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#1
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off-axis response (why is it such a big deal)
Hello,
I carefully (and appreciatively) read everyone's posts to my question about shotgun mics. People kept talking about shotguns having "horrible off-axis" response. what does that mean... is it distortion, or the eq curve looks nothing like the on-axis one? It came up so often that it must be a big deal. I'm just not sure why it destroys the musical audio sound so much. Especially since not much of that sound is making it to the mixer because it's part of the sound array that the mic is (supposed to be) attenuating. It seems like some sort of audio poison, like you only need a little bit of it to destroy the sound. |
#2
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off-axis response (why is it such a big deal)
"genericaudioperson" wrote ...
I carefully (and appreciatively) read everyone's posts to my question about shotgun mics. People kept talking about shotguns having "horrible off-axis" response. what does that mean... is it distortion, or the eq curve looks nothing like the on-axis one? It is the frequency-response curve of the off-axis performance that is very different from the on-axis response. Sometimes you can use that to advantage, but usually, it just bites you in the backside. It came up so often that it must be a big deal. I'm just not sure why it destroys the musical audio sound so much. Especially since not much of that sound is making it to the mixer because it's part of the sound array that the mic is (supposed to be) attenuating. But again, mics don't attenuate the off-axis sound as much as you seem to want to believe they do. Experimenting with some different kinds of mics out in the Real World will answer many of your questions, and several dozen you didn't know to ask yet. If you are talking about reinforcement, poor off-axis response will reach out and grab a feedback frequency and make your job hard. Alternately, by getting the mic closer to the sound source, you can increase the direct vs. ambient sound picked up by the mic to counter this problem. If you are talking about recording, poor off-axis response will alter the sound of other nearby instruments (and/or the room itself) when everything is mixed together. These are just a couple of the first-order effects that make poor off- axis response undesirable. But note that many popular mics suffer from this poor off-axis response, but people have learned to live with them because they may have other desirable qualities. |
#3
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off-axis response (why is it such a big deal)
genericaudioperson wrote: Hello, I carefully (and appreciatively) read everyone's posts to my question about shotgun mics. People kept talking about shotguns having "horrible off-axis" response. what does that mean... is it distortion, NO. or the eq curve looks nothing like the on-axis one? It's not an 'eq curve' it's a polar response and IIRC it has lots of nasty lobes. http://books.google.com/books?id=d7f...m=12&ct=result It came up so often that it must be a big deal. I'm just not sure why it destroys the musical audio sound so much. Did you know that air absorbs treble ? The further you mic, the less treble is there. It's called air absorption. http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-air.htm http://www.lsionline.co.uk/news/?YLZUGV Graham |
#4
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off-axis response (why is it such a big deal)
genericaudioperson wrote:
I carefully (and appreciatively) read everyone's posts to my question about shotgun mics. People kept talking about shotguns having "horrible off-axis" response. what does that mean... is it distortion, or the eq curve looks nothing like the on-axis one? This is a very elementary question that is discussed in the FAQ and in the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook. But basically, if the frequency response off-axis is different than the frequency response on-axis, then things will sound different depending on where they are in the soundfield. This is bad. It came up so often that it must be a big deal. I'm just not sure why it destroys the musical audio sound so much. Especially since not much of that sound is making it to the mixer because it's part of the sound array that the mic is (supposed to be) attenuating. Get an SM-57. Talk into it. Then talk into the side of it. Now, when you pull the mike back and start getting room sound in the mike, most of the room sound is coming from off-axis. For stereo miking, almost everything is off-axis. It seems like some sort of audio poison, like you only need a little bit of it to destroy the sound. Yes. Try far-field miking with an SM-57 and you'll see why. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
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