Harsh Mic Pre,s

W

wilkee

New member
One of my Hero,s when it comes to recorded music and the reproduction of same was a guy called John Crabbe who was the editor of HI-Fi News in the 60s & 70s. One of the things he always impressed on us was that when comparing a recorded sound with the original, the levels have to be pretty much the same otherwise variations will occur due to the way our hearing varies with level.

I have a feeling that a lot of the so called harshness in Mic Preamps is the fact that the playback is always at a higher level and very often on headphones at a much higher level.

Most well designed Mic Pre's in my opinion do not sound harsh and in fact sound very similar with any differences dwarfed by the anomalies in the Mics and reproducing Speaker system.

Just my pennies worth.
 
What do you mean that playback is at a higher level? Higher than what? The pre itself? Playback level is always higher than everything else...there is nothing higher, and everything else is lower. I'm probably missing your point here...

It sounds like you might be referring to the fletcher/munson (spelling?) curve. Do you mean to say that harsh mic pres produce a worse sound in the long run as you increase playback level?

Slackmaster 2000
 
Sorry for the delay in answering I have been away.

No I mean the original source level i.e. if we are recording spoken voice then the play-back for A/B comparison should be at spoken voice level not at an elevated SPL. Try it I guarantee that as you raise the level you will become more aware of sibilance etc. etc.
 
This is often true in the other direction as well, of course. My wife certainly won't let me play back orchestral or operatic recordings at live performance levels while she's in the house, yet many classical recordings sound choked and distant until the playback volume at least approaches the actual performance volume.

Likewise, a "dry" recording of spoken voice, while it may be mistaken for a person actually being in the room on playback, will *not* sound like Garrison Keilor on the Prairie Home Companion. And no adjustment of playback level will make Mr. Keilor's voice sound more "real." We come to love that carefully processed sound.

To a purist, the idea that any recording of a rock or pop singer performing through a bunch of mics, processors, amps and rows of speakers sounds "live" or "realistic" is a bit laughable. I'm still getting used to the idea that many of you agonize over what microphone to put in *front* of an amp cabinet! So much to learn, so much to learn.

Matching levels can be important in terms of elminating psychoacoustic preferences in listening comparisons, but may be meaningless in any absolute sense when discussing music made through electronic equipment, yes? Or am I missing something?

Best wishes,

Mark H.
 
No you seem to have gotten hold of my thoughts pretty well.
It was just that a lot of comments have been made on this forum about the Mic pre.s of such and such sounding harsh when to me the overiding sound characteristics come from the Mic itself and the playback transducers, headphones or Speakers. And that all recorded voice if played back at too high a level will sound harsh.
 
Hmmm, but what's the difference? Harsh is harsh. The harshness might be less pronounced at proper listening levels, but that doesn't negate the need for a good preamp in the first place. I'm not trying to imply that's what you're saying though, that's just my take.

Slackmaster 2000
 
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