Blue Kiwi, in figure 8 should the sound be the same on both sides?

T

TKeefe

New member
We are testing out a used Blue Kiwi to buy. This is probably a novice question but when we listen to the mic with headphones (currently our only option) in the figure 8 mode, the front capsule sounds normal but the rear sounds dark and bassy. If we were trying to use this with 2 singers that could be a problem. Or is this just a part of the Kiwi design as you turn the dial from cardiod to 8 it starts to give you supercardiod options, or is the fact we're listening through headphones and we're getting polarity differences or

is the mic broken and we should try to find another one to buy. Thanks in advance for any help you could give us.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
As far as I know condenser mic figure-8 patterns should be symmetrical. Ribbons are often not the same on both sides.
Click to expand...

This is my understanding as well.

TKeefe said:
We are testing out a used Blue Kiwi to buy. This is probably a novice question but when we listen to the mic with headphones (currently our only option) in the figure 8 mode, the front capsule sounds normal but the rear sounds dark and bassy. If we were trying to use this with 2 singers that could be a problem. Or is this just a part of the Kiwi design as you turn the dial from cardiod to 8 it starts to give you supercardiod options, or is the fact we're listening through headphones and we're getting polarity differences or

is the mic broken and we should try to find another one to buy. Thanks in advance for any help you could give us.
Click to expand...

Set the mike up for figure eight.

Get one person to sing into it. Record this

Rotate the mike 180 degrees.

Get that person to sing the same thing into this side now. Record it.

Compare the two.

Then decide.
 
arcaxis said:
I'm inclined to think it might be this. If you have a preamp that can invert the phase (or somewhere else in the signal path, try switching it and see if the sound into one side of the mic changes. I think the headphones are throwing you a curve.

From a Josephson C700 mic manual (assume this might be typical of most Fig 8 patterns).....
View attachment 94638
Click to expand...

Thanks so much! I have a UA Solo with a phase switch and when I changed the phase the front became more bass and the back the normal. Amazing what you learn and thanks much for your help, I can always get good info here!!

And I'm going to try the record one side then the other too. It is a phase issue listening to figure 8 through headphones.
 
TKeefe said:
Thanks so much! I have a UA Solo with a phase switch and when I changed the phase the front became more bass and the back the normal. Amazing what you learn and thanks much for your help, I can always get good info here!!

And I'm going to try the record one side then the other too. It is a phase issue listening to figure 8 through headphones.
Click to expand...

If you're in the room with the mic that would make some sense. With the polarity switch in the normal position one side of the mic will add to the LF you hear in the headphones and the other side of the mic will cancel the LF you hear in the headphones. Switching the polarity at the preamp will reverse that relationship. If you record something on one side then the other without changing the polarity switch you should be able to hear any differences on playback without interference from the live source in the room.
 
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Just tried it and there's a tiny bit of difference front to back in the recordings but nowhere near the LF we were getting. The recordings were done fast so just a bit of proximity and differences in caps are to be expected when the differences are so small. All's well that ends well. We were about to look crazy and turn down a great deal on the Kiwi.

I tried to get an answer from Blue and Gearslutz but not a single response, no problem with either but I post this problem an hour ago and it's solved. I'm going to be more active here and give back to the forum as well.

TKeefe | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
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