I went into my attic and pulled out a couple of my first mic purchases and I was wondering what my recording Guru's Think of the possibilities> I was also wondering...(I Feel so retarded for asking this)What the hell does the word pad mean on my mixing board and in these microphone reviews I keep reading? By the way I'm also going to be getting that PreSonus BlueTube in the mail in the next couple of days and I was wondering what you guys thought about it as a preamp...I want it all, Give it to me straight, the good the bad and the ugly...beacuse what I'm thinking is that with a good vocal performance and some precision engineering I can make up for a tiny bit the disadvantage that my inexpensive equipment places me at.
By The way The mics are
MXL990
Nady SCM-900
Comments
A 'pad' is an "attenuator" that drops the sensitivity of an audi
A 'pad' is an "attenuator" that drops the sensitivity of an audio circuit to help prevent a too-strong signal from overdriving that circuit. In the case of your mics, the pad is dropping the signal strength of the diaphragms' output to the internal preamp by 20 decibels (20dB). It's important to note that the pad doesn't help the diaphragm getting hit with, say, a 110dB guitar amp speaker or kick drum, but it keeps that signal from distorting the preamp that, in turn, boosts the signal from the diaphragm.
You usually don't need to engage the pad unless you're sticking the mic on a real loud source (like a guitar stack or a kick drum), but in can come in handy.