You're wrong there. SDC's virtually all sound good. Virtually all have good off axis performance. That sizzle you describe I believe is more of the microphone preamp than which SDC was used. Really good mic preamps have that sweeter zinger sound to them and are also most likely transformer coupled inputs through a good transformer like Jensen. The preamps can be discrete transistor and even IC chip with Transformers. Most lower-cost gear can't afford the price nor the weight that Transformers present. So the manufacturers are sure to include marketing hype along with test data to prove how much better their transformer less stuff is over those ringing and distortion producing Transformers. But I find a lot of those transformer less preamps really lack in that zingy lifelike sound one gets from good preamps more so than from the microphones themselves. I've utilized plenty of inexpensive, entry level & Radio Shaft microphones that sounds positively unreal going through Neve & API style all discrete transistor preamps with Transformers. I really don't have any problems combining $30 Radio Shaft condenser microphones with $3000 Neumann's right next to each other. And I'm not giving you crap here, this is real, this is the truth. I've actually talked to teachers of the second largest independent recording school in the USA this same lesson on a on location recording with them. They never believed me when I told him that SHURE SM57's could sound better on a gospel choir than all of their Neumann's that they had already hung. They could not get the sound they wanted. They also had too much off axis bleed into their LDC Neumann's, especially from the drums, which sounded like total crap. They finally deferred to my suggestion when the choir began to complain they were getting tired during the microphone check. They couldn't believe how good the 57's sounded through the Neve preamps. And they're the guys getting paid to teach and I'm not. I even bumped heads with a PhD in the Recording Arts & Sciences from the University of Maryland. He too was amazed at my insights and knowledge. I did everything in his studio (mixing a friends CD) that he told me wouldn't work and wouldn't sound good. He told me he had never heard a sound that's stellar, from his control room before. So he was an idiot, with a PhD. Thankfully, it was not long after that he gave up doing audio and teaching it. He became a lawyer. If you get arrested, don't go to him. If you need to negotiate a deal, don't go to him. You can tell him " Dr. it hurts when I record your way...". And we all know the appropriate answer to that don't we?
So, basically what I'm saying is, it may have more to do with your placement, gain structure, with proper equalization and mixing technique. It's so much easier to blame your equipment when you don't get what you want. The fact remains, even on that lesser stuff, you should still be able to get that sound with what you currently have. You can tell I'm not a salesman. And you shouldn't blame the equipment for something it's not responsible for.
Repeat after me..." it ain't the microphone, it ain't the microphone...".
Mx. Remy Ann David
So, basically what I'm saying is, it may have more to do with your placement, gain structure, with proper equalization and mixing technique. It's so much easier to blame your equipment when you don't get what you want. The fact remains, even on that lesser stuff, you should still be able to get that sound with what you currently have. You can tell I'm not a salesman. And you shouldn't blame the equipment for something it's not responsible for.
Repeat after me..." it ain't the microphone, it ain't the microphone...".
Mx. Remy Ann David
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