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Binaurals: Sp-tfb-2 Or Mm-bsm-8?

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Stratman

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whoops. i didn't realize that i wasn't getting email notifications about this thread. anyway, i'll try to post my paper some time. when i mean "my" paper, btw, i had a partner, so credit goes to her, too, of course. anyway, i hope i can find a copy.

thanks for all the opinion. the obvious thing would be to do some extensive testing comparing the response and how it's perceived, although that'd probably require time and money. maybe i should get my phd so i can excuse it as academic research. smile.gif it's good to know that with any set-up, it'll probably sound pretty awesome, though. it might say something that i've only been able to hear the opinions of people using the in-ear headphone-style mics and not the out of ear headphone-style mics. (or maybe that model is just a lot newer.)

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it might say something that i've only been able to hear the opinions of people using the in-ear headphone-style mics and not the out of ear headphone-style mics.

To me the headphone mounts are clever--yes, no one would suspect--but a huge housing for a little mic. The mics themselves are the size of pencil erasers, the clips are an inch long. Clip them on in the dark, wear a dark shirt and no one is going to know or care. Do you really go to a concert with headphones hanging around your neck?

I use BMC-2's or Core Sound Low Cost Binaurals, and most folks don't even notice they're there.

I'd love to see that paper. Maybe you could post it as an attachment.

As for the double-post thing, maybe you're clicking twice while the first one is still (slowly) loading. Don't you have a Delete option next to Edit after you log in?

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alright. here's the paper. note that it's from a sophomore/junior level project, not graduate-level. i'm still pretty proud of it, though. wish i was doing stuff this interesting these days! also, the work was done by agata sikorski and myself and, well, read the acknowledgements to see who else is worth acknowledging. smile.gif

auditory.pdf

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys

Got my TFB-2s the other day, DAMN they're sweet. I just have a question though.

In all of my recordings so far the left channel has been about 2db louder than the right. Now, I have a cold in which my right ear has lost a lot of hearing, but I'm guessing that's just a coincidence. Why is this happening? Is it a preamp thing or is it a problem with the mics?

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  • 2 years later...

Hello,

I'm in the market to buy a pair of binaural microphones, I've done my homework and the two which I've been looking at and narrowed the field down to are the Soundprofessionals SP-TFB-2 and Microphone Madness MM-BSM-8. Similar price, similar specs.

The websites:

SoundProfessionals SP-TFB-2

and

Microphone Madness MM-BSM-8

Some things I've heard:

The MM-BSM-8. and the SP-TFB-2 have the same microphone capsules/mic elements. (True/False)

Probably. If the specs are the same, they are likely to be the same elements.

The SP-TFB-2 can be difficult to mount in your ear and the windshields are much tooooo easy to break.

Hmmm....well, once you know how to mount them, they are pretty easy. There are instructions on mounting them here:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/instruct...P%20TFB%202.doc

If you rip a windscreen (pretty tough to do), replacements are very inexpensive ($3)

Other things:

I've only been able to find soundclips of the SP-TFB-2 and some of them are really nice.

The MM set appear to have no wind shield???/Are designed to reduce it already?

No, you would have to put windscreens on the outside

I'd be using them to record ambience/wildlife and the occasional foley effect for audiodrama material [yes I know these are omni mics, but I have a very quiet room to work with]. I'd be using them with a new HiMD so sensitivity settings aren't a problem.

I'm leaning towards the design of the MM pair, but I'd rather not buy them just to return them [30day money back policy] because for whatever reason they sound or are worse than the Soundprofessional set. If someone could give me some ideas I'd be very greatful.

The main difference between these is that the mic elements in the SP-TFB-2's are positioned within the ear structure and the mic elements in the MM-BSM-8 are outside the ear structure. For the best realism possible, the mic elements need to be in the ear structure. Then, the sound waves are being recorded in exactly the same way that the ear 'hears' them.

Hope this helps!

Chris Carfagno

The Sound Professionals, Inc

800-213-3021

Stratman ;)

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Hi guys

Got my TFB-2s the other day, DAMN they're sweet. I just have a question though.

In all of my recordings so far the left channel has been about 2db louder than the right. Now, I have a cold in which my right ear has lost a lot of hearing, but I'm guessing that's just a coincidence. Why is this happening? Is it a preamp thing or is it a problem with the mics?

The difference can come from any piece of electronics (or all) in the audio chain. The mics are matched to within 3db, so it could be the mics. As long as the difference is less than 3dB, they are not defective

Chris Carfagno

The Sound Professionals

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As an Audio engineer , I would say 3 db is not a defect as much as it is bad matching , 3db is a considerable difference in any audio situation .

My AT 822 , is matched left to right , within .25 db ......and that is acceptable , it is considered an inaudible difference . You can buy a set of matched Panasonic elements for very little money , and make a set of mics with a 70 - 19 khz response with very little effort .

Dont get me wrong , I am not bashing your business , but as a basic standard , your mics should be matched when sold as a pair , a Pair means balance , and that IS what they should be .

