[Nate Najar]

So I have this schoeps mk22 I recently bought to record my guitar. I have 2 mk41's so I like to use those as drum overheads since I have the pair of them, and I still needed something for the guitar. I really like the mk22, I can bring it in closer than the mk41 (to reduce spill) and it has a very natural sound but still some rejection.

I wanted to compare it to the 87 this morning (I know, completely different animals, that's the point of this post) and I noticed something interesting. The schoeps is hyper-real- like having your ear in that spot listening to the instrument. So I hear an extremely detailed capture of finger on strings etc.... The 87 of course has a completely different tonal picture, but it also has a less "in your face" capture. Still very detailed but more "notes" and less "fingers on strings." The 87 also sounds very good here but the schoeps tonal picture is much more natural.

I wouldn't really call the 87 "softening transients" but maybe that's what it is... It's definitely realistic and detailed, but it sounds more like a guitar in a room than "my ear 24" from a guitar."

What causes this particular type of difference? Is it the fact that the 87 is a large diaphragm? or is it the transformer? Or both? Or something else? What I'm wondering is if there is a microphone that sounds as natural tonally as the schoeps, also with clean off axis sound, but has this sort of glossing or softening effect of the deep deep details. Because I am close miking, not area miking....

I keep thinking maybe I should try an 89? Or a gefell 930? I have no idea. Am I making any sense here? It is difficult to put these things into words and I'm talking micro details here.

What do you think?

Thanks,

N