straightnut wrote:
I figure that to get decent recordings from a small room, you can
either keep the room somewhat live and use a mic that sounds good both
on and off-axis, or if using a mic that is good on-axis but bad off-
axis, you can deaden the room and rely on a good reverb.
In a small room, you can't get a decent natural reverb, never mind what
mic you record it with. A small room with a reverberation time long
enough to be useful will have too many irregularities in frequency
response. So if you have a small room, you bass trap and wide-band
absorb it as much as you can afford the space for, because the best mic
in the world won't fix a flutter echo or a bass response with lumps and
nulls in it.
Obviously, mics with a crappy off-axis response can make things worse,
and even a well acoustically treated room reflects some sound, so a good
off axis mic reponse still makes a difference.
When you make a recording of a concert in a hall that has a good natural
acoustic that is far better than any artificial reverb, you use good
mics for a main stereo pair and their off axis response matters
desperately, because you're recording the whole room. But you can't do
it that way in a small room.
Perhaps a reason budget mic users have trouble making good recordings
is their reliance on reviews
You can stop that sentence right there!
If they rely on their ears and have enough experience, they shoud be
able to work out whether the trouble is the mic, the mic position, the
room, the monitors or something else.
--
Anahata
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