Some time ago I bought some inexpensive mics to use as support in an orchestral recording setup. Normally, especially when a job is well paid, I rent a matched pair of 4006s for € 45 and use them as mains, while using my own mics as supports.
Sometimes however, the job is, well, less paid, and less due to become the greatest recording of the year. Those are the jobs in which I really discover how little I know about my own stuff. Ever since I got my equipment, I wanted to get to know my mics better.
Yesterday, a small amateur baroque orchestra was giving a concert in a church, and they let me experiment with my microphones. I put three microphone pairs on a stand, and recorded the concert.
Due to the reverberation in the church, I chose for a hybrid system, so I went with cardioids (as far as I could). On each side, three SDCs were attached to each other with rubber bands. The microphone angle was 30º, and the distance between the microphones was 28 cm.
The recording was made using an M-Audio Profire 2626, using its own preamps, sampled at 44k1. Due to the little amount of preparation time, I accidentally recorded everything in 16 bits. For the excerpt I share with you, I gained all signals with +6dB. No other signal processing has taken place.
The mics I tested:
Audio Technica AT4022
Little Blondies - Wooden edition
(Sahiaman's mics)
Oktava MK-012 (Original russian built) with cardioid capsules
(These are in alphabetical order, the audio files are in different order.)
It should be stated that the wooden Little Blondies aren't real cardioids, as you'll hear; although they are often called 'omnis', mine do seem to have some directionality, if you ask me.
I would like to get to know:
1. Which one do you like the best?
2. Which microphone belongs to which audio file? (I think this is not going to be very difficult
)
3. Any comments on any audio file are welcome and appreciated!
You can find the audio files here:
https://www.wuala.com/pelleke/Kunsto...y=F3T0SPX0LzGF
As a side note: I must have miscalculated the operational viewing angle, as I find too many instruments having disappeared in one of the loudspeakers, 28cm was probably too much distance (resulting in a stereo recording angle of approximately 70º, which I thought was more than enough, but my according to what my monitors tell me, was probably too little.) It may although as well be my monitor setup, which is far from great at the moment due to my room acoustics.
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