Hi, I'm a newbie and today I tried a stupid test on my new gears in order to improve the confidence with it.
Result of the test was unexpected, so I'm posting here hoping that some of you could help me to improve my knowledge :-)
I hope to use correct terms :-D
Gears:
- two couples of AT853 (4.7k mod) mics
- a pair of cardioid capsules
- a pair of sub-cardioid capsules
- Sony M10
(I've also a CA UBB - not used in this test - and a CA 9200 will join the party in the next weeks)
Test:
Thanks to
http://www.audiocheck.net/audiofrequencysignalgenerator_sinetone.php I generated two sine tones that I play continuosly: a 10 sec 400Hz sine tone and a 10 sec 1000 Hz sine tone.
Then I put a couple of mic near to one of my cheap PC speaker, plug in to "mic" input of the Sony M10 (manual rec level to 7) and started a recording.
I tried a lot of configuration (mics/capsules) and then I've loaded all the recordings on Audacity.
Results:
1) When I record with cardioid capsules, a channel level is bigger of the other of 1 or 2 dB. Channel levels on audacity are between -21 dB and -15 dB. If I swap the capsules (left to right and viceversa), channel levels are swapped too. So I conclude that a cardioid capsule is more sensitive than the other of 1 or 2 dB.
2) When I record with sub-cardioid capsules, the result is the same but the sensitivity difference between the two subcards is 2 or 3 dB.
Question:
Is this test stupid? If no, should I worry about this sensitivity difference?
Thanks a lot for any contribution.