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anonymous 11 February 2004

Hi there
please don't go "doh!" at me. .

I'm A/B'ing to LDC's right now. (An ADK Model S and a SP B1)

I made a few takes, vocal and speech, the first mic makes big healthy Waveswith the gain control set between 11 and 1 'o clock. Everything is fine.

Then the other mic has a very low output, even at 3 'o clock, the Wavesare tiny, normalizing brings a lot of hiss upfront.

What am I missing? At first I thought the -10db pad on the mic was engaged, but, dumb me, it has no pad, no switches at all.

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anonymous Thu, 02/12/2004 - 05:42

David French> actually it's the other way. The ADK is the one with the "healthy" output.

Audiogaff> Hmmm...not sure, as I wrote there's a huge difference. The B1 should be suited for vocals and acoustic guitars as well, but there's no way I get an useful track out of it, cuz either I crank the gain up or I keep it lower and normalize afterwards, a lot of hiss is what I get. Yet, I have mailed to PMI, maybe they can sort it out.

David French Thu, 02/12/2004 - 06:20

Nevermind, I read the stats wrong. :o On a second look, they are actually pretty close. I f i'm reading them right (the ADK stat is a little unclear), we have -34dBV for the B1 and -36.5 dBV for the ADK. This is how much gain that it takes to raise a standardized input to line level. Keep in mind there are other factors at play which keep us from making a solid judjement based on sensitivity figures alone, but usually they're good for a rough estimate. I have used a B1 before, and it didn't seem to need an unreasonable ammount of gain.

anonymous Thu, 02/12/2004 - 07:58

David French> thanks for bothering. And I really liked the explanation; that negative value, what is it called? Sensitivity? I've never been too keen at specs....

Riversedge> I got it new from the shop. Though it was the last one they got, I actually got it a little cheaper, so maybe someone at some point has dropped it.

Thanks, once again

AudioGaff Thu, 02/12/2004 - 12:09

Audiogaff> Hmmm...not sure, as I wrote there's a huge difference. The B1 should be suited for vocals and acoustic guitars as well, but there's no way I get an useful track out of it, cuz either I crank the gain up or I keep it lower and normalize afterwards, a lot of hiss is what I get.

When you turn up the gain you will start to hear hiss. That is normal. Depending on the quality of which mic pre you are using, the type and amount of hiss or noise will vary. Cheap and crappy mic pre's will not be able to provide good clean gain at the higher levels some mics require. Some mics just don't play well with certain mic pre's.

There could very well be something wrong with the mic. Take it to a tech or a music store and see if they will check it for you.

anonymous Thu, 02/12/2004 - 15:58

Originally posted by riversedge:
Calidus, Just curious where in Denmark you are, I've been there twice, the last time all over the country (but a long time ago). Hope to visit again someday.

OK? Twice? I've never been overseas, but to answer to your question, I live in Copenhagen. Was it for leisure or were you touring?

jonyoung Fri, 02/13/2004 - 05:41

It was leisure. My father was an airline pilot and we travelled a lot. We have some Danish friends who moved the the US many years ago, and we took a vacation with them the last time I was there. My favorite place was Ebeltoft (spelling?). By the way, my favorite American pop artist plays Denmark often. Her name is Jonatha Brooke, she plays in Arhus most often. She makes terrific records! Check her out.

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