Vintage microphones attenuating low frequencies through Drop Snake

[FPALB]

Hello,

Ive never had this issue before, but its come up in a studio I've been working with.

They have a 100+ ft drop snake that is running into a patch bay and into rack mic pres (all expensive modern stuff).

When we run a SM58 through the snake, which is what I was using for testing, everything sounded great.

Now when we run assorted vintage dynamics (all using Din converter cables) through the snake, the microphones sound really thin. I bypassed the snake and ran the mics directly into the patch bay using an XLR to Balanced 1/4 adapter and the mics sounded much better. I assumed that it was possibly a low output issue so I put the mics through a cloud lifter and the signal did get louder, but the attenuation of the lower frequencies remained.

Any ideas here? Usually I don't consider the length to be an issue, but I don't have a huge amount of experience with vintage dynamics so I very well could be missing something.

thanks in advance - Jon

 

[Khron]

I hope you're aware, "all expensive modern stuff" and "assorted vintage dynamics" kinda don't necessarily mean anything, since as we all(?) know, not all preamps and/or mics are necessarily the same.

Got any particular models you could mention, at least?

 

[FPALB]

Hi Khron,

Sorry for the delay response I never pushed send while previously writing this.

Example of a chain that is having the issues

(1)Grundig GDSM 200 ->(2) Din connector ->(3) XLR -> (4)Drop Snake ->(5) Samson Patchbay (Breaking its normalized patch to a console)-> (6)Chandler TG2-500 Mic pre -> (7) Samson Patchbay ->(8) Apollo 16

But the signal gets much better if I take (3) XLR add an XLR to balanced adapter and plug it right into the Chandlers Patch bay Input, while keeping the rest of the flow exactly the same as before.

 

[kingkorg]

That Chandler has maximum of just 1200 ohm input impedance, i bet you will fix the problem by just plugging the mics directly to the Apolo pres. Vintage doesn't necessarily equal good. SM58 has a transformer.

 

[thomasdf]

few things you can look into : maybe your mic output is unbalanced (I have a similar mic, it is !) , maybe your drop snake has some capacitance.
Is the problem the same on all of the lines of the drop snake ? is the drop snake fully deployed ? I suppose you know that tuschel / DIN wiring is not 1 ground 2 hot 3 cold like XLR ?

 

[FPALB]

That Chandler has maximum of just 1200 ohm input impedance, i bet you will fix the problem by just plugging the mics directly to the Apolo pres. Vintage doesn't necessarily equal good. SM58 has a transformer.

HI Kingkorg - unsure of what it is your findings are here - Grundig Impedance are 200 ohm. You would be right in saying the response would change if I go directly into the Apollo, but that is not what im trying to unravel here. Im trying to work out the response change due to jumping the snake. Thanks.

 

[kingkorg]

HI Kingkorg - unsure of what it is your findings are here - Grundig Impedance are 200 ohm. You would be right in saying the response would change if I go directly into the Apollo, but that is not what im trying to unravel here. Im trying to work out the response change due to jumping the snake. Thanks.

I'm not sure what's not to understand to be honest. Basic stuff - impedance, inductance, capacitance. How do you expect to add that much cable without affecting negatively the performance of such mic, and why would you insist to use the Chandler? The CMMR is i bet horrible as well. What input impedance are you using with Chandler?

 

[ubxf]

Could it be a shield/ground issue in the snake to patchbay wiring ?

 

[FPALB]

Sorry the late reply.

Kingkorg - thanks for the wake up call on that its appreciated. We tried all impedance options and the same issue occurred.

UBXF - Ill check this.

 

[JimJhn]

Can I ask what brand of drop-snake you bought?

Do you like it otherwise?

I am looking at buying one of those (8-channel) this week for my iso-room?

This one is shorter. Around 32-feet. Mass-produced, not custom-built.

 

[emrr]

Try the snake for something line level, same comparison