Topic: Completely lazy and unscientific mic comp (Neumann and Schempz)

[tim in jersey]

From last weekend:

Silentmark and I were both clamped @ the same height to the balcony "underhang" at the end of the bar on the floor. Give or take 1/2"-1" or so.

We were both in what I consider to be the room's sweet spot (an inch or so horizontally of one another) and this is one of the better mixes I've heard in Triumph Brew Co. (New Hope location). It's a weird room. Really wide and very shallow in the best listening area. Most of the stereo image is from the stage instruments, and the PA on extreme ends of the wide, shallow stage provide a mostly mono fill and some SPL...

Distance-wise silentmark's mics might have been a few inches closer...

We both ran DIN.

Given the challenges of this room, I think they both sound excellent. To draw a crude foodie analogy, it boils down to whether you prefer bacon-wrapped shrimp or you prefer bacon-wrapped scallops.

Intelligent comments and critiques not only welcome, but encouraged.

http://www.archive.org/details/RHLT2011-09-17.ak40.owmFr2le.flac16

http://www.archive.org/details/lithiumtree2011-09-17.mk4v.din.flac16

[F.O.Bean]

Hmmmm, maybe I'm biased because I now run Shempz, but I MUCH PREFER your mk4v source. It has more punch and lowend, and has a smoother sound compared to the harsh sound of the ak40s

BOTH sound AMAZING tho

[MIQ]

I listened to the track "The Sun Is Falling" with Westone 4 IEMs. They both sound good.  L and R are opposite in the two recordings.  I normalized the MK4V track to 0dBFS like the AK40 track, though the levels are still not exactly the same.  Not complaining, I realize you started the thread by writing "lazy and unscientific"   

To me the MK4V recording sounds more natural.  The AK40 recording is great but the tonal balance seems slightly better with the MK4Vs. 

-MIQ

[hi and lo]

I agree with MIQ that the Left and Right channels are definitely reversed between the two sources. A couple of other things...

It looks like there were some pretty significant differences in the way these were post-processed. I also listened to "The Sun is Falling" and the Neumann source has peaks of 0.00dB with nearly a 4dB higher average RMS. It looks like it was definitely compressed which makes me wonder if any EQ was also applied.

If we assume no EQ was applied, I prefer the sound of the Neumanns. It's definitely warmer, but that might also be attributable to the Oade Warm Mod on the FR2LE. The 4v Schoeps do sound more natural and accurate, but I'm rather befuddled as to why they don't sound more 'forward' in the room than the Neumanns. Their HF bump does wonders for pulling the music closer in the soundstage.

With all this said and knowing this is an unscientific comp, both of these sources are fantastic. I've owned both mics and made many tapes with each, so I'm not surprised as to how good they both sound.

[tim in jersey]

Hmmmm, maybe I'm biased because I now run Shempz, but I MUCH PREFER your mk4v source. It has more punch and lowend, and has a smoother sound compared to the harsh sound of the ak40s

BOTH sound AMAZING tho

Mostly agree, Bean. My first time out with the 4v's. I've listened to both sources a lot over the past few days. Smooth would be the word I'd use for the mk4v's. Can't wait to hear these suckers in a hat in the sweet zone for a few low-pro shows I have coming up this fall.

That being said, I still can't decide if I like my source or silentmark's better. Bacon-wrapped shrimp vs. bacon-wrapped scallops fried in butter debate...