I take what you've written in your post to indicate that you are interpreting these image as "treble energy appears above the mid-line, bass energy appears below the mid-line", however that's not correct. You cannot read frequency information directly off this kind of waveform image.
What those images are showing is signal voltage over time. A recorded sound will cause the waveform to swing positive then negative, over and over again, many times per second. The distance of the line above or below the mid-line of the graph indicates signal level, which roughly corresponds to the loudness of the sound. You can see those signal level changes over time along the line, but not which frequencies are active. Normally the waveform will be mostly symmetrical above and below the line. There are some sounds for which the waveform isn't completely symmetrical, but the height overall peaks should be about the same both "up going" and "down going".
The waveform image you posted of the 853 sample appears to be asymmetric in that the negative going peaks are higher in level than the positive going peaks, and the positive going peaks are also clipped, compressed or otherwise limited (indicated by how even the height of the maximium peaks are above the line). That often happens when low-voltage microphones such as these are either overloaded or not powered with sufficient voltage. You should consider using a battery box or a preamp to power the 853 pair instead of powering them directly using the M10's plug in power.
A comparison between the sound of these different model mics will not be valid until you correct for this.
The 853 is generally considered to have a somewhat less significant roll-off at low frequencies than the 933, so recordings made with it will probably have more heft and bottom end in them. That additional energy may have been enough to push the 853 pair past the limits of the powering voltage it was receiving from the M10, resulting in the distorted waveform in the image. I would expect that to be an audible distortion. (I haven't listened to the samples)
Depending on the recording situation and the music, the response of either of one of these models be more appropriate than the other, assuming they are properly powered and operating within their specifications. Which you prefer might change based on those variables. Some recordists choose which microphone to use based only on this kind of frequency response difference, using the pair which get's closest to the sound they want in their finished recording. For music with loads of bass energy, or recording situations where there is a predominance of bass energy over that of the mid and treble frequencies, a microphone model with a more attenuated low-frequency response can be an advantage. It 'EQ's the sound for you somewhat by being less sensitive to the lowest frequencies. Another microphone with a less attenuated low-frequency response may produce a more 'accurate' recording that subjectively has too much bass in it. However, that can often be fixed afterwards with EQ far more accurately than by choosing to use a microphone with a response curve that sort of compensates for it.
So your comparison should take a few things into consideration:
1st, make sure the microphones are powered correctly and working right.
2nd, minimize the variables between the two comparisons as much as possible, except for the microphones being compared (you've addressed that pretty well)
3rd, adjust the playback levels of both so you are not simply choosing the louder of the two. If you find you have a favorite, compare again with the other one slightly louder and see if you preference changes.
4th, consider what you plan to do with the recordings..
If you never EQ or manipulate the recordings afterwards, pick the pair which sounds best without any additional manipulation. Just realize that you may be choosing based on the particular type of music, the acoustics of the place where the test recording was made, or the particulars of the PA mix. If you record different kinds of music, in different places, its wise to make a few different comparison recordings before making up your mind to make sure your preferred pair is still preferred in those other situations. Actually that's a good idea to run a few comparisons even if you always record the same music in the same room, with the same sound guy. It helps wash out the variables other than the mic models.
I record with the assumption that I will be EQing my recordings afterwards, because I can adjust for what ever I want to far more accurately than by simply relying on the native response curve of the microphone alone. So I tend to choose the microphone which makes it easiest for me to get the final recording sounding the way I want, instead of than the microphone which sounds best in the raw recording. Sometimes that's the same mic, sometimes not.
So when comparing, I first listen to the raw recordings after adjusting their overall levels so they are the same loudness. That's informative.
But I also listen after EQing both to get them as close as I can to what I want the recording to sound like. Sometimes that's far easier to do with one pair of mics than another, and sometimes I can't get there at all. This is also highly informative and actually more important to me.
Because I'm not averse to adjusting EQ later and almost always do so, I typically prefer the mic pair which is easiest to EQ to get the sound the way I'd like it to be. Sometimes that's the same pair which is the better sounding of the two before EQ, sometimes not.
Hope that helps.
Topic: AT 853 vs. 933 Mics. Which is preferred? (Read 5018 times)