how to make chinese mics curve as flat as possible

[cielapeute]

Hello there ! I am a french from burgundy and I am a professional voice talent, specialised in dubbing, voice over. I also make music and write. Happy to find you here ! My electronic level is poor, but I managed into modifying mics, like the apex 460, and build mics without real knowledge but trynig to think at my best. I have a recording studio, this is my 6th, that I built myself. here is a page on which you can hear my results for the mics I own, original models or modded. https://lucmiteran.com/materiel.php . I have a question : I would like to know what component and where to solder it in order to correct the curve of chinese mics. I am currently searching for that only on transformeless mics like apex 415, m nova... My knowledge about electonics are quite poort, as I said, but I know how to solder properly. I am looking for this information in order to make cheap mics for my pupils or people who maybe interested in turning their cheap chinese mic in a better level mic. Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[Khron]

https://groupdiy.com/threads/feeler...ards-opamp-jfet-u87a-fet847-ors87-plus.87606/

Although I'm in the middle of moving house, so details / final BOMs will still take a few weeks to finalize...

 

[living sounds]

The problem with capsules is not only the frequency domain but the time domain. Ringing, resonances and the like cannot be gotten rid with an EQ.

I would buy a better capsules rather than trying to optimize the circuit for an inferior one. Take a look at Soliloqueen's products here, highly recommended.

 

[kingkorg]

Hello there ! I am a french from burgundy and I am a professional voice talent, specialised in dubbing, voice over. I also make music and write. Happy to find you here ! My electronic level is poor, but I managed into modifying mics, like the apex 460, and build mics without real knowledge but trynig to think at my best. I have a recording studio, this is my 6th, that I built myself. here is a page on which you can hear my results for the mics I own, original models or modded. https://lucmiteran.com/materiel.php . I have a question : I would like to know what component and where to solder it in order to correct the curve of chinese mics. I am currently searching for that only on transformeless mics like apex 415, m nova... My knowledge about electonics are quite poort, as I said, but I know how to solder properly. I am looking for this information in order to make cheap mics for my pupils or people who maybe interested in turning their cheap chinese mic in a better level mic. Thanks a lot for your help.

Not easy. You need to measure the frequency response, find where the HF peak is, and then design a filter to incorporate into the circuit to adress that peak.

Here are some ideas.

https://groupdiy.com/threads/rode-nt1-kit-the-black-one-mods.77086/


https://groupdiy.com/threads/sp-c1-notch-eq-mod.67361/

 

[Paul W]

I have a question : I would like to know what component and where to solder it in order to correct the curve of chinese mics. I am currently searching for that only on transformeless mics like apex 415, m nova... My knowledge about electonics are quite poort, as I said, but I know how to solder properly. I am looking for this information in order to make cheap mics for my pupils or people who maybe interested in turning their cheap chinese mic in a better level mic.

Circuits vary, so there's no one-size-fits-all circuit hack. You may want to collect mics for which there are known good hacks, like the BM-800 type, AKG C3000B, AKG Perception 200/220/400/420 and P220/P420, Rode NT3, etc. (And capsule swaps for several models of MXL mics with Schoeps-type circuits.)

If you're willing to use an EQ plugin, or tell other people to, life is easier. There are many relatively inexpensive large-diameter condenser mics which use a copy of the Neumann K67 (or K87) capsule, but fail to EQ it the way Neumann's mic circuits do. These capsules generally have a pronunced bump in the frequency response at around 10 KHz, and you can use a broad gentle notch filter centered there to tone it down by a few dB. (Or a shelving filter with a corner frequency a bit lower than that, to roll off the bump and everything above it too, like Neumann's circuits. That's probably fine for a vocal mic.)

A lot of inexpensive MXL mics use a Schoeps circuit with flat frequency response, but pair it with a bright capsule, so they're bright. You can swap in a capsule with a flatter frequency response, better suited to the flat circuit.

To know what to do with a given mic you may want to learn how to run sinewave sweeps with REW and measure that mic.

Short of that, you may find useful information about various mics at AudioTestKitchen and at the RecordingHacks Microphone Database. ATK has information about current models of many mics, including frequency response plots that are more honest and realistic than the idealized plots that accompany many mics' published specs.

The Microphone Database can tell you things like whether a mic uses a K67 type capsule, and for an old mic, whether there's a more recent version that you may find information about at AudioTestKitchen, which probably sounds about the same and can be EQ'd similarly.

 

[cielapeute]

thank you for those very precious answers !

 

[cielapeute]

The problem with capsules is not only the frequency domain but the time domain. Ringing, resonances and the like cannot be gotten rid with an EQ.

I would buy a better capsules rather than trying to optimize the circuit for an inferior one. Take a look at Soliloqueen's products here, highly recommended.

thank you very much

 

[cielapeute]

https://groupdiy.com/threads/feeler...ards-opamp-jfet-u87a-fet847-ors87-plus.87606/

Although I'm in the middle of moving house, so details / final BOMs will still take a few weeks to finalize...

wow ! your page is a treasure !

 

[cielapeute]

Not easy. You need to measure the frequency response, find where the HF peak is, and then design a filter to incorporate into the circuit to adress that peak.

Here are some ideas.

https://groupdiy.com/threads/rode-nt1-kit-the-black-one-mods.77086/


https://groupdiy.com/threads/sp-c1-notch-eq-mod.67361/

thanks a lot

 

[mmadu]

Usually, the reason for the problem of cheap Chinese made products is not circuits - they usually imitate already very mature circuit designs, such as Schoeps or Neumann U87. Although the selection of some cheap components can affect the sound in some way, today's electronic manufacturing technology is definitely much better than the era when U87 was invented (haha!). Since you are a voice actor, I don't think the difference in sound quality is the fundamental reason. The fundamental reason may lie in poor diaphragm design and some rough microphone housings - some cheap processes do physically affect your sound, so if you want to correct this, try to buy more expensive and well made diaphragms.

 

[mmadu]

By the way, if you see that the gain of some high frequencies at 10 khz, it may not be a design or manufacturing problem. It comes from Neumann U87. The CR1-1 microphone made by 797 in the 1980s brought this feature to the Chinese people. Neumann's designers believed that this design could make vocals sound sweeter and indeed did, but excessive enhancement may make the sound sound harsh. Now we believe that the Neumann U87AI is not as pleasant as the classic U87, partly because of this reason