[geoff]

On 2/08/2018 8:25 AM, wrote:
"FWIW, In the early '70s I was visiting a top level R&D lab in
Nashville. A tech was showing me some of their projects. One
was using a measurement mic. I was very small, about the size of a
cigarette filter. He said the freq response was very good but it was
worthless for audio recording. "

So this begs the question: When and where(within the recording
and playback of music) is 'flat' important??


Depends on what the producer or engineer is trying to achieve.

If desired response is a perfect capture of the real performance sound,
then a flat frequency response over the required range (and some other
attributes such as self-noise, directivity, off-axis response, etc) are
desirable.

If recording for a 'produced' result, then a non-flat mic may be chosen
for a particular desired effect, or that effect may be able to be added
later in mixing, or not. Or both.

geoff