China 'KM184'?

[jp8]

Hi,
can you please post a link to that Youtube "shootout" ?

All cardioid microphones sound thin and "awkward" to me on an off-axis response, with no exception, which is completely normal.
Thin because a lot of frequencies are of course filtered, and "awkward" because is doesn't sound good for sure on "off-axis" as it's a directional microphone so it's supposed to sound good on Axis with the front of the capsule, and reject the sides and back.

But "Awkward" is a subjective term that can mean diferent things for diferent people so it would be great to see and listen that shootout you referred to so that we know exact what you are talking about

Thanks

Of course, "awkward" is subjective. Essence of my message was that off-axis sound quality matters.

I had a hard time hearing the on-axis differences between the SDC's on the guitar, but off-axis the differences were like day and night. Which one you prefer is of course a matter of taste... My vote goes to the 3U capsule mics.

Jan

 

[Whoops]

Of course, "awkward" is subjective. Essence of my message was that off-axis sound quality matters.

I had a hard time hearing the on-axis differences between the SDC's on the guitar, but off-axis the differences were like day and night. Which one you prefer is of course a matter of taste... My vote goes to the 3U capsule mics.

Jan

Thank you so much Jan,
I will listen to it properly at the studio.

 

[telewulf]

Don´t worry Barry!
I didn´t get that one either ... and I live only 100 km from the Netherlands. I´d say there was no way, you could have known that fine details of national-stereofonic culture.

Mind you, I should keep my trap shut anyway. ... Which stereo-system did we Moffens (Germans) invent? MS - The most mathematical and certainly the ugliest - have a look at the unlikly signal chain ...

Best wishes from Bremen
Wulf

 

[MagnetoSound]

There should be a laugh emoji with the Like button

 

[JF]

Essence of my message was that off-axis sound quality matters.

2 problems with this kind of test.
A mic is behaving differently when you pack surface next to it's membrane and block the cardioid openings. Try to measure microphones and just pack 2 next to each other - you already have significant differences. Do that with 5 ... puh.
Not sure about the distance to the guitar (looks close at the video) - but 5cm mic movement is audible. Also angles are different.

It's still great to have these tests but be aware you don't hear just the mic difference here. It's a mix of influences.

 

[RuudNL]

If he used the same microphone for the guitar and his voice, the microphone placement is completely wrong IMHO.

 

[MagnetoSound]

I think the EF-47 was on the vocal, no ..?

 

[RuudNL]

A singing guitar player is often a problem, even with two microphones.
In such a situation I often use two figure-8 microphones, to obtain optimal separation.

 

[jp8]

2 problems with this kind of test.
A mic is behaving differently when you pack surface next to it's membrane and block the cardioid openings. Try to measure microphones and just pack 2 next to each other - you already have significant differences. Do that with 5 ... puh.
Not sure about the distance to the guitar (looks close at the video) - but 5cm mic movement is audible. Also angles are different.

It's still great to have these tests but be aware you don't hear just the mic difference here. It's a mix of influences.

Sure, any kind of testing has its pros and cons. Take recordings one mic at a time and people will say that the artist does not sing/play the same on every take and therefore they cannot properly judge the subtile differences between the mics...

Jan

 

[RuudNL]

Because there was some discussion about the off-axis response of the KM184 compared to the 3U cardioid capsules, I decided to test this myself.
With one of the microphones 'out of phase', I could create an almost perfect null.
Addressing both microphones under an angle or even from the side, did not result in an audible difference.
So I suppose that the fact that more microphone were placed very close together influenced the perception of a different off-axis response.
Anyway: I did not find proof of a different off-axis response.