dreynolds

I recently bought three different microphones on ebay, trying to find a good tiny stereo mic for recording live concerts and for recording music for solo flute. I’m not a professional. I have average equpment , a subwoofer, nothing fancy. I have been dissatisfied with the inexpensive mics (sony ECM 717 ) I’ve had in the past and wanted to find out if anything available for under $100, preferrably under $50 might be worth using. I did three test comparisons, 1: recording of solo flute played through a monitor speaker and recorded by microphone, 2: recording of good fidelity celtic music with moderate dynamic range but light on deep bass, and 3: recording rock and roll at moderate/high volume. This music has deep subwoofer-throbbing, rich full bass and wide dynamic range. I played all music on my monitor speakers in my listening room and placed the microphones about 3’ apart, one pointed at each monitor speaker, about 6’ from the speaker. These three mics are currently available on ebay. ‘Y’ stereo microphone from Microsound.inc $19.95 ‘Y” stereo microphone from Minigear Laboratories model AM-is $24.95 clip-on stereo mic from audiology fx $15. For the sample recording, I played a soundboard digital recording of the Grateful Dead that sounds just about technically perfect in my listening room, with very deep powerful bass aproaching subsonics, crisp treble, and wide dynamic range. I tried both low volume with the mics at maximum sensitivity, and moderate/high volume with the recording levels turned lower. To my surprise, both the tiny ‘y’ microphones sounded excellent for both types of music recording. Even with boneshaking low bass played at MODERATE (Not super loud) levels, the recording sounded very very good without any kind of bass filter. It isn’t until the volume is very loud ( maybe typical rock concert levels) that bass began to detract from the recording. I would think that the volume you might hear at, say, a folk concert would be fine without any extra bass filtering with either of the two ‘y’ mics. The celtic music sounded amazingly good at moderate volume with both ‘y’ microphones, so good it is hard to tell the microphone recording from the original cds. The Audiology fx clip-on mic and the sony ecm 717 just didn’t have much seperation and didn’t sound lifelike (no surprise). The clip-on mic would be fine for voice or birdcalls, etc, it was very sensitive to quiet sounds. I could hear the downstairs clock ticking 35’ away on the recording. It had no humming no matter how I placed the equipment. The Sony hums, it’s junk for anything other than maybe voice diary. The ‘y’ mics from Minigear Laboratories (AM-is) has a big drawback: an annoying bass hum that won’t go away without constantly ajusting the cords and generally I had to keep touching my finger or toe near the mic to make the hum go away.) You might not notice the hum if you are recording loud music. Also, the hum might be less noticeable outside, away from electrical interference. If you’re trying for birdcalls or anything quiet that needs low noise recording, steer clear from this one. The envelope please: Hands down the superior sound was the mics purchased from Microsound. They sound really good. Maybe I’m just an Oregon hick, but for $20 I can’t believe it’s possible to get mics this good.. They come with small windscreens, (maybe too small to actually work, I have not tried them in the wind yet.) The mics have seperate cords for 2’, allowing 4’ of seperation if desired. These mics had no annoying hum no matter how I held the wire or the minidisc recorder. Before plunking down serious bucks for good mics, you might want to try $20 for the Microsound and see if you like it. By the way, I don’t know any of the sellers and have no agenda other than my own enjoyment, dr

I recently bought three different microphones on ebay, trying to find a good tiny stereo mic for recording live concerts and for recording music for solo flute. I’m not a professional. I have average equpment , a subwoofer, nothing fancy. I have been dissatisfied with the inexpensive mics (sony ECM 717 ) I’ve had in the past and wanted to find out if anything available for under $100, preferrably under $50 might be worth using. I did three test comparisons, 1: recording of solo flute played through a monitor speaker and recorded by microphone, 2: recording of good fidelity celtic music with moderate dynamic range but light on deep bass, and 3: recording rock and roll at moderate/high volume. This music has deep subwoofer-throbbing, rich full bass and wide dynamic range. I played all music on my monitor speakers in my listening room and placed the microphones about 3’ apart, one pointed at each monitor speaker, about 6’ from the speaker. These three mics are currently available on ebay. ‘Y’ stereo microphone from Microsound.inc $19.95 ‘Y” stereo microphone from Minigear Laboratories model AM-is $24.95 clip-on stereo mic from audiology fx $15. For the sample recording, I played a soundboard digital recording of the Grateful Dead that sounds just about technically perfect in my listening room, with very deep powerful bass aproaching subsonics, crisp treble, and wide dynamic range. I tried both low volume with the mics at maximum sensitivity, and moderate/high volume with the recording levels turned lower. To my surprise, both the tiny ‘y’ microphones sounded excellent for both types of music recording. Even with boneshaking low bass played at MODERATE (Not super loud) levels, the recording sounded very very good without any kind of bass filter. It isn’t until the volume is very loud ( maybe typical rock concert levels) that bass began to detract from the recording. I would think that the volume you might hear at, say, a folk concert would be fine without any extra bass filtering with either of the two ‘y’ mics. The celtic music sounded amazingly good at moderate volume with both ‘y’ microphones, so good it is hard to tell the microphone recording from the original cds. The Audiology fx clip-on mic and the sony ecm 717 just didn’t have much seperation and didn’t sound lifelike (no surprise). The clip-on mic would be fine for voice or birdcalls, etc, it was very sensitive to quiet sounds. I could hear the downstairs clock ticking 35’ away on the recording. It had no humming no matter how I placed the equipment. The Sony hums, it’s junk for anything other than maybe voice diary. The ‘y’ mics from Minigear Laboratories (AM-is) has a drawback: an annoying bass hum that won’t go away without constantly ajusting the cords and generally I had to keep touching my finger or toe near the mic to make the hum go away.) You might not notice the hum if you are recording loud music. Also, the hum might be less noticeable outside, away from electrical interference. If you’re trying for birdcalls or anything quiet that needs low noise recording, steer clear from this one. Hands down the superior sound was the mics purchased from Microsound. They sound really good. Maybe I’m just an Oregon hick, but for $20 I can’t believe it’s possible to get mics this good.. They come with small windscreens, (maybe too small to actually work, I have not tried them in the wind yet.) The mics have seperate cords for 2’, allowing 4’ of seperation if desired. These mics had no annoying hum no matter how I held the wire or the minidisc recorder. Before plunking down serious bucks for good mics, you might want to try $20 for the Microsound and see if you like it. By the way, I don’t know any of the sellers and have no agenda other than my own enjoyment, dr

I noticed this hum with two different sony recorders and two different mics, one powered and one not, most recently with a sony 707 recorder and a tiny condenser mic on a 3' cord, I'm guessing it's some kind of grounding issue. It's not the recorder operating. There is a soft but audible hum unless the mic is near my skin, and I also get a slightly louder hum through the microphone if the recorder is plugged into the sony 3v adaptor. The hum comes and goes, but if the mics touch me, the hum drops away entirely. I notice it more in my computer room, even if I completely shut down all the electrical devices in the room. Maybe some kind of grounding issue. Anyone know?

Hi; I'm trying to record quiet music (playing silver flute) and I have to twist the recorder and/or mics to try to quiet an annoying hum. It works best with the mics touching my skin, but that is too loud to record properly. Is there a way to kill the hum without touching me so I could record from, say, across the room? thanks dr