What divides good mics from bad mics?

[PettyCash]

Don't trouble the noob people

[mohthom]

I'll have to remember not to mis-direct-quote in the future, eh?!

Schematic aside, crack open a U87 and you'll see it has as many tubes as there are good records by Atomic Kitten.

[samwinston123]

The level of "not getting it" in this thread is reaching astronomical proportions. Is everyone really this dense?


BTW, I replaced the stock tubes in all of my SM57's and they sound much better.

[Hob]

Originally Posted by mohthom

I'll have to remember not to mis-direct-quote in the future

It's cool I'm not mad. It happens you just role with the punches.

[bunnerabb]

I'm sorry, but the ministry of silly threads has declared that.. due to an excess of sillyness in this thread, there's no more funding for any additional sillyness.

As such, you are all requested to talk about your favourite desserts for the balance of the postings, here.

[Blast9]

Creme brulee (flamed of course)

[guid0]

Tartuffo!

[lowfreq33]

Flan.

[kedbear]

There's only one guy that writes with such a distinct style. BLENDER is BACK!!!!

[malaclypse]

i wanna make a joke profile too

[elcubo]

omg...Lennon...tube or no tube...it doesnt matters...i dont have a real answer but creeps me out how people can confund other people with weak arguments...i guess its all about components and use your ears...u can find really "pro" something like an AKGc414...NEUMANN U87...BRAUNER VH1...SHURE SM57 they are all pro in their own jobs...

[lucey]

Originally Posted by Lennon

HI. I was thinking about what actually divides a good mic from a not so good one.

You do!

[AllAboutTone]

Good mics and Bad mics are both good, it just depends what you are using it on, imo !!

[Vandergraf]

Originally Posted by Hob

It's because the good mics have a tube inside that actually warms the sound when it goes through there just like a guitar amp with tubes sounds better. It's not cheap though because the one that's really good is the U47 that costs $10,000 but that is that expensive sound.

I believe it's called the "Epic Sound".

[underworld]

Originally Posted by Lennon

HI. I was thinking about what actually divides a good mic from a not so good one.

I thought the standard GS answer for this question was: the singer.

But anyway. I think there are several things that people look for in a "good" mic and avoid in a "bad" mic. But it really depends on context. A good mic for a guitar amp is not necessarily a good mic for vocals. Some mics have a hyped top-end that on some sources makes them sound really harsh, but adds a brightness to certain darker sources that works well. Go figure.

Another factor is versatility. Versatility on vocal mics means two things:

1) Does it work for a lot of singers (for example, a Neumann U87)
2) Does it work for anything other than vocals (for example, an AKG C414)

Even deeper still are additional factors:

* Build quality
* Electronics quality (i.e. what tolerance of components such as resistors)
* Design quality

Then there's the more cynical perspective of what separates good mics from bad. You can start there with "popular opinion". Continue with "marketing". Maybe end up with "price" or "exclusiveness". This is gearslutz, after all.

Who knows, maybe it's tubes?! But I'm pretty sure that if the chinese tube mics out there were better than all of the other solid-state mics, then you'd see more people using them. I like to think that engineers vote with their ears; but I've been wrong before.

[Lennon]

I was thinking about fx how would the costs of mics look like?

Let's say you are a German worker making a mic: It takes you 5 hours to do it, you get paid 60$ and hour, equals 300$. In China someone does the same job, but only gets paid 1$ an hour, equals 5$.

The German mic sells for 1200$, the chinese 100$. So where is the actual difference?

Caps and resistors are today, I am told, so good and much better than the were in the old days, the other way around when it comes to tubes, they were much better then.

Most schematics for mics are available to anyone, so copying mics, at least as principle, is quite easy.

Then there must be som expert knowledge about something in mics that isn't available to us. What could that be?

Or is it just a fact that the pricetag rules as a gudeline when we divide the bad mic from the good? Neumann costs 2500$. Must be good? if all mics were priced the same, let's say 200$, how would we pick the good ones?

