Comments on Profile Post by Lyander

I am actually taking a class right now, where we go into a studio and record things with different mics, and have to compare them and such. Pretty interesting the differences you get, expected and unexpected.

Right? I'm absolutely new to all this but apart from cardioid exhibiting exaggerated proximity effect and the various others having different dead zones and levels of off-axis noise rejection I didn't expect much of a difference. Turns out that I seem to like how bidirectional patterns sound when on-axis more than the usual suspects.

What'd you pick up? I picked something up last year when going through a gearslutz thread on a set of inexpensive bang for the buck microphones. Seemed to work out okay for me. That said I'm a lot more casually knowledgeable.

Got an entry level USB mic, a used Audio Technica ATR2500 that's older than my existence on SBAF. Needed one for my ESL teacher job, haha. Didn't want to spend a lot cuz I'm on a budget, but listening back on myself sparked an interest in saving up for better gear.

The Austrian Audio OC818 and AKG C414 XLii look amazing, but cost more than I've ever spent on headphones!

Been going through some of this guy's content the last couple weeks, rather enjoy the thorough demos and the humour: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvOU-zTlankT-JjN3ZzvuKA

Figure 8 pattern is good. Picks you up directly while adding some ambient reverb but not too much. Depends on room, etc.

That'd explain a lot. Seems there's better texture and presence to voice using fig. 8 and just enough of the room in the sound to have an immersive presentation. Cardioid even at 3in off sounds bland by comparison.

Ofc have yet to try a blind test and I'm going off someone else's recordings so my impressions are useless :P

You'll need some other equipment other than a USB port to use those other microphones. Though use case and budget will likely keep you from rabbit holing.

Yup, I've learned. I mean the cheapo focusrite the reviewer linked above uses as a baseline sounds... passable, but that's still a massive money dump factoring in the cost of those mics. Argh why do they have to sound so good.

This is why all my audio stuff is bought used lol.

Even in cardioid mode, dual diaphram condensers can reduce proximity effect and plosives. Also remember in figure 8, the other lobe is polarity flipped. This is how you get 3 channels out of 2 mics in stereo M/S.

Thanks! I'm waaay new to this end of sound so there's a fair chance I'm learning all sorts of things out of order, but it's genuinely interesting so far. The inverse polarity on the rear lobe may have something to do with the uniqueness of how I hear it?

You might benefit from a book similar to this one (which I have in my library): https://www.amazon.com/New-Stereo-Soundbook-Alton-Everest-dp-0830639039/dp/0830639039/

Interesting, never heard of "stereo M/S"
https://www.uaudio.com/blog/mid-side-mic-recording/

Looks a treat, appreciate the recommendation! The frustrating thing is I remember reading up on all this when I was looking into measurement mics about a year or so ago but it's all fallen out the other ear haha. Might look for a proper reference book in the future too.