What are some good sources for testing a KM-84 style mic on?

[joulupukki]

I’ve got a few varieties of KM-84 clone microphones that I’d like to put through some different scenarios so I can tell which mics sound/perform the best. Are there any particular sources that would be great for testing KM-84 style mics? So far, I’ve tried:

• Acoustic Guitar
  • I can hear some subtle differences between my mics
• Mandolin
  • Can’t really hear much difference between the mics
• Banjo
  • The mics sound about the same
• Speaking
  • I can hear some differences between them
• Electric guitar (about 1 ft away from my combo tube amp)
  • Cannot hear any difference between the mics

The mics I’m comparing are:

• Neumann KM-184
• Microphone Parts SDC-84
• @jp8’s KM84+ (built in a Takstar CM-60 w/ 3U capsule and 3U transformer)
• @jp8’s KM84++ (built in a Takstar CM-63 w/ 3U capsule and 3U transformer). This one is a little more versatile because it has both a high pass filter switch and a pad switch … and runs at a higher polarization voltage.
• My Graeme Woller PCB KM84 clone built into a CM-60 w/ 3U capsule and 3U transformer

 

[Barry Hufker]

So far, your sources are limited in their tonal range and power output. Try piano (a good quality grand), pipe organ if you can, a good choir singing “in parts” and real drums. A variety of singers (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) one at a time is good.

None of this may be practical for you but that is my thought anyway…

 

[gyraf]

imo, KM84 is all about the off-axis response, not so much about on-axis

 

[RuudNL]

When I worked for a radiostation, my supervisor said that any microphone was good enough for spoken word.
I never agreed with him. Human speech consist of such a wide spectrum, that you easily can hear differences in microphone quality.
Often musical instruments seem to sound the same on different microphones, but on spoken word the differences will become obvious!

 

[jp8]

When I worked for a radiostation, my supervisor said that any microphone was good enough for spoken word.
I never agreed with him. Human speech consist of such a wide spectrum, that you easily can hear differences in microphone quality.
Often musical instruments seem to sound the same on different microphones, but on spoken word the differences will become obvious!

@joulupukki recorded a voiceover and shared with me. The microphones are all so close, that I could not hear a difference. But that could be just my ears. Only the silent period at the end revealed a slight difference between background noise of the mics. The clear winners were the KM184 and my KM84++.

I'd also liked to see them compared on very loud sources, where transformer saturation kicks in. The KM84++ should be able to handle up to 140 dBSPL with the pad engaged. Expect the original KM84 to distort on snares, wouldn't it?

Jan

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

When I worked for a radiostation, my supervisor said that any microphone was good enough for spoken word.
I never agreed with him. Human speech consist of such a wide spectrum, that you easily can hear differences in microphone quality.
Often musical instruments seem to sound the same on different microphones, but on spoken word the differences will become obvious!

I feel like that can also be voice dependent. But I've definitely heard some voices I'm familiar with sound very different on different mics, including stuff that should be voiced similarly. A lot of the time mine sounds the same, but most of my mics are flat, except my LDC utility mics (not counting my C414 B-ULS) which are all kinds bright-neutral if that makes sense. They're CAD M179s and AT4050s, which at the same level I feel perform similarly (both on my voice and other voices I've heard).

Acoustic guitar is another one that should be simple to recreate, and I've heard a lot of people say that shouldn't be used for comparison, but I find different mics sound pretty different there. The more flat mics sound like they pick up a lot more of the body resonance and sustain of the strings, and I find brighter mics seem to pick up a lot more of the string sound (both strumming noise and the notes without as much body resonance).

Not at all scientific but I call the former dark and rich and the latter bright and twangy.

Dark and rich is what I expected from a Schoeps, a flatter Sennheiser, an Oktava, or a Neumann.

Bright and twangy is what I expect from a Rode (except an NTG3/8 or 4th gen NT1), a brighter Sennheiser (ME64, E914), Behringer, or pretty much any Chinese SDC (iSK, Alctron, etc.).

I'm mostly commenting on SDCs here though.