I hate going into a place , looking at a menu with a nice picture of the food , and when the plate comes , it isnt ANYTHING like what they show in the menu , I send food back , and show them the menu , and ask " Does this , look ANYTHING like This ?? "

I bought an Azden preamp that touted a 70 db S/N under max gain conditions under a 200 ohm load , on Paper those are good numbers for a Battery powered pre , in reality it tested out at 46 db at 3/4 gain with very nice mics ..........It was back where it came from the next day , the store owner wanted to argue and send it for repair instead of giving my money back .

I went home built my own preamps that spec at 88 db S/N and 26 db of gain , One of them is now being used by NHK television broadcasting here in Japan

3 db is not matched , in my opinion ,.............. sorry

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As an Audio engineer , I would say 3 db is not a defect as much as it is bad matching , 3db is a considerable difference in any audio situation .

My AT 822 , is matched left to right , within .25 db ......and that is acceptable , it is considered an inaudible difference . You can buy a set of matched Panasonic elements for very little money , and make a set of mics with a 70 - 19 khz response with very little effort .

Dont get me wrong , I am not bashing your business , but as a basic standard , your mics should be matched when sold as a pair , a Pair means balance , and that IS what they should be .

I hate going into a place , looking at a menu with a nice picture of the food , and when the plate comes , it isnt ANYTHING like what they show in the menu , I send food back , and show them the menu , and ask " Does this , look ANYTHING like This ?? "

I bought an Azden preamp that touted a 70 db S/N under max gain conditions under a 200 ohm load , on Paper those are good numbers for a Battery powered pre , in reality it tested out at 46 db at 3/4 gain with very nice mics ..........It was back where it came from the next day , the store owner wanted to argue and send it for repair instead of giving my money back .

I went home built my own preamps that spec at 88 db S/N and 26 db of gain , One of them is now being used by NHK television broadcasting here in Japan

3 db is not matched , in my opinion ,.............. sorry

As an Audio engineer , I would say 3 db is not a defect as much as it is bad matching , 3db is a considerable difference in any audio situation .

My AT 822 , is matched left to right , within .25 db ......and that is acceptable , it is considered an inaudible difference . You can buy a set of matched Panasonic elements for very little money , and make a set of mics with a 70 - 19 khz response with very little effort .

Dont get me wrong , I am not bashing your business , but as a basic standard , your mics should be matched when sold as a pair , a Pair means balance , and that IS what they should be .

I hate going into a place , looking at a menu with a nice picture of the food , and when the plate comes , it isnt ANYTHING like what they show in the menu , I send food back , and show them the menu , and ask " Does this , look ANYTHING like This ?? "

I bought an Azden preamp that touted a 70 db S/N under max gain conditions under a 200 ohm load , on Paper those are good numbers for a Battery powered pre , in reality it tested out at 46 db at 3/4 gain with very nice mics ..........It was back where it came from the next day , the store owner wanted to argue and send it for repair instead of giving my money back .

I went home built my own preamps that spec at 88 db S/N and 26 db of gain , One of them is now being used by NHK television broadcasting here in Japan

3 db is not matched , in my opinion ,.............. sorry

No apology needed. I should have mentioned that we do offer microphone sets matched to within 1/2dB. Of course, it takes extra time to do this and there is a nominal fee for the service. For most folks, it's not necessary and they would rather save the $$.

Chris

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No apology needed. I should have mentioned that we do offer microphone sets matched to within 1/2dB. Of course, it takes extra time to do this and there is a nominal fee for the service. For most folks, it's not necessary and they would rather save the $$.

Chris

I have to say that I am really disappointed to read that Sound Pro mics are considered "matched" with anything less than a 3dB difference.

From Wikipedia:

Similarly, an increase of 3 dB implies an increase in voltage by a factor of approximately √2, or about 1.41, an increase of 6 dB corresponds to approximately four times the power and twice the voltage, and so on.

So with a 3dB difference, one channel could be 1.4 times as loud as the other! That to me is not a matched pair of microphones. The BMC-2 I regularly use--and have recommended to I don't know how many people--read as matched on the little display of my minidisc recorders, but I recently ran them into a soundcard to the much more detailed readout of Audacity, and lo and behold, one was quieter.

I'm paying SoundPros $25-50 for raw materials that cost a few bucks, plus labor and expertise. I would have thought that the expertise would extend to matching the mic capsules in a meaningful way.

Does this 3dB tolerance extend through the whole Sound Pros line, including the much more expensive ones? Because if I were paying for professional quality and got such mismatched capsules, I would not take it kindly. It's bad enough with budget mics.

And by the way, where is the option to get them matched within 1/2 dB? I don't see it on the overview or specs pages. Of course, there's nothing anywhere about how or whether the capsules are matched. I guess I was naive to take that for granted.

I wonder what Microphone Madness considers matched.

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Also, what kind of tones are used for matching (white/pink noise, sine, which frequency)? If you, for example, use only a 1 kHz sine for matching and match within a tight tolerance, lower or higher frequencies can still be quite badly mismatched. Not all capsules have perfectly linear characteristics.

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