Blue Bear Sound's 2nd Mic Shootout...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Blue Bear Sound
  • Start date Start date
I'll bite. What mics do you have in mind? Can you post an example? I'm not being a smartass here, I'd really like your opinion?
 
There IS a big difference between the MP3s and the WAVs... so I'm making arrangements to post that....

A couple more points... the C1 *should* sound much better than it did... I will redo that clip and see what happened... maybe placement was more of an issue with it....

Along lines of placement -- note that I did not optimize placement individually for each mic (1 inch can make a huge difference) and so, the recordings definitely suffer from that perspective -- this was a quick 'n dirty test, and time was a factor, so I could not accommodate all the factors and care one would normally use.......

In actuality -- each one of those mics (except the radio shack one) can be used for different applications and colors - and placement can be optimized to adjust (and make the best of) the different colorations....

I'll try to retest the C1 today or tomorrow.... and I'll get those WAVs up too........

Bruce
 
Bruce, did you hear what I was talking about? Sounded just like a compressor on the C-1
 
Track Rat said:
I'll bite. What mics do you have in mind? Can you post an example? I'm not being a smartass here, I'd really like your opinion?
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Im with Track Rat.... I'd like to hear these....

I think Bruce's Shootout helped up learn alot about different mics...

I agree wavs and MP3's are totally different, but MP3s work for A/B comparing as long as they were all encoded with the same encoder...


Once again, thanks for your work Bruce... this was great..

Joe
 
I don't like any of the takes. Maybe it was the VXP? I don't see this as a way to pick one mic over another. It does reveal that each mic needs to be positioned for it's best sound let alone matching mic pre to mic. I was very suprised that the C-1 sounded like shit. I never heard one sound like that. Everything else pretty much sounded as expected.

Oops, took too long to hit the submit button. I see Bruce is going to work on mic placement. Cool.
 
Track Rat said:
Bruce, did you hear what I was talking about? Sounded just like a compressor on the C-1
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Yeah... that was strange... I KNOW the signal path was identical...

Maybe it was mic'd too close and the acoustic guitar put out too much level?!?!?

That 12-string is pretty loud, especially close-mic'd...

I'll re-do that clip later on..........


Bruce
 
nwsoundman said:
Maybe it was the VXP?
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It was NOT the VXP -- the VXP is a single channel of the MP20, and is quite clean.... there was no processing engaged on it.... except the low-cut...


I don't see this as a way to pick one mic over another.
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Naturally... and I mentioned that right-off in my opening post.


It does reveal that each mic needs to be positioned for it's best sound let alone matching mic pre to mic.
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Of course! I also mentioned that this was a quick 'n dirty comparison just to give people a peak.... it was NOT a lesson in recording techniques!!!!! I did what I could with the time I had to do it in....... :rolleyes:


Please people... take this comparison for what it is and no more than that.............
 
Crapshack - sucks
D112 - There's a lot missing here, it sounds like a smiley-face eq
4041 - plenty of high end, not much of anything else, this would work well in a rock mix though
C1 - I instantly knew when this one started on the playlist, just from everyone's comments about is sounding compressed. It does sound really compressed, but it also has a lot of beef to it. It almost sounds papery in the highs.
4033 - This mic sounds good. I've used it before on acoustic, so it's a pretty familiar sound.
M160 - what a sweet mic. It rolls the top end off in a very nice way. This would be great for solo guitar.
MXL2001 - this mic sounds really good! I like the balance in the frequency response, nothing jumps out as out of balance.
NT2 - the top end sounds like the C1, without the compression, but it has less fullness and body. not a bad soudn for a rock mix.
SM57 - a great, classic sound.
SM57 Beta - a little too much low end hype, but a decent sound
SM58 - it sounds similar to the SM57, but I far prefer the SM57 sound. This just sounds slighlty buried. Did you take the ball end off?
 
hmm.

I also liked the mxl2001 the best of all. I wont buy it though, owing to the bad press it has gotten.

I wonder if it s my monitoring system. I noted that voxvendor also listens on ns10ms. I wonder if that makes a difference.


Hey bruce, ditch the guitar and lets do vocals. There are a number of arguements for doing this. Most of the mics are large diaphragm condensers, which are traditionally better suited for vocals. The vocal is the most important thing in the recording, so please post some vocals. I am also dying to hear how the beyer will sound on vocals.
 
Damn,Taken wrong

Bruce,

The comparison comment was not aimed at you. You did state it was quick and dirty. I was only stating that this was not a way to choose one mic or another. The Presonus does not work well with all mics. That is a fact. It is a nice pre but not for all mics regardless.

Don't be offended. :)
 
charger said:
SM58 - it sounds similar to the SM57, but I far prefer the SM57 sound. This just sounds slighlty buried. Did you take the ball end off?
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No the ball was on....

Incidently, the Beyer M160 *is* liked by many engineers (including Al Schmitt) for guitar solos....

Bruce
 
Re: Damn,Taken wrong

nwsoundman said:
Bruce,

The comparison comment was not aimed at you. You did state it was quick and dirty. I was only stating that this was not a way to choose one mic or another.
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Fair enough! No worries!!


The Presonus does not work well with all mics. That is a fact. It is a nice pre but not for all mics regardless.
Click to expand...
Well... that's true... but I've worked with all these mics extensively, except the C1 -- and I know the VXP works quite well with them, overall!


Don't be offended. :)
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'k cool....


Bruce
 
I agree wavs and MP3's are totally different, but MP3s work for A/B comparing as long as they were all encoded with the same encoder...
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MP3's will totally degrade the quality of music. Especially at 128k and lower. Ideally a 192k file will reduce the audio lossness to a minimal without creating too large of a file,

As well, MP3 compression does not treat all files equally. Without going into low level technical detail, you bascially loose different dynamics and/or frequencies for between even the slightest difference of waveforms...

Actually, I'm willing to bet that if you compress a wave file 2 times each in a different file name, those two files will not be identical bit for bit.


Yeah, reading what i wrote doesnt make to much sense to me.... but hey, i don't wanna rewrite it :P
 
CyanJaguar said:
hmm.

I wonder if it s my monitoring system. I noted that voxvendor also listens on ns10ms. I wonder if that makes a difference.
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Actually, I said that I listened on 3 Sets of Speakers.. YSM's and NS 10's and home speakers.. (Polk Audio)

When I said "Im buying the MXL".. I meant it as an exprssion as to how nice it sounded compared to the rest of the mics....

Although, I very might well go and buy it, I would not use this shootout alone for the desicion maker..

Everyone is getting too serious... This was only a "Rough A/B shootout....".. I said that and Bruce said that... Everyone is getting too forensic here....
 
Well done Blue Bear.
I liked the C-1, the Beta 57 and the 57 in that order. No wait,, those are the ones I own.

Actually, there's something wrong with the C-1, it shouldn't sound like that. I usually have the C-1 a little off axis even for instruments, but for THAT riff on THAT guitar I'd use my Oktava 219 and roll off the bass.
 
Are you going to optimize placement for all of the mics or only the C1?
 
I'm going to just re-do the C1 -- same placement except maybe watch the levels more closely and put the mic slightly further away....

Bruce
 
vox said:
Are you going to optimize placement for all of the mics or only the C1?
Click to expand...

My people have had a board meeting this morning, and we all decided that you have to change your name.... It too closely resembles the Voxvendor Trademark....

I have more posts than you, so you must comply....:D
 
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