High-End SDC Microphone Comparison (Schoeps, DPA, Neumann)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- Microphones tested in this video:
- Schoeps MK2s (diffuse field omni) (00:00)
- Schoeps MK22 (open cardioid) (00:19)
- Schoeps MK41 (supercardioid) (00:39)
- DPA 4011A (cardioid) (00:58)
- DPA 2006C (diffuse field omni) (01:17)
- Neumann KM184 (cardioid) (01:37)
- Neumann KMS84i (cardioid) with KK84 capsule (01:56)
- Slate Digital ML-2 (cardioid) with S-222 mic model (02:16)
- Schoeps MK2s (diffuse field omni) (02:35)
- Schoeps MK22 (open cardioid) (02:55)
- Schoeps MK41 (supercardioid) (03:15)
- DPA 4011A (cardioid) (03:35)
- DPA 2006C (diffuse field omni) (03:55)
- Neumann KM184 (cardioid) (04:15)
- Neumann KMS84i (cardioid) with KK84 capsule (04:36)
- Slate Digital ML-2 (cardioid) with S-222 mic model (4:56)
All mics recorded through RME Octamic II Line Out into RME Fireface UFX II into Cubase 12.
Recorded at kesselMIX, Stuttgart, Germany.
www.kesselmix.de
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I'm surprised how well the KM184 could keep up! The color made the instrument feel more alive in this context.
I agree. The KM184 is a fine mic, especially considering it's half the price of the big boys. And its bright and crisp character plays very well with my rather mid-focus and soft-sounding guitar. It instantly sounds "mix-ready". But with brighter instruments and in reverberant rooms where you get a lot of off-axis sound you quickly hear the benefits of Schoeps and DPA. They are just more neutral, true to the source and they have basically no off-axis colouration.
DPA 4011 sounds the most natural to me
To me it's not just the way they sound that's important but also how good they are at rejecting background noise and take loud sounds without odd order distortion.
Gotta say I've recently become a huge fan of the dpa mics.
They really are incredibly transparent on all kinds of sources!
Great demo. Would have been nice to demo the MK4 cardioid by Schoeps since you had similar models from the other manufacturers. I was a 184 user but now use mK4’s. Neumann is a tad more colored. I did like DPA 4011a but i the Mk 22 sound fantastic … more natural
The reason for not including the MK4's or MK5's is that I like the MK41 better for my guitar. The MK4/MK5 have a little bit of a grainy top end and a high freq lift in the diffuse field which makes them a LITTLE more harsh sounding to me. But that's of course a very small difference and the MK4s would sound very similar to the MK41s in this test.
For this type of solo recording, as long as the room is good and doesn't contribute anything unpleasant, I really like the open sound of the Omni mics here. I would go with the Mk22 or the 4011 if this were more of an ensemble, and I was micing closer to get more isolation. As for the kms84i, the Slate-Digital, and the Mk41, I would not use them for this application. I don't like what they are doing here. The km184 is an acceptable option, but I prefer the mk22 or the 4011 if I needed something more cardioid. This is a very nice comparison. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment! I'm very interested in your opinion on the MK41 vs 4011. I have tested them side-by-side multiple times and to me they sound basically identical. If you look at an anlayzer or EQ-match them, the only differences are that the 4011 has about 1dB more at 5k and 10k, so it's a little bit more crisp/bright. I could not tell the difference in a blind test with a tiny bit of EQ added... So I'm very interested which differences you are hearing. Maybe you're focussing on other nuances of the sound than I am.
So this isn't so much a frequency response, distortion, or transient response thing so much as it is a polar pattern thing. I'm not very good at explaining this, but the difference is in how the mic hears the room. You probably wouldn't't notice this difference in an anechoic chamber. If possible, try listening on high quality headphones or speakers and instead of listening specifically to the sound of the guitar, try listening to the sound of the whole space, the noise floor, etc. The ambiance difference of the 4011 and mk41 are subtle, but it's there. And if you can't hear it, that's fine. It's not a huge thing. These are minor differences.
@@zaim_ipek Yeah no question about that! The MK41 is like a laser beam while the 4011 is a lot more open in its polar pattern. Both retain the same timbre of the instrument but there is different room and depth around it. I've compared them on drum overheads and the difference is pretty huge there. The 4011s have more depth, more room, more low frequencies. They sound more alive while the MK41 is dry and focused on the cymbals.
@@dominikschempp Yeah, it's something that depends on how you are going to use it. Sometimes you need that more narrow sound. Sometimes you need a more open sound. In this particular video, as open as possible works best, which is why I prefer the two omni-pattern microphones here.
@@zaim_ipek Yeah, I‘m 100% with you - Love omnis on acoustic guitar! Love how you can get close without proximity effect and still retain a kind of air and ambience.
thoughts on dpa 2006a? planning to buy 5 of them or 4 of senheisser 8020 but maybe perhaps only get 2 of the dpa 4006.
Depends on how many (omni) mics you really need for your projects. The 2006a are nice sounding mics but they have a very small diaphragm and therefore are rather noisy. I would very much prefer to have 4 Sennheiser 8020 or even just two 4006a for the best main mics possible!