Inexpensive SDC pair review

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by mustache79

Nice sound from a $60 pair. I fall into the "inexpensive" catigory myself. For those who are interested, check out the Samson c02 SDC pair. For $150 you can get them with 2 boom stands, 2 XLR cables, and a stereo bar from American Music Supply. I'll try to get some tracks together for a demo.

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item-...m_medium=feed&

Thanks for the review.

I remember a few years back that one of the on-line places regularly had the Samson C02 SDCs at the $60 per pair price. I haven't seen them that low for quite a while, though.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

A nice natural sound! You might try reversing your dimensions - say 16 inches apart and 10 (or even 8 or 6) inches from the guitar and see how that works.

Doug, I tried a spaced pair set-up and I think it sounds okay! Here is the demo track: AM2 Spaced Pair Demo

I'm still experimenting with mic placement and positions, and I also want to try shaping the sound with my mixer EQ so, who knows what sound I will eventually get.

NOTE to anyone who snubs their nose at cheap gear or belittles this thread as the butt end of a joke: the point of this thread is that even cheap gear can yield a decent recording these days. Nowhere in this thread have I or anyone else compared these mics to any other mic, or stated, suggested or implied that these cheap little mics will rival high end gear. That's not the purpose of my experiment or this thread. Rather, my only purpose is to let folks know that they can get a decent home recording with very little cost. So, if you are strapped for cash or just don't want to spend a lot while you learn about recording, these mics are a good value. They are not the only value out there...if you want to spend more, a pair of ADK A6's can be purchased for about $500.00, or you can buy a pair of any number of brands and models for $1,000.00, or a pair of hand made mics for $8,000 to $10,000. All are good...depends entirely on your objectives and your wallet thickness!

[el_kabong]

Hey Bob - sounds great....any chance we can get a sample using the high pass filter?

Thanks for posting, btw.

[Rick Shepherd]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Sounds good. Can't lose, ordered a pair, clip to follow.

Derek,

Just out of curiosity, why would you, with the gear you currently have, want a pair of these? For a variety of sounds?

Thanks!

[Rick Shepherd]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

Doug, I tried a spaced pair set-up and I think it sounds okay! Here is the demo track: AM2 Spaced Pair Demo

I'm still experimenting with mic placement and positions, and I also want to try shaping the sound with my mixer EQ so, who knows what sound I will eventually get.

NOTE to anyone who snubs their nose at cheap gear or belittles this thread as the butt end of a joke: the point of this thread is that even cheap gear can yield a decent recording these days. Nowhere in this thread have I or anyone else compared these mics to any other mic, or stated, suggested or implied that these cheap little mics will rival high end gear. That's not the purpose of my experiment or this thread. Rather, my only purpose is to let folks know that they can get a decent home recording with very little cost. So, if you are strapped for cash or just don't want to spend a lot while you learn about recording, these mics are a good value. They are not the only value out there...if you want to spend more, a pair of ADK A6's can be purchased for about $500.00, or you can buy a pair of any number of brands and models for $1,000.00, or a pair of hand made mics for $8,000 to $10,000. All are good...depends entirely on your objectives and your wallet thickness!

Robert, sounds very nice! Thanks for sharing this!

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

Doug, I tried a spaced pair set-up and I think it sounds okay! Here is the demo track: AM2 Spaced Pair Demo

Nice! I like that, it seems a tad fuller, warmer, bigger, and so on than the 1st track, tho it might also be just the choice of pice. In any case, nice playing, and very good sound.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Bob1131

I also want to try shaping the sound with my mixer EQ so, who knows what sound I will eventually get.

It really needs some savage EQ. Here's what I ended up with after five minutes exploring with a parametric EQ (jack up the gain and sweep up and down with the frequency control to see what jumps out at ya). It's only a quick fiddle and not meant to be definitive but one thing is clear: there's a huge amount of high-end that needs to be cut.

There's also something going boom somewhere under 200Hz. Lots of guitars do that, mine included. A multi-band compressor is ideal for this. Tune it in same as a parametric EQ, and then set the compression to leave the frequency band which contains the boom alone unless it rises above a certain level, then squeeze it hard. The note will still sound a little dead but at least it won't boom loudly.

After processing, the clip sounds a lot better. Without it, if you'll forgive me for saying so, the excessive treble is pretty nasty. Cheap mics tend to do that to give a false impression of detail.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by moon

It really needs some savage EQ.

Wow, it sounds really nice on my monitors. It'd be interesting to hear your EQing to understand what you did. I wouldn't change a thing on the original, based on what I hear.

