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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: jb3newbie on November 07, 2003, 07:00:22 AM
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I was leaning towards getting these mics real soon....but with all this talk of getting unmatched pairs??? How do I know for sure that I am getting a matched pair???
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If they're a matched pair, you should receive:
[1] certification of some kind that states as such and/or
[2] documentation of the actual test results which will look something like this:
(http://www.audio-technica.com/prodpro/frequency/AT853a.gif)
At least, that's the info the Sound Room provided when I purchased mine. IMO, if the seller can't prove they're a matched pair, they're not.
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Yeah, the frequency response graph is the true test.
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Where are you getting them from?? The ones from sound room are matched for sure. You can get them matched at gc. The other good source is recordingservices on ebay. Buy from one of these 3 and you will be fine
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Skeptical as always... there's nothing to say that any frequency graphs you get are actually from your specific pair of mics. I've heard at least one person mention that their 'matched pair' of Oktava's didn't match too well when you looked at the relative levels of a recorded waveform. I'm not suggesting that any retailer is on the sly - just that you don't really know what response graphs you're getting if they're supplied.
Personally, I've been tempted to create a test disc of some frequency sweeps and do some recording off the home loudspeakers with each mic (in the same position, through the same channel of the preamp (to eliminate that as a possibility), same gain levels, same volume, same passage of music.. Just haven't got around to it.
I'm pretty sure you need a real anechoic chamber to do true frequency response, but for matching purposes I'd think you're OK as long as you use the same environment for both mics.
Anyone ever done this? (I know, it doesn't really help you with the original question).
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technically you do need an anechoic chamber but I bet you can get a pretty good idea utilizing the method you described. I would do many, many different recordings over several days... then you'd be able to draw some real conclusions.
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When I did the test recodings on my modded Oktava MC012's. I had a good opportunity to see just how well matched the capsules were. I used the frequency response feature in Wavelab and set it for the line drawing option. I was surprised at just how well they were matched! Anybody can do this by running pink noise through their stereo system and recording it. It may not be the exact perfect way to do it by a long shot, but it'll give you a pretty good idea of how things are.