Quote:
Originally Posted by j3ffr0
First -- thanks you very much to the OP for posting this link. This might save me some money and some disappointment.
I'm an acoustic fingerpicker, so I'm not going for thick strummy sound. I'm listening to these on a macbook pro. I haven't listened to them all, but I've listened to many. With all that in mind I seem to be favoring SDCs (which I imagine might actually be closer to the instrument, because the proximity effect is less severe). My early rankings:
#1 Beyer M201 (not even a condenser)
#2 Neumann KM84 (I now hear why this one is the standard)
#3 Audio Technica ATM450
#4 Neumann KM184
#5 Royer 122
Right now I have an AKG460 with the CK61 capsule, and it definitely doesn't make the top 5 ten for a finger picking Mic. I think I will be picking a Beyer M201. Hard to beat at that price.
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Please be aware that the M201 is a dynamic mic, and as a very rough rule of thumb the flatter the frequency response of a dynamic, the lower the sensitivity. The M201 will require an excellent preamp capable of 70 dB of clean gain and the signal will still be low.
I listened to a few of the sample clips at that link. The first thing I noticed with the lack of level matching. Since our ears are not linear with respect to volume, that immediately causes differences in what we hear.
Please give these clips a listen - these four mics were carefully level matched and used to record a single performance:
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-F.wav
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-G.wav
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-H.wav
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-I.wav
These mics range in price from $150 to over $1500, they're US, European, or Chinese in origin. Some are large diaphragm, some are small.
Do these sound as wildly different as the mics in the OP's link?
Fran