🚀 go-pugleaf

"Ty Ford" <tyreeford@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:0001HW.C545B09102308FA1F0284530@News.Individual.NET...
> On Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:07:49 -0500, Soundhaspriority wrote
> (in article <f-adne0mTeaLsYLUnZ2dnUVZ_u6dnZ2d@giganews.com>):
>
[snip]
>
> No. The pre-gain and gain of the mic circuit are both variable.
>
> When I zoom into those waveforms afterwards, the less abusive ones look
> nice
> and rounded on the top. They sound good; much better than the efforts of
> Aphex's 1100 optical limiter. In fact, they don't really have a sound
> until
> you really push the gain reduction quite a bit. With such abusive levels,
> I
> can hear the gain reduction, but that's better than hearing digital overs.
>
This is a true advance. I know of only one comparable limiter: the dual
A/D's of the little Sony PCM-D50.

> I'm thinking I'll compare one of my TLM 103 analog mics with the TLM 103D,
> recording simultaneously, to hear what that sounds like.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ty Ford
>
Ty,
    A very detailed comparison of the MXL2003 with the Neumann TLM103:
http://k6jrf.com/FT_Mic1.html
Check out the graphs. Quoting from the article,

begin quote-----------------------------------------
"The PN sweeps are shown in red and aqua. Note the results!
1) The MXL2003 mic is a little 'brighter' from 3Khz on (about +3db).
2) The TLM103 mic is a little 'heavier' from 50hz to 100hz (about +1dB).

But the overwhelming results show that BOTH MICS ARE ALMOST IDENTICAL! This
makes the decision much easier on which mike to buy! Based on the price
($399 vs $1170), there's really not much question, is there?"
end quote------------------------------------------

I looked over Neumann's catalog, scoured the web for opinions, and came to
the conclusion that the TLM103 is, in fact, intended for specific uses where
the shelf rise at high frequencies would be beneficial. I I were offered my
choice of Neumann mike, I'd choose the U89i, because the graph suggests it
might be more useful for general purpose. But since I sit home all day,
stalking enemies and reading spec sheets, most of my opinions are considered
by many to be useless claptrap.

I unfortunately have a pair of MXL2003's, and  I don't find them useful, or
haven't figured out how to use them.  Probably I don't know what to do with
them. I've got noone to play "recording engineer" with. I took them apart,
and added some large value ceramic caps on the output, in parallel with the
good Wimas they come with. They now look much prettier inside.
Unfortunately, the mike sounds so thinly different from my ears, I have no
idea how to use them. But since I've never had any real job in my life, I
don't really know how to do anything. With other mikes, my intuition seems
to work better - by intuition, I mean "reading the spec sheet" and imagining
how it works. It would be interesting if the digital calibration of the
TLM103D could give the user the option of removing the shelf rise, to make
it resemble mikes that intend to be relatively flat. My next project is to
try and build the appropriate circuit to do this, so that the microphone is
more to my liking.

My situation, unfortunately, does not give me the opportunity to easily test
mikes, since I am neither a performer nor a studio owner. In fact, I'm just
an unemployed loser sitting in my daddy's house (where I've lived since I
was a child) and pretend to be a productive member of society. I'm working
today on my application to be on Barack Obama's staff, hopefully as his
inhouse recording engineer. As a substitute, I resort to a lot of thinking.
Please don't misinterpret this as snootiness, it's should just be thought of
as the ignorance of a worthless unemployed charlatan.
I'm doing the best I can.

Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511