[Phil Allison[_4_]]

James Price wrote:


If the goal of a live recording is to record the instruments as
faithfully as possible to the source audio, wouldn't a measurement
mic with a flat response be preferred over a mic with a response
that's not flat?


** The main thing about a " measurement mic " is, as with rulers and scales, that they all give essentially the same results with the same objects.

Each mic has been calibrated to a standard SPL and the design is one known to eliminate anomalies in response and omni directionality. For the purposes usually intended (like pink noise testing), this is enough to make the results the same.

Sure, response is flat but this don't make them perfect.


For example, if I wanted to record a guitar playing through a 1x12 cab
at a reasonable volume, wouldn't a flat response mic be preferred if
the goal were to record the sound coming out of the cab as accurately
as possible?


** For "accurately as possible" the result needs to sound like people in the room hear it. Human ears are not "flat" and omnidirectional only at low frequencies.

Recording mics need to be placed at the correct distance to blend direct and reflected sounds in the right ratio for playback in another room which also has reflected sound. Solving this problem is generally done with a cardioid mic or mics, despite the fact they are neither flat nor omnidirectional..

OTOH, if you want to record a voice faithfully & separate from its environment - a small diaphragm condenser held at a few inches away is somewhere to start.


..... Phil