Huge Difference in Mic Levels

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JD01
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Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

My two condensers are a AKG C1000S and a Focusrite Scarlett CM25.

I was testing them yesterday on acoustics and singing and they're completely different - much more so than I expected.

The level from the AKG is much lower. When recording an acoustic with the AKG I had the gain on the AI up pretty high to get a signal coming in to Reaper at about -20dbfs. When I switched over to the CM25 I was clipping very hard. so had to dial it back a lot.

The AKG seems slightly darker in tone and is slightly nicer when miking up an acoustic, I found the CM25 quite harsh and cutting, although this might be 'cos the level was up so much higher - the wave in the DAW seemed much peakier. Sounded alright with loads of compression though.

Normally I find my voice quite whiney, but for some reason I preferred the sound of the CM25 for vocals - just seemed a bit fuller, maybe this mic is more tailored towards vocals? I have no idea. Gonna try some harsher singing into it next weekend and see how that sounds.

It was pretty hard to judge which one generated the most noise as the levels from them were so different - was really hard to gauge the noise they were generating when the recorded level was set roughly the same.. obviously with the gain level up high the AI is probably generating some noise of its own.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by Bubba »

JD01 wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:17 am My two condensers are a AKG C1000S and a Focusrite Scarlett CM25.

I was testing them yesterday on acoustics and singing and they're completely different - much more so than I expected.

The level from the AKG is much lower. When recording an acoustic with the AKG I had the gain on the AI up pretty high to get a signal coming in to Reaper at about -20dbfs. When I switched over to the CM25 I was clipping very hard. so had to dial it back a lot.

The AKG seems slightly darker in tone and is slightly nicer when miking up an acoustic, I found the CM25 quite harsh and cutting, although this might be 'cos the level was up so much higher - the wave in the DAW seemed much peakier. Sounded alright with loads of compression though.

Normally I find my voice quite whiney, but for some reason I preferred the sound of the CM25 for vocals - just seemed a bit fuller, maybe this mic is more tailored towards vocals? I have no idea. Gonna try some harsher singing into it next weekend and see how that sounds.

It was pretty hard to judge which one generated the most noise as the levels from them were so different - was really hard to gauge the noise they were generating when the recorded level was set roughly the same.. obviously with the gain level up high the AI is probably generating some noise of its own.
My Large Diaphragm (Rode NT1a) mics have quite a high level compared to my NT5s and my dynamic mics. Recording drums using them as overheads they were higher output than my Scarlett could comfortably deal with. I bought a pair of -15dB inline pad adaptors which work great.
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JD01
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

Ah, so do LDCs generally have a higher level compared to SDCs? I'll have to see what the AKG is - there's not much info on the spec of the CM25.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by Farview »

The C1000 is an electret mic, not a condenser. So that's part of it.

The design of the mic, polar pattern, and what you are doing with it will all have something to do with the level. And they will all sound different, if they didn't, you would only need to buy the one mic.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

Farview wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:26 pm The C1000 is an electret mic,
A what?
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by Greg_L »

An electret mic is part of the condenser family.
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JD01
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

Greg_L wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:35 pm An electret mic is part of the condenser family.
Oh, cool. I thought it was some weird bit of kit that I'd never heard of.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by Greg_L »

JD01 wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:37 pm
Oh, cool. I thought it was some weird bit of kit that I'd never heard of.
Lol. Well it is. You didn't know it's an electret type mic. Not that it really matters. I mean, it all matters, but it also doesn't. You use the right mic for what you wanna do and the rest doesn't matter.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

Greg_L wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:40 pm
JD01 wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:37 pm
Oh, cool. I thought it was some weird bit of kit that I'd never heard of.
Lol. Well it is. You didn't know it's an electret type mic. Not that it really matters. I mean, it all matters, but it also doesn't. You use the right mic for what you wanna do and the rest doesn't matter.
True, its more curiosity really. Been messing about with different mics quite a lot recently which has been quite fun and educational.

I've brought the CM25 condenser with me this week 'cos I want to try and capture some tones with it - I have a pretty dead room in the Bristol apartment, its carpeted, got a sofa and a bed in it.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

New tone enhancing mic stand with inbuil shock mount...
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by Bubba »

Does velcroing it all to the wall improve the sound?
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JD01
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

Bubba wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 1:57 pm Does velcroing it all to the wall improve the sound?
You tell me - I've just stuck this revolutionary new set up in The Tone Thread.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by Greg_L »

Maybe that's why your tones stink so bad. :coolstorybro:
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

Greg_L wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:20 pm Maybe that's why your tones stink so bad. :coolstorybro:
:lollers:
There's a nasty funk around these tones.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by miroslav »

Try lacing it up...
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by witzendoz »

Do you use the same mic for vocals :facepalm:

alan.
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Re: Huge Difference in Mic Levels

Post by JD01 »

witzendoz wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:00 am Do you use the same mic for vocals :facepalm:

alan.
That's actually my main vocal mic now, I've started to quite like it recently.
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