Meeting Topic: Microphone Shoot-out
Moderator Name: Donna Miller-Brown
Speaker Name: members
Other business or activities at the meeting:
The Sept. 27, 2012, meeting was held at the studios of UMKC in Kansas City, MO. In attendance:
Donna Miller-Brown, section chair
Ian Corbett, section vice chair
Chriss Scherer, section secretary
Bob Beck, section treasurer
Dirk Sobotka
Shane Nastler
Joe Nickell
David Herting-Gillbirdo
Eric Honour
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. Donna Miller-Brown presided.
Secretary:
There were no minutes of past meetings to review.
Treasurer:
Bob Beck reported that the effort to secure whatever funds may have remained from the previous activities of the section have been abandoned after extensive efforts. The section has no bank account, but it also has no operating funds. For now, this has worked for the section.
Ian Corbett noted that we can apply to national for project funds if needed.
Business:
There was no old business to discuss since the treasury report closed the issue of old funds.
There was no new business to report.
Donna Miller provided an overview of upcoming meetings for October, November, December and January.
The group then provided a round of introductions.
The motion to adjourn was made by Ian Corbett, seconded by Chriss Scherer. Passed.
Meeting Location: UMKC, Kansas City MO
Program:
Several microphones were brought in for a comparison shootout. The mics provided were:
Audio-Technica AT2050
Audio-Technica AT8022
Carvin CM87S
DPA 4006
Earthworks SR30
Lawson L47
Microtech Gefell UMT70S
Neumann KM140
Neumann KM143
Neumann U87ai
Schoeps MK2
Sennheiser MKH40
Superlux CMH8C
THE KR25
THE KR2C
While not a scientific setup with all factors being equal, the test was to provide a general comparison of the various mics. The first test was a general noise comparison. With the console channel gains all being set to roughly the same settings, the monitors were turned way up to hear the relative noise of the various mics. The results surprised most of us.
A piano, baritone sax and alto sax were used as sound sources to hear the coloration of the mics. Again, even in a non-scientific setting, some mics were preferred on the piano while others were preferred on the alto, and still others were preferred on the bari.
Bob Beck recorded all the mics for later listening and made file copies available.
Written By: Chriss Scherer, section secretary
