what brand of flat frequency response mic

[jentry]

hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company, i would just like to
ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's

[Scott Dorsey]

jentry > wrote:
>hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company, i would just like to
>ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
>flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's

There is no such thing as a flat frequency response mike. How flat do you
really need it to be? And does it need to be directional?

I mean, B&K will sell you a nice reference mike for $10k or so, which is
pretty flat as long as you stay on-axis and don't look too carefully behind
the curtain....
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:24:55 -0700 (PDT), jentry
> wrote:

>hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company, i would just like to
>ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
>flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's

You want a measurement mic? What for?

Or are you asking for a performance mic? Hand-held or a body mic? Or
for area coverage? Why is flat response a main factor?

Maybe you should go to a good sound-hire company, tell them all about
the show and ask what they's recommend. Also get a quote for sending
one of their guys out for a few days to show you how to use it.

[George's Pro Sound Co.]

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> jentry > wrote:
>>hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company, i would just like to
>>ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
>>flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's
>
> There is no such thing as a flat frequency response mike. How flat do you
> really need it to be? And does it need to be directional?
>
> I mean, B&K will sell you a nice reference mike for $10k or so, which is
> pretty flat as long as you stay on-axis and don't look too carefully
> behind

and behringer has one for 50$ that works for portable live situations ,
where close is often as good as you can achieve
most people like the earthworks stuff as a balance between those two
extremes
george

[William Sommerwerck]

I assume the OP means a mic that does not have a deliberately skewed
response to "optimize" it for a particular type of recording or instrument.

There are such mics, but I don't think he'll find them at a low, low price.

I used to own PMLs, which would certainly be considered "flat-response"
mics.

[Scott Dorsey]

George's Pro Sound Co. > wrote:
>"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
>> jentry > wrote:
>>>hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company, i would just like to
>>>ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
>>>flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's
>>
>> There is no such thing as a flat frequency response mike. How flat do you
>> really need it to be? And does it need to be directional?
>>
>> I mean, B&K will sell you a nice reference mike for $10k or so, which is
>> pretty flat as long as you stay on-axis and don't look too carefully
>> behind
>
>and behringer has one for 50$ that works for portable live situations ,
>where close is often as good as you can achieve

The Behringer is really noisy, but it's certainly good enough for rough
room evaluations in a live environment. I wouldn't try and record a
clavichord with it, though.

>most people like the earthworks stuff as a balance between those two
>extremes

Doesn't come with proper calibration, though. Josephson will sell you
a measurement mike that is cheaper than the Earthworks, still pretty noisy,
but has a real NBS-traceable calibration.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Les Cargill]

jentry wrote:
> hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company, i would just like to
> ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
> flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's

What's the application? Why do you think you need a flat
mic? Is this for use in reinforcement or diagnostics*?
If it's for diagnostics, why is the new guy asking?

*RTA or room-ring type use.

--
Les Cargill

[Scott Dorsey]

William Sommerwerck > wrote:
>I assume the OP means a mic that does not have a deliberately skewed
>response to "optimize" it for a particular type of recording or instrument.
>
>There are such mics, but I don't think he'll find them at a low, low price.

You want a PA mike with a good tight pattern and a more-or-less-sort-of
flat on-axis response for a low low price? Check out the EV N/D 468.

>I used to own PMLs, which would certainly be considered "flat-response"
>mics.

Depends which PML they were..... The rectangular capsules ones aren't so
flat....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[William Sommerwerck]

>> I used to own PMLs, which would certainly be considered
>> "flat-response" mics.

> Depends which PML they were... The rectangular-capsule
> ones aren't so flat...

Compared to what? JGH liked them, precisely because they weren't
particularly colored. The manufacturer's plot showed a pretty flat
response -- they certainly weren't designed with a "presence peak". And at
least two of mine had responses going to 24kHz or higher.

[Scott Dorsey]

William Sommerwerck > wrote:
>>> I used to own PMLs, which would certainly be considered
>>> "flat-response" mics.
>
>> Depends which PML they were... The rectangular-capsule
>> ones aren't so flat...
>
>Compared to what? JGH liked them, precisely because they weren't
>particularly colored. The manufacturer's plot showed a pretty flat
>response -- they certainly weren't designed with a "presence peak". And at
>least two of mine had responses going to 24kHz or higher.

Compared with similar designs like the Schoeps and DPAs. They have no
presence peak but they have some weird narrowband stuff going on that you'll
see on a good enough response chart. The idea with the rectangular capsule
is you're moving all the resonant modes into two wide groups instead of one big
narrow group, and this has some advantages but also some disadvantages.

When the designs were new, the alternatives were things like U47s,
and the electronics were comparatively noisy, the design compromises were
very different than they are today.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers]

William Sommerwerck wrote:
> I assume the OP means a mic that does not have a deliberately skewed
> response to "optimize" it for a particular type of recording or instrument.

I assume that he doesn't know what he's really asking, but just assumes
that "flat"
is the technical term for "good."

I think he needs to explain what his application and target budget is,
and then ask
for a recommendations based on those constraints. I wouldn't expect a "new
sound guy" to be looking for a mic to measure room response. But I could
be wrong
about all of that. If so, pardon my short sighted cynicism.

--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me here:
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[Ben Bradley[_2_]]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:24:55 -0700 (PDT), jentry
> wrote:

>hello! iam a new sound guy in a touring company,

And no one has yet mentioned the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement
Handbook?

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reinforcement-Handbook-Gary-Davis/dp/0881889008

>i would just like to
>ask what is the best brand and model with a reasonable price for a
>flat response frequency mic, thanks a lot guy's

It'll tell you want mic(s) to get.