Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: bluebellmorning on October 14, 2004, 07:39:44 AM

Title: Sensitivity?
Post by: bluebellmorning on October 14, 2004, 07:39:44 AM

Hi,

I'm buying these mics (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-3) and wondering if I should choose high sensitivity or low sensitivity? What's the difference?

Thanks.

Title: Re: Sensitivity?
Post by: dklein on October 14, 2004, 11:57:56 AM

ummm...one is more sensitive than the other  :P

Your first question should probably go to the people selling the mics.  Sensitivity has to do with how much electrical output the mics will generate.  You can't really go too far in answering the question unless you know what you might do with the mics.  Hi sensitivity means more output - can be useful if you're trying to record thru line-in but can overload some preamps if you're not.  Can also be good for quiet situations where you want to minimise electrical gain (use 'less' preamp).

loud or quiet recording environment?
using a preamp? - which one, what's it's max input level
which recording device?

Title: Re: Sensitivity?
Post by: bluebellmorning on October 14, 2004, 01:45:57 PM

Sorry - it will be loud bands into this (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-SPSB-6&type=store) battery pack, into the line-in of a minidisc recorder. I hope thats useful.

Title: Re: Sensitivity?
Post by: plucks on October 14, 2004, 11:54:52 PM

if you were to be recording gunshots or rocket launches, youd probably want low sensitivity due to the fact that the dB levels will be extremely high.  it wont pick up as much of the sound at lower dB, but wont be easy to overload.
But for music, you may want that detail, so the low sensitivity would be my choice.  using very sensitive mics for the types of examples above would be a bad idea since they can easily overload.