Last night's gig was a good test of my new SR40V. The back yard had 20 or so folks milling around. Monitors were definitely needed but we didn't have to contend with reflexions. I could adjust everything using a mixer (a Zoom L12) right at hand.
The gain needed was actually higher than many of my other condensers. Just past 12:00 on my mixer. So, no big deal.
I put a HP filter on in order to avoid wind noise (ended up not really being needed). A bump in the 800-1000 hz range is nice and makes me feel like my vocals have SOME sound pressure (more on that later).
Handling noise is very low and stage stomps are well mitigated
Plosives are more difficult to control than my DPA 2028, but easier than my Miktek PM5.
There is very little proximity effect. I need to do more experimenting with lowering the gain and coming in, but I suspect this will be a 4" and more sort of mic. When I really belted out something and did the "turn away" thing in order to modulate the volume, this mic picked it all up with crazy clarity.
And then there's the sound itself... it's behavior. I have to choose my words carefully. This mic is different. The sound isn't "pushed" out of the speaker so much as it "suddenly appears in the room". There's a liquid, eveywhere at once, sort of behavior that really sets this thing apart.
All in all, I'm now even more intruiged. I really need to play around and explore the mic more. The DPA 2028 remains the easiest condenser to use well with zero experience. But the SR40V may well be a more potent and better sounding tool when used well... if that makes sense.