Anyone.

L;

[lucey]

The capsule is the thing you're not considering, and those are more art than science, and more important than anything else.

[Mats]

Originally Posted by Hob

It's because the good mics have a tube inside that actually warms the sound when it goes through there just like a guitar amp with tubes sounds better. It's not cheap though because the one that's really good is the U47 that costs $10,000 but that is that expensive sound.

Sorry Hob. Tube or no tube..

This first comment says it all anyway. It´s ok to not know everything you know..

[Lennon]

I changed the trafo in one of my mics to a Tab_Funkenwerk one, and the bass area tightened up considerably. The old one was also from a reknowned maker, but wasn't this good.

L;

[mwikkid]

i like chocolate chip cookies. the best ones are the ready-to-cook pilsbury stuff that comes in a TUBE. that's the only way to get that taste.

[Mats]

Originally Posted by Lennon

HI. I was thinking about what actually divides a good mic from a not so good one.
I have just bought some different mics, Cad trions, GXL3000, Shinybox.

Take the Shinybox that I have. (Lundahl Trafo). What would be the audible difference from a RCA ribbon mic? What hardware differences could there be?

Also say the CAD gxl3000, what in the electronic circuit could be made better.

If I look inside my old U87 circuit it seems to have more, bigger caps/resistors.

Difficult to say, I know, but anyone?

Best from Lennon.

There has been so many recordings over the years, where a SM57 have been involved, so the pricetag isn´t nessessery the catch.
It comes down to the sound of the mic doesn it? Who cares of what´s inside..?
If you always can archive what you want faster with one mic than the other, (or at all) that is i suppose, a good mic.

Everthing you record with a mic is always gonna be influensed by it surroundings.
IOW, if the recorded vocals doesn´t come thru in a nice way, maybe that mic just doesn´t work in that environment, it doesn´t have to be a bad mic.

I guess you can go about this as you do with monitors, you want clearity don´t you..?

[vernier]

There isn't a divide, they're all good. Even a broken mic might add a desirable element to your creation.

[malaclypse]

Originally Posted by vernier

There isn't a divide, they're all good. Even a broken mic might add a desirable element to your creation.

[TheArchitect]

The engineer using it

[TheArchitect]

Originally Posted by Hob

I think he is talking about for profesional quality not begginer. Tubes blow away solid state have you ever compared a Marshall amp to a solid state Crate amp? Theres no comparison. But it depends on if you are picky or not.

Wow, now theres a completely irrelevant comparison.

[TheArchitect]

Originally Posted by Hob

OK!Maybe I was wrong but I don't think so. We will have to agree to disagree. We will never know for sure but I do know that the U47 has tubes in it and it is in the same family so it only makes sense.

Actually, I think everyone pretty much agrees your wrong and in a mind boggling way at that

[TheArchitect]

Originally Posted by kedbear

There's only one guy that writes with such a distinct style. BLENDER is BACK!!!!

Kinda sounds like a genius named WALTERS from a few other boards I read

[vernier]

Guess I can add a bit more since I use the world's best mic's -along with cheap ones. Some mics sound like you can hear the circuit-board, the electronics that boosts it, some of the newer production mics sound that way to me. Another thing is the sensitivity, which isn't important in rock or pop, but is for folk and orchestra, and some mics have way more of it. Thats all I can think of at the moment.

[Hob]

Originally Posted by TheArchitect

Actually, I think everyone pretty much agrees your wrong and in a mind boggling way at that

Everyone disagreed with Thomas Edison about gravity but look who ended up being right. You really shouldn't judge people you know. You never know who the next star might be.

[Kevin Curtin]

Originally Posted by Hob

It's because the good mics have a tube inside that actually warms the sound when it goes through there just like a guitar amp with tubes sounds better. It's not cheap though because the one that's really good is the U47 that costs $10,000 but that is that expensive sound.

By this logic, I guess I better stay away from Neve and API, cause I want my recordings to be WARM.