Multiple Mic A/B test

[Ermz]

So I was down at a local studio the other night, gathering with some other local engineers and engineer-wannabes alike (like yours truly). The idea of the night was basically to get down as much gear as we could, and A/B a shitload of pres and a shitload of mics.

So we ended up with a few soundfiles from the night of yours truly playing the intro riff to 'Benighted' on a custom Maton acoustic.

All mics were run through a Buzz Audio: MA2 Dual Class A Pre Amp to ensure optimum transparency at that part of the chain.

Studio Projects B1: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_B1.mp3
Neumann KM85: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_KM85.mp3
Neumann M149: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_M149.mp3
Beyer M160: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_M160.mp3
Rode NT1: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_NT1.mp3
Rode NTK: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_NTK.mp3
Shure PG81: http://users.tpg.com.au/afiteam/Buzz_PG81.mp3

Personal opinion:

Most transparent sound: Neumann M149
Best value: Studio Projects B1
Worst mic: Shure PG81 (what a surprise)

So we did confirm for ourselves that the Chinese Rode mics are pretty hyped in the high end. The B1 was the only Chinese mic which didn't share this trait. For $170AUD it's an amazing mic.

Hope you guys found this helpful.

Note: Unfortunately I had to compress these sound files to 192kb MP3 because I don't have a great amount of online hosting space available to me.

 

[martyfireball]

cheers moonlapse, i've have a listen to these later.

 

[guitarguru777]

Note: Unfortunately I had to compress these sound files to 192kb MP3 because I don't have a great amount of online hosting space available to me.

Moon if you need some space to host the WAV file let me know. I got tons.

Da Fukn Guru

 

[Impy]

How was this made?

Mic positioning and so on...

 

[Bob Savage]

Cool! I love A/B/C/D/E/F/G comparisons... I'll check them out later.

 

[kaomao]

Every mic in the same position?
Moving a mic just few cm makes a huge difference.

Maurizio

 

[Impy]

Every mic in the same position?
Moving a mic just few cm makes a huge difference.

Maurizio

My point exactly, if they're all in different positions it doesn't really say much about the actual differences.

 

[Bob Savage]

My point exactly, if they're all in different positions it doesn't really say much about the actual differences.

I too like to hear them in the exact same position, but it's also possible to analyze it to death. All of these mics aren't going to sound their "best" in the exact same position, so it could also be claimed that position X is not giving mic A a fair shake...

 

[kaomao]

All of these mics aren't going to sound their "best" in the exact same position, so it could also be claimed that position X is not giving mic A a fair shake...

Yes this is true!
But this way it's a neverending test to find the sweet spot

Maurizio

 

[Ermz]

The larger mics were pointed at the 12th fret of the guitar, slightly further than about 30cm away I think. The pencil mics were pointed a little more towards the sound hole.