I am ordering a pair of Kel HM-1's for my project studio. These mic's have to pad or HPF. I will be running these into my PreSonus Firepod which has mic preamp's, but no pad.
How effective are in line pads vs an integrated mic pad, and when should I use them?
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Comments
The pads built into condenser mics are usually a cap b/w the cap
The pads built into condenser mics are usually a cap b/w the capsule and ground and lowers the level of the signal in the high impedance section of the microphone (usually immediately between the capsule and the FET). This type of pad can add to the spl handling of a mic and should be used when the sound source is so loud that it distorts the electonics within the microphone.
If the signal is not so loud that it distorts the microphone, but instead distorts the lowest gain setting of a microphone preamplifier, I opt to use either an in-line pad or a pad switch on the preamp, which is usually little more than a few resistors acting as a voltage divider. This is probably the more common scenario, as many mic pre's have a fixed minimum gain around 20 dB.
if the source isn't clipping at the mic then you shouldn't need
if the source isn't clipping at the mic then you shouldn't need a pad. I use a pad either in line or on the mic when the source is too loud for me to get a useable signal at my preamp.... like using a sensitive condensor on a snare drum..... so the pad in effect gives you another 10 or 20 db (depending on the pad) of max SPL...
K