Shadow_7
New member
Well that depends on the chain and the mics. I'm currently using Avenson STO-2's myself in a non-typical stereo pair / ambience way. These mics are great with anything IN PROXIMITY. But as ambient mics, their own self noise in noticeable if you don't run the gain on your preamp as high as reasonable, and/or have a really loud (brass band) source to record.
Now for my DMP3 and my old AT4033a with a trombone pretty much swallowing the mic, yeah, the DMP3 pretty much never got more than one click above absolute zero. Otherwise my Delta 44 got over powered and clipping occurred. But on that same setup, I had to boost my ADC (mic) levels to near max (90%) to get the desired level in audacity. You pretty much want to avoid running at the extremes, especially on low end gear. That last 15% of gain on my laptops speaker levels is noticeably bad sounding relative to the other 85%. The low end of gain on my setup, bottom 20%, has a noise floor that's completely noticeable and unacceptable in most applications, when amplified to audible levels.
But it depends on the chain. Mic -> Preamp -> Converter -> Computer / Storage. On my Korg MR-1000 the chain except for the mics is fairly well contained and well engineered. So I have one knob for gain and some mics. I have some switches too, H or L gain boost, Phantom Power, and Limiter. A limiter is sort of a safety net, it compresses the dynamic range when you get to that danger zone of peaking your levels. For my Korg, I like to keep the source at -3 to -6 for the peaks with an average level as close to -12 as possible. Any softer and the mic self noise gets overbearing.
The AT4050 is a relatively quiet mic, with a hot input level, so you should be able to run it softer without too much damage. But distortion can come from several thngs. High SPL (loudness), there generally a pad switch on the higher end mics to help them cope with higher SPL levels. Wind, there's foam windscreens, artificial fur windscreens, pop filters, and metal grills to help cut down wind noise. For my AT4033a, I had to wrap it in a sock to use it as a vocal mic. The poor mans equivalent of a pop filter / foam windscreen.
The 4050 is an LDC aka LARGE diaphram condenser so it's more exposed to wind. And the grill is more or less to protect the capsule than to block wind. And then there's levels, which at any point in the chain can cause / contribute to clipping. To much signal from the mic and the preamp clips, too much signal from the preamp and the converters clip. Levels too high on the converters, or just not able to cope with the input level and it clips. Not that I saw any clipping on the supplied recording. So I'm more inclined to believe that the distortion in this case is either wind or levels. Or just the characteristic(s) of the sound source.
A pop filter is only meant to cut down the plossives, the start of words / syllables that are accented and sends a burst of air towards the mics. It is NOT a windscreen. It can cut down some wind, but not nearly to the same degree as other options. I'd recommend putting the pop filter further away to give the wind more time to dissipate, and/or put a sock over your mic and see if that helps. If it does then your issue is likely wind / proximity. If it doesn't and no alterations in the levels and such have any effect, it's likely the quality of the chain, or the sound source itself that is contributing to the perceived distortion. Or maybe your speakers / monitors suck and there's nothing wrong with anything else.
Now for my DMP3 and my old AT4033a with a trombone pretty much swallowing the mic, yeah, the DMP3 pretty much never got more than one click above absolute zero. Otherwise my Delta 44 got over powered and clipping occurred. But on that same setup, I had to boost my ADC (mic) levels to near max (90%) to get the desired level in audacity. You pretty much want to avoid running at the extremes, especially on low end gear. That last 15% of gain on my laptops speaker levels is noticeably bad sounding relative to the other 85%. The low end of gain on my setup, bottom 20%, has a noise floor that's completely noticeable and unacceptable in most applications, when amplified to audible levels.
But it depends on the chain. Mic -> Preamp -> Converter -> Computer / Storage. On my Korg MR-1000 the chain except for the mics is fairly well contained and well engineered. So I have one knob for gain and some mics. I have some switches too, H or L gain boost, Phantom Power, and Limiter. A limiter is sort of a safety net, it compresses the dynamic range when you get to that danger zone of peaking your levels. For my Korg, I like to keep the source at -3 to -6 for the peaks with an average level as close to -12 as possible. Any softer and the mic self noise gets overbearing.
The AT4050 is a relatively quiet mic, with a hot input level, so you should be able to run it softer without too much damage. But distortion can come from several thngs. High SPL (loudness), there generally a pad switch on the higher end mics to help them cope with higher SPL levels. Wind, there's foam windscreens, artificial fur windscreens, pop filters, and metal grills to help cut down wind noise. For my AT4033a, I had to wrap it in a sock to use it as a vocal mic. The poor mans equivalent of a pop filter / foam windscreen.
The 4050 is an LDC aka LARGE diaphram condenser so it's more exposed to wind. And the grill is more or less to protect the capsule than to block wind. And then there's levels, which at any point in the chain can cause / contribute to clipping. To much signal from the mic and the preamp clips, too much signal from the preamp and the converters clip. Levels too high on the converters, or just not able to cope with the input level and it clips. Not that I saw any clipping on the supplied recording. So I'm more inclined to believe that the distortion in this case is either wind or levels. Or just the characteristic(s) of the sound source.
A pop filter is only meant to cut down the plossives, the start of words / syllables that are accented and sends a burst of air towards the mics. It is NOT a windscreen. It can cut down some wind, but not nearly to the same degree as other options. I'd recommend putting the pop filter further away to give the wind more time to dissipate, and/or put a sock over your mic and see if that helps. If it does then your issue is likely wind / proximity. If it doesn't and no alterations in the levels and such have any effect, it's likely the quality of the chain, or the sound source itself that is contributing to the perceived distortion. Or maybe your speakers / monitors suck and there's nothing wrong with anything else.
certainly not even a deal.