ok, i realize that the premise behind this can be VERY subjective, but there may also be some generalized guidelines to how certain mics sound. Now if i wasnt a newb, i might offer to work this up, but since i think my at853 melt face
i am probably not the most qualified individual for this task. task, that sounds like work... whatcha talking about willis
so i thought it would be a good idea to help newbs like me out if there was a reference chart for some of the more popular mics out there that would give their tonal qualities and possibly some other properties that might not be so evident to people. this has the potential for helping people pair their current gear with new mics or vise versa when you chart out where certain mics lie on say the bright vs muddy scale of things... realize i dont know if these are even the most appropriate terms, but it would be nice to know if a mic has a heavy bass end or grating highs, nondefined mids or true to the source... other important info may be if the mics run hot (ie, peluso and earthworks) or if they eat a lot of power (earthworks), subjected to phasing/wind or has harsh roll offs. i guess this could turn into a pissing/fluffing contest, but i really want to hear from what some people who have been doing this a lot longer than me (and with better playback systems) have to say about this. in the spirit of science, lets try and keep this neutral.
here is the list of mics, by no means exhaustive, but a good representation of what is in the field... anyone up to killing some time with this?
AKG 390
AKG 414 - 5 pattern LD
AKG 460 - bright mic with a characteristic mid-high sizzle. ck63 are one of the better examples of hypercards. can be modded to make them more like the 480, some say better? able to have actives, but hard to find.
AKG 480 - transformer based bright mic with a characteristic mid-high sizzle. ck63 are one of the better examples of hypercards.
AKG 1000 -
ADK TL
ADK SC-1
AT 853
AT 4050
Audix 1290 - extremely small micros with interchangeble caps. crystal clear highs and mids, but a bit lacking in the lowend. almost every recording i made with them thru the v3 i had to add a bit of bump too. however, when i ran them with my old ua-5 they sounded great and very well rounded. Many people find the m1290s sound like the AKG 480s.
DPA 4011
DPA 4022
DPA 4060/1
Earthworks SR-77(1) - runs hot, power hungry. The bass drop off is pretty steep on the SR-77s at around 100 Hz, it falls off about 3 or 4 dB (which is pretty steep) and continues to drop off the lower in the frequency spectrum you go.
Josephine c42 - great small cardiod mics. best used for onstage recoding or studio applications. In general (not always) the mics tend to suffer with distance from the source.
MBHO 603
MG M300
MG SMS2000
Nakamichi CM-300
Neumann 18x - mids are defintely sweeter/smoother for the caliber with a loose/sloppy bottom end. fixed caps, more afforable series.
Neumann 100 - mids are defintely sweeter/smoother for the caliber with a loose/sloppy bottom end. able to have actives. suffers from distance with the cards, really shine FOB.
Neumann u89
Oktava MC012 - With silky highs and a decent midrange which more than makeup for its subtle sloppy low end, this mic(s) are well suited for up close stuff (omni,card) as well as large style arena taping (hypers,omni). The best of the three caps IMO is the hyper, as it makes a terrible sounding room sound bearable, as well as bringing the music "upfront" in larger sounding places. Id compare them to the Neumann sound, with a slightly sloppy low end.
Peluso CEMC6 - runs hot, have been compared to mbho sound. nicer bottom then akg 480 with a more meaty sound overall. The low end on these mics is extremely tight and focused with a nice neutral top end. The midrange detail is good but not quite as natural as say MGs. If I were to compare them to any other mic I would say they sound a lot like Earthworks SR77s but with a more realistic bottom end. Not quite the level of refined detail you get out of $1500 microphone. But that bottom end is indeed very solid. great punch. the midrange is pretty nice, i thought. its warm and smooth, but again, lacks comparred to the best there is. while the cards smoke, the hypers not so much
Schoeps CMC6/mk4
SP-C4
SP-LSD
**edit to add some info i have picked up from the board and this thread, sorry i didnt quote the sources - you know who you are** this is an example of what i am looking for so please keep the info coming
i may even geek out and plot the mics on some sort of graph if i dont get a new job soon.