Harsh Microphone

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bozmillar

bozmillar

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I have an MXL 990. to me, it sounds rather harsh. I like the mid and low end sound of it, but the harsh highs make it hard to use on certain applications.

My questions are these:

1) What causes "harshness"? Is it just the frequency response, or are there some nonlinear properties of the microphone that cause this? Is it some sort of non-harmonic noise?

2) What are some useful ways to bring down the harshness without sounding over eq'd?

If someone has any scientific explanation for this, I would be happy to hear it. Any explanation that includes the terms warm, brittle or 'digital sounding' are pretty much useless.
 
Harsh compared to what other mics?

And also, what is the rest of your recording chain?
I have had mics that sounded "harsh" on a Behringer mixer, but then were not when I got a DMP3. Also, when I started with PC recording and recorded with an onboard stock soundcard, things sounded harsh. But when I upgraded my interface the harshness disappeared.

To many people Chinese condensers such as the MXL mics have a harsh top end, so many factors could play a part in this.
 
ok, you have a point there. I am running it through a behringer, but my question really is, what is "harshness" in a mic.

Basically, when I record vox or acoustic guitar with this mic, I get a stinging high end. Not terrible, but noticeable. I'm trying to figure out what makes a mic or a mic/preamp combo "harsh" so I can figure out a good way to subdue it.
 
I thought my 990 got a lot less harsh when I replaced the ceramic capacitor that couples the capsule to the rest of the board with a 1000pf poly[something] capacitor. Previously, it was edgy/phasey/harsh/pickyouradjective, and afterward it was noticeably smoother and clearer sounding. If you open up the mic, you'll see a round circuit board with a bunch of resistors and capacitors on one side, and a lone capacitor on the other side -- it's that lone one that I'm talking about. Polystyrene or polypropylene work well, I'm told.

caps.jpg


here are three that I tried - the one in the upper right corner is the one that worked best. The one in the upper left corner was serviceable, and the one on the bottom didn't work at all (but I have had great results with these WIMA film capacitors in other locations with different values in other microphones)

The mod requires 1) the new capacitor (which can be had for 40 or 50 cents up to a couple of bucks, depending on where you're looking), and 2, a soldering iron (and accessories like desoldering braid, and a little bit of good solder), and 3) minimal soldering skills - if you're up for the task, I recommend doing it - cheap, and as these mods go, easy, and fairly low risk.

here's mine with the new capacitor installed:

installed.jpg


somebody else posted here with pictures where the circuit board was upside down when compared to mine, so yours might be like that, but no matter - it's pretty obvious which side you're looking at.

Of course, it could be something else in your signal chain in addition to or instead of this. YMMV, etc. :)
 
um sweet, thanks for that. I'll have to give that a try. I have everything but the cap. I'm excited to see how this turns out. What size cap is on there originally?
 
bozmillar said:
I have an MXL 990. to me, it sounds rather harsh. I like the mid and low end sound of it, but the harsh highs make it hard to use on certain applications.

My questions are these:

1) What causes "harshness"? Is it just the frequency response, or are there some nonlinear properties of the microphone that cause this? Is it some sort of non-harmonic noise?

2) What are some useful ways to bring down the harshness without sounding over eq'd?

If someone has any scientific explanation for this, I would be happy to hear it. Any explanation that includes the terms warm, brittle or 'digital sounding' are pretty much useless.
Click to expand...

In a lot of the cheaper Chinese mics the quality of components has a big part to play in the sound, as mentioned about replacing some capacitors.

The biggest problem IMO is that the capsules themselves are poorly made. Incorrect hole drilling depth, spacing (even by very small amounts) and that the diaphragms are poorly tuned. The folks doing them just have no real idea how important it is to tension them at the right frequency.

And here's the REAL kicker (but doesn't apply to the 990). Most chinese mics base their capsules on the Neumann K67 design, which has a large boost starting at about 5k and goes higher, even when properly tuned. That capsule was meant to be used with a negative feedback circuit, which most mics don't use. They're doomed from the start just because of the choice of the type of capsule.

The 990 uses the same capsule as the 603. If you modify parts of the circuit, like with the mentioned capacitor swap, it can smooth things out a bit.
 
cool. Thanks for the explanation. The more I think about it, the more i realized how much garbage can happen over the surface are of a 1 inch diameter circle. I can see how this can cause all sorts of non harmonically related sounds that can't be fixed with filters.

My eyes are being opened. keep it coming.
 
the 990 is known to be "brittle" or as you describe it "harsh"... it just the characteristic of the mic itself. I haven't tried to use it for a long time but I'm thinking of plugging that sucka in for a test run again through my tube preamp and see if it can tame that high.
 
bozmillar said:
cool. Thanks for the explanation. The more I think about it, the more i realized how much garbage can happen over the surface are of a 1 inch diameter circle. I can see how this can cause all sorts of non harmonically related sounds that can't be fixed with filters.
Click to expand...
At least the 990's diaphragm is significantly smaller than 1 inch - harder to screw up? :D :o
 
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