A few months ago I recorded a show in a small opera house. I came in during sound check and could put mics wherever I wanted. I put 3 pairs of mics in different locations, so I could pick the best one afterward. I had:
- Schoeps MK4's actives head high in the sweet spot.
- Gefell M210 hypers hanging off the balcony rail (M21 caps with 200 series bodies)
- Gefell M295 cards at the corner of the sound board... basically 10' below the balcony rail Gefells. I wanted these on stage, but the snake was full, so this was it.
This is not a controlled experiment at all... different mics, locations, preamps, etc. But, it's human nature to compare the results, so I will. I've run my Schoeps and Gefells enough that I could predict the results, but I had no clue how the M295's would sound. The FOB Schoeps sounded fat, as I would expect. The Gefell hypers on the balcony rail had a bit more presence/clarity, as I would expect. The M295's seemed to have significantly more presence than the M210's. I would have needed to EQ some of that out. Remember, this is only one data point in poorly controlled experiment.
If I still have the raw wave files, it's on the hard drive of a computer which is currently dead. I plan to resurrect that computer soon, and if I find the files I'll try to post a sample.