Attenuation pads - why?

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errr314

New member
This may be a dumb question, but why use them? I have pads on my overheads (recording drums) but why not just adjust (or turn down) the gains at the preamps instead of flipping the switch at the mic?

Should I be using the pads on the overheads? They are both at4040's.

I do realize that you could blow out the circuitry on the mics due to high spl's by not using the pads but if the gain is down..... hmmm....

Also, if I do use the pads and crank the gain up more, does that "open" the mic up more?

Word

Thanks!
 
The only time I can see pads on the mic being useful is when the signal coming from the mic is clipping the preamp at its lowest gain setting. This only happened to me once, with a shitty little Yamaha mixer and a Rode NT-3, where the NT-3 was so hot coming in that the preamp was clipping with gain at its lowest. Sadly, that mic has no pad, so I was screwed.

As for other applications, don't know what to tell ya, sorry :(
 
If you can't work the position of the mic (only drums for me) you have to make the mic less sensitive. OOPS just saw the post, I'm late...
 
You can't blow the circuitry in the mic; you'd tear the diaphragm long before that. However, in high-SPL use, you may overload the FETs (Field Effect Transistor, a simple amplifier part) in the mic, which would result in clipping irrespective of the preamp gain. The pad generally comes between the capsule and the guts of the mic, so it helps in those situations.

As for "opening up" the mic, no, you'll just add noise by making the preamp work harder. If you're using a tube pre that imparts harmonic distortion at high gain, this may be useful for effect, but in general, you should only use pads in high-SPL situations.
 
Thanks for the quick responses. I have not managed to clip anything without using the pads so I will keep on going. I just got my 2nd 4040 the other day and I need to adjust some positioning. But I was always curious about the "pad" attentuation switch.

Gracias!
 
errr314 said:
Thanks for the quick responses. I have not managed to clip anything without using the pads so I will keep on going. I just got my 2nd 4040 the other day and I need to adjust some positioning. But I was always curious about the "pad" attentuation switch.
Click to expand...

The better mics should have a lot of headroom, so you'd have to drive them really hard before you would need to engage the pad. I wouldn't be surprised if you found it almost impossible to drive them hard enough to need it... except maybe putting it right in front of a stack at a live rock concert.... :D
 
I used to have a console that did not have any pads on the channels and the dynamic mics I used for drums did not have pads on them either, so I used pads between my mics and my board to reduce the levels coming in. This gave me more "headroom" on the board and get better signals to work with.
The mic pres I have now have built in pads, so I don't use the other method anymore.
 
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