[moon]

I've been poring over audio clips all day, evaluating some new pickups, and I think I've burned out my ears. I'll check again tomorrow but here's a processed version. I heard an unpleasant hard, metallic edge in the treble which I tried to attenuate a little. It only really stood out when I listened at a higher volume. Maybe my monitoring gear is introducing the harshness I hear.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by moon

I've been poring over audio clips all day, evaluating some new pickups, and I think I've burned out my ears. I'll check again tomorrow but here's a processed version. I heard an unpleasant hard, metallic edge in the treble which I tried to attenuate a little. It only really stood out when I listened at a higher volume. Maybe my monitoring gear is introducing the harshness I hear.

Your's is certainly more subdued. There's a bit of presence on the original, but I like it. Probably a matter of taste.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Nice! I like that, it seems a tad fuller, warmer, bigger, and so on than the 1st track, tho it might also be just the choice of pice. In any case, nice playing, and very good sound.

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Wow, it sounds really nice on my monitors. It'd be interesting to hear your EQing to understand what you did. I wouldn't change a thing on the original, based on what I hear.

Thank you, Doug. The tracks I posted have absolutely no processing so you can hear what the mic is capturing. I don't know if I will use these mics a lot or a little, but for now I'm having fun playing with them...new toy syndrome!

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by moon

It really needs some savage EQ. Here's what I ended up with after five minutes exploring with a parametric EQ (jack up the gain and sweep up and down with the frequency control to see what jumps out at ya). It's only a quick fiddle and not meant to be definitive but one thing is clear: there's a huge amount of high-end that needs to be cut.

There's also something going boom somewhere under 200Hz. Lots of guitars do that, mine included. A multi-band compressor is ideal for this. Tune it in same as a parametric EQ, and then set the compression to leave the frequency band which contains the boom alone unless it rises above a certain level, then squeeze it hard. The note will still sound a little dead but at least it won't boom loudly.

After processing, the clip sounds a lot better. Without it, if you'll forgive me for saying so, the excessive treble is pretty nasty. Cheap mics tend to do that to give a false impression of detail.

Originally Posted by moon

I've been poring over audio clips all day, evaluating some new pickups, and I think I've burned out my ears. I'll check again tomorrow but here's a processed version. I heard an unpleasant hard, metallic edge in the treble which I tried to attenuate a little. It only really stood out when I listened at a higher volume. Maybe my monitoring gear is introducing the harshness I hear.

Moon, thanks for taking time to listen to these demos. I suspect that some of the treble and harshness is coming from my guitar and some just might come from your system. My guitar is a Taylor that has a bright sound, and I play with a pick, sometimes aggressively, so you can hear some fret rattle as well as the metallic edge that might come from my pick attack on 80/20 strings. The processed track you posted sounds lifeless and muted on my system, and the wave form shows significant cuts in the trebles. Based on the wave forms of the professional/commercial CDs I use to "calibrate" my monitoring system and ears, the nicest sounding guitar recordings to my ears have wave forms of nearly equal level across the spectrum, what I might describe as a balanced tone. Based on what my guitar sounds like live, the "AM2 spaced pair" track sounds pretty close, whereas your processed track sounds like it is my guitar being played in a closet with the door closed...I admit, that's probably where my wife would prefer me to be playing most times, but it's not the sound I like!

As I wrote in my opening posting and reiterated in subsequent posts, the purpose of this thread is to just demonstrate the sound of these affordable pair of mics for folks looking to get into home stereo recording at minimal cost. I think your processed clip is valuable because it demonstrates that post recording processing can change everything! Thanks again for taking time to contribute to the discussion.

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by el_kabong

Hey Bob - sounds great....any chance we can get a sample using the high pass filter?

Thanks for posting, btw.

Sure, if I can get a few moments today I'll give it a go and post the results this evening.

[freedomfarm]

Bob, again, thanks for the heads up! Got mine last week.
They sound great . . . I was "squeaking by" with what I had mic wise, a very mis-matched pair and really wanted try something like this. They've been working quite well for me!

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by freedomfarm

Bob, again, thanks for the heads up! Got mine last week.
They sound great . . . I was "squeaking by" with what I had mic wise, a very mis-matched pair and really wanted try something like this. They've been working quite well for me!

I'm glad they are working for you, Steve. So, when are we gonna hear what they sound like in your recording chain? Post something in this thread or in Show & Tell! BTW, in Show & Tell I posted a cover of "Sandman" in which the acoustic guitars were recorded with these mics. I think the tone actually helped the guitars sit in the mix very cleanly, but I'm still experimenting.