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A mic test |
Hi folks
Thought this might be of some interest to those looking for mics.
I have a neighbour, up the road, who sings sacred music as a soloist, and he is looking for a large dia. condensor to use live. He took a Rode NT1 out on spec from a music store and brought it over to test against some of my mics.
We recorded direct to Daw, a dual P111 800 EB all SCSI Win 2000 machine, through Rme ADI 8 PRO converters. The only pres that I have 5 of are in my old Soundcraft Series 800 console so that's what we used.
We set 5 mics up, an AT 4033, AT4047, AT 4050, Neumann U87 and the Rode. They went into the Console and right out the direct line out to the converters. so only the mic pre was used. We set the mic gain the same on all 5 channels, just to where it was registering a clip, on the loudest sections, on the clip indicator of the converters, then backed them off a small degree. We recorded to Nuendo in 32 bit format.
We set the mics up in a small semi circle around the singer. He doesn't like to get right on the mics so they were about 30 inches away for his head.
He sang an old hymn ,accapella (sp?),which had 5 versus and faced each mic, straight on, for a verse.
Now this was done in my basement as my gear is set up there temporarilly ,as the studio sits gutted waitng for me to get at it, but that's another long story.
We listened on some AMR 308s speakers which are one of the only things that Peavey made that I like. I will hookup the tannoys today to try them and see what the differences are.
Ok ,get the point I can hear you all saying ;-). All the mics were set with no pad and no bass roll off in cardiod positon ,if they had an option. This singer has a deep resonate voice and I have to say the all the mics did an OK job, none stood heads above the other. The Rode sounded a tad mechanical to me and was definitely more high end oriented, not bad on this low voice, but would have hurt on a tenor or female voice I think. The Neumann was honky, on this voice, too much lower mid, but it did capture more information than all the other mics, it sounded fuller but did not flatter this voice, may have been wonderful with a little EQ surgery but we listen to all tracks raw. The 4033 and the 4050 were very similar with the 4050 being a tad more full and present, the 4033 had just a little more sizzle on the high end, which I liked, but the singer did not. And last of all the 4047 was warmer, but more subdued, than the other mics. By this I mean it was full and even on his voice and smooth. If I closed my eyes and switched tracks randomly it was identifiable every time, right away. By subdued I mean that I had a feeling that if this track was in a mix it would need some help to stand out, it didn't cut as much.
Conclusion, I think the Rode will go back and my friend will buy the AT4047. I have found on the limited sessions I've done ,in my tore down state, running snakes around my house, that evey singer has preferred the AT4047 over any mic I've put up. However the Rode was definitely not embarassed in this less than scientific test and I can think of many uses for a cheap slightly highend leaning mic. There were also some interesting sounds from the mics that were off axis when not being sung into directly, so don't forget to experiment when your doing those background vocals ;-)Take care Logan
PS We also did a little run of recording my friends accoustic, with the same mics but that's a tale for another day.