I'm trying out three stereo mics. Last night I had my friend come over and play some piano. I set up the three mics as close to the same position at the piano I could. They are right outside the piano about mid way between the body and the top of the lid. So this is the same performance with three different stereo mic's recording it. They all went through two channels of my Grace 801.
What do you think?
__________________ If you can't hear a difference then there is no difference.
I think A sounds the nicest by far.
The stereo image of C is very different from A. It sounds to me like microphone C is sending a m/s coded signal with M on left channel and S on the right channel.
(?)
Here's some short samples of a brass quartet I did yesterday. Same deal, the mics are the same but labeled differently.
So, doesn't anyone want to know what the mics are? If this was the So Much Gear, So Little Time there would be 40 people telling me that the mics weren't positioned correctly and 20 people telling me that you can't make a decent recording with Grace pre-amps!
Actually, it's fun not to know the mics...at least not right away. (I guess that's why we are the better forum)
What would be more fun is trying to match up the mics. I like mic 'a' on the piano and mic 'b' on the brass.
I'm guessing mic piano 'c' is brass 'a'
Someone else stick their neck out and take a guess
Congrats, first, on making such decent sounding recordings with a Grace preamp.
On piano, my comments are as follows. On this sort of jazz, I like to cut straight to a staccato section (for transients) -- e.g. 0:08-0:12 and a sustain section (for decay, presence) -- e.g. 0:25 etc.
A: really nice presence overall; I can hear the transient decay and the natural "extra" pedal at 0:09 on the Dm7 chord LH near middle C, and I can hear the natural texture near 0:35 going from G7(-13)-->C7(-13)-->Fm7
B: comparatively lightweight, although more presence (in this case, harsh) on the high Ab near 0:10. In general, the sound doesn't "carry" as well. I wish there were more sustain from the G7-->C7-->Fm7 near 0:35, but since I already heard "A" I conclude that the microphone response decays away faster. Similar to my own comparision between AT 4050 (sound died faster) and AKG 414 (mic registered the long decay of sound better) AKG 414 vs AT4050 on Steinway grand
C: in contrast, I'm hearing more hanging on of sound in what I took to be the stacatto section near 0:10. I can hear the extra pedal, so I find it tough to believe there is actual pedaling in these spots, which means the microphone response is different from what I already liked in "A". In the 0:35 section, I can hear sustain between the same chords, but not as warmly.
For brass I won't be as detailed:
A: too harsh
B: too lightweight
C: just right
My guess would be piano A and brass C are the same, maybe with a Blumlein configuration (a lot more room sound n the brass example) , and piano B and brass A are the same because of the sharp sound.
I'm very curious wich is the piano A mic (s).
Hans
I like Piano A - wouldn't consider it harsh at all.
I like Brass C. I'd also expect Piano A and Brass C to be the same setup.
Nor did I. To clarify, I felt Brass A was harsh, not Piano A. I like Piano A and Brass C best, and can live with Piano C but not Piano B, Brass A or Brass B.
I thought Piano A sounded really nice, but I thought the stereo image was too wide. Brass A was very harsh. B sucked on both piano and brass. Piano C was okay, but not anything like A. Brass C was my favorite for the brass recording, although I wasn't completely blown away with the sound.
I only listened to the brass. if the goal is to choose a mic that is good for "classical" brass, then for me it is C. B was marginal, but lacked body. A was like fingernails on a blackboard.
The performance sounded the same (but I only listened once to A & C and twice to B) so I am assuming slightly different mic positions (and a few inches can make it or break it) but the same micpres.
I tried to not listen for the tell-tale increased micpre noise (often indicating a ribbon) but it was hard to not imagine what effect a good room might have, as off-axis response is a fact of life with classical. In fact, the room is often considered another instrument.
In this scenario I vote for C, which sounds to me like a ribbon. B to me is the "vintage stereo condenser" (which likely means SM69, SM2, Schoeps, or older AKG).
On the piano, the image of A sound open. But, I really like how the C mic sounds. Its frequency response souns really soft. C my choice for its smoothness, and A for its wideness and overall frequency response. I mean, I would use C if I wanted an "old" piano sound. And A if I was going for a modern (wide, clean, balanced) sound.
On the brass, I can hear lots of room sound with mic A. Hi frequency responce on the mic A sounds kinda harsh to me. Im not shure if Mic C is the same mic C that was used on the piano. But again, mike C sounds soft. I would stick with C for this one.
I dont like mic B at all.
Last edited by nandoanalog; 4th February 2007 at 04:48 PM..
Reason: awful english
My guess is that B for brass is SD (I've never evaluated brass recordings, really, but this is my impression of what SD would sound like).
On piano, I tried SD (Rode NT-5) and all of your recordings sounded more full than my own experience into an FMR. I'd guess B is SD, but that is only a guess.
So, Bongo... when do we get to learn? Or did I miss something in this thread?
=On the piano, the image of A sound open. But, I really like how the C mic sounds. Its frequency response souns really soft. C my choice for its smoothness, and A for its wideness and overall frequency response. I mean, I would use C if I wanted an "old" piano sound. And A if I was going for a modern (wide, clean, balanced) sound.
I totally agree! Piano sounds good!!! Bongo - Did you have it touched up recently???
Sounds more open than it did last year! Is it in open main room or in your both that faces the big pond?
Damn those Royer folks, and you too! LOL You sure sold me on that mic. Very natural and open to me. I am a rank amateur but thought that A on piano sound most like what I think a piano sounds like.
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Let's listen to some stereo mic's 
