Help for a mic shoot out test material

[leifislive]

Hi,

roughly this weekend, I will test the following cardioids and plan to post the results.

AKG C460+CK1
AKG C480+CK61
Beyerdynamic MC 930
Gefell M300
MBHO MBP 603 +Ka200
Neumann KM 184
Oktava 012
Schoeps CMC 5 +MK4

In order to maximize the output and impact for anyone interested in this gear, I wonder what I can test and what suggestions for good test material you do have, since I'll have to do this mainly at home.

For noises: I found out that my vacuum cleaner is good source for noise, I heard about using keys or coins. I can tear paper. Or I can record the environment in the street I live. I can record a speaker play back.
For instruments: I can play the cello and ask a friend to play the violin violin. I can record different cymbals. I can hit almost anything in my flat with drum and timpani sticks... I can speak into the mic ( I will stay away form singing....).

I appreciate to know, what you will prefer to hear and any "easy to do" advices/suggestions from you.


Best and thanks,
Leif

[leifislive]

Originally Posted by Mike Honcho

First!

???

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by leifislive

For noises: I found out that my vacuum cleaner is good source for noise,

Interesting idea... Don't get the mics too close...

I heard about using keys or coins.

The Dreaded "Key Jangle" Test

What's so scary about this? Think of a tamborine at point blank range. Those little keys put out a ton of high frequency energy, enough to overload most mics if you get right up on the mic. And that's what we're gonna do, jangle the keys and listen for any severe distortion in the mic.

Make sure you're not clipping anything in the mixer and leave at least 6 to 10dB of headroom, so you're sure it's coming from just the mic. Start with the keys up close, and jangle.

Keep moving the keys away from the mic till any distortion is gone, and mark down how far away the keys were when the distortion disappeared. That number when converted (we'll talk about that later) tells you the Maximum SPL level for each mic you test. Pretty cool, huh?

I can tear paper. Or I can record the environment in the street I live. I can record a speaker play back.

Some magazines have made mic tests with speakers. I find that a bit dubious, but it might work...

For instruments: I can play the cello and ask a friend to play the violin violin. I can record different cymbals. I can hit almost anything in my flat with drum and timpani sticks...

Know any guitar player? Or a place with decent acoustics and a piano?

I can speak into the mic (I will stay away form singing....).

Much appreciated...

Have you got a multi-channel preamp/converter?

[ISedlacek]

For sure a nice music and some vocals would be the best ...

[leifislive]

I have already tried the vacuum cleaner today, as long as you don't blast the air towards the mics it works amazingly well... isn't as loud as I expected, and you can clearly distinct between Schoeps, Neumann, MBHO and Oktava due to the nice air noise frequency distribution....

I don't have a piano right here, and a room with good acoustics is pretty far away. At the end of April I will record a friends brass ensemble. So I can do this (I find brass to be pretty revealing, sometimes more than strings....).

I think I can borrow a guitar from a friend. I can also ask my neighbour to play the bassoon.

Still wondering....

I plan to do as many recordings simultaneously as possible (two Audient ASP008), but I wonder how to get all mics close together. How many would you do in one recording? Or would you stick to pairwise recording?
I will also record under 0, 45, 90 and 135 degrees. So something like the vacuum cleaner or the key-test is quite easy to do...


Thanks for input so far.

P.s.: d_fu - I was tempted to say "due to the wish of a fellow gearslutz member"...

[ISedlacek]

No, I don´t want to listen to 10 takes of vacuum cleaner

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by ISedlacek

No, I don´t want to listen to 10 takes of vacuum cleaner

I'm sure flushing a toilet is also a very good test signal...
Or do you have a bird in the house? The dreaded three budgies test...

[leifislive]