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Old 07-14-2017, 10:31 PM
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Default How do you determine if two mics are good for a matched pair

Aside from buying two of the same, obviously, . I want to see which out of the three condensers I have would be good to pair together (xy)

I have the following 3 mics

AKG Perception 150
MXL 991
Rodes NT5

Thanks in advance. I have no idea what to look at in the specs.

Or, should I just get a Zoom H5 and trade these in for credit on the purchase? (probably be a good idea to keep the Rodes though)
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Old 07-15-2017, 12:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
Aside from buying two of the same, obviously, . I want to see which out of the three condensers I have would be good to pair together (xy)

I have the following 3 mics

AKG Perception 150
MXL 991
Rodes NT5

Thanks in advance. I have no idea what to look at in the specs.

Or, should I just get a Zoom H5 and trade these in for credit on the purchase? (probably be a good idea to keep the Rodes though)

I'm not sure you can really look at specs, at least not easily (a mic manufacturer could, but not you and I). The idea of XY is that both mics are cardiod pattern and are "the same". For some people, that's going to mean two mics from the same manufacturer, possibly sequentially numbered, and/or matched by the factory so that they claim they're as close to identical as possible. For most realistic cases, especially home recording, that's way overkill. Two mics of the same model are fine. The reason they should as similar as possible is that XY is a sort of mathematical model, created by having the same responsiveness, and same polar pattern in two mics that are as close to being physically in the same place as possible. If you want to really hear true "XY", you probably don't want completely different mics, like say a large diaphragm and a small one. That doesn't mean you can't make a good recording by placing two totally different mics close together, and aiming them apart. It probably just won't be quite the effect of XY. But it could sound great! You just have to try it. Guitar micing doesn't have to conform to any standard mic setup.

XY isn't the end-all option for recording guitar, it's just one possible mic setup. It can actually be a bit problematic for guitar, to get a balanced sound without having mics in front of the soundhole. It can be done, but it's not always the easiest place to start. If you have different mics, like an LD and an SD, lots of people use those for spaced pairs, which is one of the most common ways fingerstyle players (arguably) record anyway. You can leverage the fact that you have different mics by trying them on each side and seeing which works better - maybe the LD mic will sound best on the lower bout, or maybe it will sound better at the body/neck joint. Having different mics can actually be a benefit.

Anyway, short answer to your question: for us home recordists - two mics of the same model. Like 2 NT5s would be great. Two Perception 150s' would be great, tho different.
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Old 07-15-2017, 12:16 AM
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Look at the frequency response curves of the mikes at about 45 degrees off axis for XY and about 55 degrees off axis ORTF.

With coincident XY microphones (or near coincident ORTF) you have an overall narrow soundstage. If the frequency response of the two mikes does not closely match you are likely to have notes of different frequencies move around noticeably in their apparent location in space.

Personally I prefer a spaced pair sound regardless of microphones used.
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Old 07-15-2017, 12:34 AM
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Keep in mind that the published frequency response curves of inexpensive mics may not be terribly accurate. With expensive mics, you may get an actual lab sheet for the specific mic where someone measured it's responses. With inexpensive mics, you can find a generic one that may or may not match reality. But it's hard to make music out of math. Non-linearities are what make certain things (from mics to amps to guitars) sound good and other things sound bad. In the end, it only matters if it sounds good to you.
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Old 07-15-2017, 12:45 AM
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Keep in mind that the published frequency response curves of inexpensive mics may not be terribly accurate. With expensive mics, you may get an actual lab sheet for the specific mic where someone measured it's responses. With inexpensive mics, you can find a generic one that may or may not match reality. But it's hard to make music out of math. Non-linearities are what make certain things (from mics to amps to guitars) sound good and other things sound bad. In the end, it only matters if it sounds good to you.
I would certainly look at the frequency response (especially in the mid to mid high frequency range) graphs available if considering buying two types of mikes that you plan to use as a pair for XY or ORTF. Looking at frequency graphs is not math, it visual. It's the apparent varying location of notes of different frequency in the soundstage that would likely be most disconcerting. For overall tone who knows? The few recordings I have done XY I was using a matched pair of Gefell M300 mikes, and even then I did not really like the sound results much.

Here's a good explanation of what I am talking about as far as shifting image location: http://www.soundonsound.com/sound-ad...ereo-recording
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Last edited by rick-slo; 07-15-2017 at 01:02 AM.
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Old 07-15-2017, 10:16 AM
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Depends on where you are recording to. Are you using a computer? Do you have a decent interface/mic pre? If you just need a simple, live, direct recording of a single source guitar (mono or stereo), the Zoom will sound as good and probably better than the mics you have and way less complicated to use. I've done in-depth shoot-outs with the Zoom H5 mic series A/B'd with other $1k+ mics and there is very little difference. It's really incredible what great technology is accessible for the money these days! Can't say enough about the Zoom handhelds.
The Rode mics are really the only ones worth keeping IMO if you need outboard mics. In my experience they sound great as drum overheads.
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