Giganova
gimmi your mic!
hey folks --
hopefully you'll find this interesting ... I just did a microphone comparison with my tenor saxophone and the following mics:
o Gefell M930
o Neumann KM184
o AT 4047
o Shure Beta 57A
The signal path was as follows: I placed each mic about 1 1/2 foot from the bell slightly off-axis above the bell, pointing the mic towards the lower (C and Bb) registers. That usually gives a nice bottom end sound and supresses breathing noise to some extent.
The mic pre was a Focusrite Green Voicemaster, bypassing eq, compression, and de-esser. The signal was then fed into the mixer (bypassing the pres) into my computer running Logic. In order to give you an impression how the recorded sax will sit in the final mix, I added a touch or reverb+pre-delay, and used a compression with a ratio of 2:1 and medium attack + release rate. All settings were identical, except for the mic gains, which I've adjusted to give roughly the same levels.
A played along the Burt Bacharach song "This Guy's In Love With You", which you will hear in the background (from a "play along" CD). I recorded in 24/44.1, down-dithered to 44.1/16 and converted the files into 196kbps MP3 files. I didn't post "dry" recordings, coz I find it more important how the track will sit in a final mix.
Please disregard my pathetic sax playing skills, ok?
(sometime you will even hear the reed squeeking, how embarrasing). I am very curious what you think.
Here's a quick take on things:
The Gefell sounds incredibly smooooooth and full. Truely an amazing sound. My g/f liked that mic a lot. Its disappointing in the upper register of the sax, though. The Neumann, on the other hand, gives a crispier sound, and can capture the highest and lowest notes better in my opinion. Even though the Gefell might sound best, the Neumann sound is actually closest to how I actually play and sound like. The AT4047 is rather good as well, but lacks a bit punch. Not particularly impressive, but certainly useful. And the Shure Beta 57A, well, sounds rather tinny, as expected for a dynamic mic in that price range. It's still useful to some extent (certainly for a life application).
Let me know what you think, ok? Here are the MP3 files (2.3 MB each):
Microtech Gefell M930
Neumann KM184
AT 4047
Shure Beta 57A
hopefully you'll find this interesting ... I just did a microphone comparison with my tenor saxophone and the following mics:
o Gefell M930
o Neumann KM184
o AT 4047
o Shure Beta 57A
The signal path was as follows: I placed each mic about 1 1/2 foot from the bell slightly off-axis above the bell, pointing the mic towards the lower (C and Bb) registers. That usually gives a nice bottom end sound and supresses breathing noise to some extent.
The mic pre was a Focusrite Green Voicemaster, bypassing eq, compression, and de-esser. The signal was then fed into the mixer (bypassing the pres) into my computer running Logic. In order to give you an impression how the recorded sax will sit in the final mix, I added a touch or reverb+pre-delay, and used a compression with a ratio of 2:1 and medium attack + release rate. All settings were identical, except for the mic gains, which I've adjusted to give roughly the same levels.
A played along the Burt Bacharach song "This Guy's In Love With You", which you will hear in the background (from a "play along" CD). I recorded in 24/44.1, down-dithered to 44.1/16 and converted the files into 196kbps MP3 files. I didn't post "dry" recordings, coz I find it more important how the track will sit in a final mix.
Please disregard my pathetic sax playing skills, ok?
(sometime you will even hear the reed squeeking, how embarrasing). I am very curious what you think.Here's a quick take on things:
The Gefell sounds incredibly smooooooth and full. Truely an amazing sound. My g/f liked that mic a lot. Its disappointing in the upper register of the sax, though. The Neumann, on the other hand, gives a crispier sound, and can capture the highest and lowest notes better in my opinion. Even though the Gefell might sound best, the Neumann sound is actually closest to how I actually play and sound like. The AT4047 is rather good as well, but lacks a bit punch. Not particularly impressive, but certainly useful. And the Shure Beta 57A, well, sounds rather tinny, as expected for a dynamic mic in that price range. It's still useful to some extent (certainly for a life application).
Let me know what you think, ok? Here are the MP3 files (2.3 MB each):
Microtech Gefell M930
Neumann KM184
AT 4047
Shure Beta 57A