It actually has a good client aspect too, you know I
am feeling a little purple today can you put more red in the monitor type folks. But seriously a little graph never hurt nobody, looks usefull.

Very Cool! Does it have a web page or maybe you could make it a locked "sticky" or something.

Not yet, vox. It's still very much in progress.

Appreciate the feedback, folks.

Dan Richards
The Listening Sessions
The Project Studio Handbook

Great Thread. I look forward to having a better way of narrowing down the mic I'm looking for.

Rocky

Don't sweat the petty things - Pet the sweaty things - Richard Wawock

Excellent idea Dot.

Reminds me of some reverb plug-ins have an interface that resembles your graphic.

:: Bowisc

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My Project Studio

I think this is something that could be very valuable as a resource. I have more or less decided to stop buying mics (I have a 57 a 58 SPC1 Audix 111 akg c1000s mxl 603) because who needs another cheap mic. This kind of chart is useful to me because it illustrates that most of the mics I have are on the bright/colored side. That means it might be worth buying a cheap mic that is a little darker and more neutral. If I do decide to get a higher quality mic I can also choose one that compliments the cheaper ones I already have. Very useful to those of us that have limited experience with what is out there. I'm eager to see what the pre-amp graph looks like. Thanks Dot

Great idea for making general guidelines.
Looking forward to more additions!

Bear, shhh about the EV 635a.

That one, along with the EV RE15 and RE16 were used on Elvis' post-Sun hits at RCA.

There was a fellow fan of the "RCA sound" that wanted that tone on his vocals, and he told me the RE15 did it for him after my recommendation.

Another killer mic can be the EV 666, used for
Aretha's vocals at Atlantic and for various artists, like Muddy Waters at Chess. It was modeled by EV after the RCA 77D (cardiod only), and the RCA 77DX (in cardiod mode). It really helps to smooth out cheap/harsh pre's BTW.
Phil Ramone loves them on drums too.

Get these while you can, prices are going up!

Whereith doith the 57 fall on the chart?

-Dusty

Dan,

I like the idea, and the pre chart would be appreciated. An application "recommendation" would be the icing.

Stixxs

thanks for all that hard work

now if somebody could come up with something similar for uses . . . . you know, likd Female/Male Vocal on one axis and Guitar/Flute on another axis . . ah . . probably impossible given subjective nature . . and odd ball microphones with "character" humps that are absolutely bang on perfect for cello but suck at violin . . . and such

a kind of multi-layer graph with the actual "factory" wave graph of the microphone . . . if you stacked a 421 curve over a 414 curve, that would be handy in a pinch to look at

uh . . you know what I mean? Like if you had a lot of plastic transparent sheets with coloured graphs of each microphone characteristic .. . and by laying each on top of the next, you'd see one stand out microphone for tuba, another for recording Pee Wee Herman

I'll be adding suggested applications as well.

This graph is going to tie into a larger body of work about mics and pres.

Dan Richards
The Listening Sessions
The Project Studio Handbook

Dusty, the SM57 is colored/dark IMHO.

The two most "condenser-like" dynamics I've tried so far are the Sennheiser 441 and Beyer M88.

Chris

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Del Faro:
Dusty, the SM57 is colored/dark IMHO.

The two most "condenser-like" dynamics I've tried so far are the Sennheiser 441 and Beyer M88.

Chris

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So the SM57 sounds like a U47?

-Dusty

Just have to get the right singer/musician/room/pre.

Dan, do you have this in a large PDF file? I'd like to print it and post it up in the studio.

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I wanna have a girl just like daddy had on the side!

The 3rd dimension should be frequency response as published by the manufacturer.

quote:

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Originally posted by Parity Productions:
Dan, do you have this in a large PDF file? I'd like to print it and post it up in the studio.

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Parity, no, sorry, I don't. And if you check on the graph over time it wil be changing. I've already made changes since I originally posted it. I'm often adding mics and tweaking some of the positions. This is still an early start on this thing.

Dan Richards
The Listening Sessions
The Project Studio Handbook

I'd love to see a graph like this but with mic preamps. Be a nice one to put alongside the mic chart.

I think the graphs are good if for no other reason than it puts each mic relative to the other mics listed, so it can give some validity to the terms "bright/dark color/transparent" which would otherwise not have much meaning. Everything is relative, and those adjectives aren't worthwhile without reference points. That said, I'd really like to see where the SM57 would go in the chart, since it's a common mic and would be a familiar reference point.

Good show, old chap!

_____________________________
He felt joy. And well he should. He was a babe in the woods and a kid in a candy store all at the same time. The world was his oyster and he planned to shuck it, cover it with Tabasco, and slurp it down his cake hole all within an El Sobrante Fortnight.

dirty, I'm doing a pre chart, too. That's actually a lot easier than the mic chart. There's no vertical line in the pre chart - they all just run on a horizontal line from transparent to colored.

Dan Richards
The Listening Sessions
The Project Studio Handbook