens and bar.
The mics showed up today, so I decided to give them a good workout against my M5s. First thing was to set one up on the bar next to an M5. I used a white noise file on my phone to set the level to within about 0.5dB. I recorded the white noise and took a profile of it with the BlueCat plugin,. Both were hitting between -55 and -60dB ( the phone wasn't loud). The preamp setting on the Rode was straight up, the Behringer was just a tick higher, maybe 12:30 on a dial. Not a huge difference.
Then I just looked at the mics with room noise, trying to be really quiet to see how their self noise levels would compare.The Rode M5 was 8 to 10dB quieter here. This somewhat surprised me since both claim 19dB self noise and 75dB S/N.
I boosted a section of the quiet room comparison for both mics by the same amount. There's a distinct difference in the noise levels. The approximate 10dB difference was confirmed with the channel meters.
The final test was to try a bit of recording. Leaving all the levels the same, I did a bit of acoustic guitar/vocal (Imaginary Western), and made a mono file of each microphone. The only processing was a 2dB drop of the guitar relative to the voice, and a tiny bit of reverb (about -50dB down) to make the vocal sound not so dry. The C2 is definitely brighter than the M5, which I have generally found to be a bit thin vs my AKG P120 or my LDCs. That works well with my Taylor 310ce, which can get a bit bassy being a dread..
So, is the C2 a piece of junk that I can toss in the Goodwill pile? Nope. Yes, it's a bit noisy, and kind of bright, but the brightness can be tamed with a bit of EQ, which should also help with the noise. But I didn't get up really close (singing about a foot away, playing about 18 inches away). It supposedly can handle 140dB so getting close for more volume might lower the noise floor plenty. Or you could just say it sounds like tape hiss.
Here are the two audio files for comparison.
Rode M5
Behringer C2
What do you think? Would it be usable? For $45 for a pair, including case and bar, it's a bargain. Now I just need to find something to store them in since the M5s are going in the plastic case.
CoolCat
Well-known member
Sounds like a YouTube I just watched the ISA 110 console was flooded ...the (#9 console) and they cleaned up the Preamp and EQ sections with some water and vibration tank, and whatever else they did. But it did clean up the pcbs apparently.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
The M5 is rated at -34 dB re 1V/Pa. Behringer C2 is listed at −41 dBV (0 dBV = 1 V/Pa).
Yes, the C2 shows a higher level of low frequency noise, but in use, it is distinctly brighter, which doesn't necessarily have to be the same as the noise profile of the mic's amp circuit. Also, the "quiet" plots were made in the room that isn't an anechoic chamber, just a quiet basement late at night. It's more "real world" usage for me.
I could have put them inside a heavy padded box, but I didn't want to disturb the setup of the mics. Maybe I'll do that later when I finish doing my recording. I've left all the settings on the interface the same, so the comparison should be good.