middleaudio.com

Well, mostly yeah, but there are some stretches and half truths in there. For example

Myth 1: in polar patterns they leave out shotgun mics. I can only assume this is because Shure doesn't make any shotguns.

Myth 2: is this even a Myth? I've never heard this, and I've often heard the opposite because almost no store has a proper listening environment.

Myth 3:Totally bogus I think. With a (relatively) flat response microphone you can EQ it to suit your needs. How hard is it to put a HPF on something? It's much more difficult to get rid of preset EQ's built into mics. I like flexibility ergo flat=better. I don't need the Beta 52 to tell me what it thinks a kick drum should sound like.

Myth 5:Yes condensers can be built to a very high tolerance to give similar reliability to a dynamic, but the simple truth is there are more parts to fail in a condenser. More parts to fail, Murphy's law states, that they will.

Myth 7: yes USB microphones could theoretically sound as good as their full analog counterparts, however out here in the real world they almost never do. Main reason is cost. USB mics are marketed to home users who don't want to have to buy all the parts to a decent recording system. Putting the microphone, preamp, and ADC in one small package usually reserved only for a microphone, and then doing that to a (usually low) price point, is going to equally lower quality. A proper modular system in addition to being more flexible, is almost always going to sound better. The closest thing to an exception to this rule is the Neumann Solution D series, but they aren't USB, just AES, and they're ridiculously expensive.

Myth 9: Phantom power can damage mis-wired ribbon microphones, which are dynamics.

I think half of these aren't even myths... because I've never heard of them.

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 1: in polar patterns they leave out shotgun mics. I can only assume this is because Shure doesn't make any shotguns.

Does Shure make these?
Parabolic Microphones

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 2: is this even a Myth? I've never heard this, and I've often heard the opposite because almost no store has a proper listening environment.

Myth fail.

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 3:Totally bogus I think. With a (relatively) flat response microphone you can EQ it to suit your needs. How hard is it to put a HPF on something? It's much more difficult to get rid of preset EQ's built into mics. I like flexibility ergo flat=better. I don't need the Beta 52 to tell me what it thinks a kick drum should sound like.

Ewwww@Beta 52. I'll let an M88 tell me what it thinks a kick drum should sound like.

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 5:Yes condensers can be built to a very high tolerance to give similar reliability to a dynamic, but the simple truth is there are more parts to fail in a condenser. More parts to fail, Murphy's law states, that they will.

Not to mention ribbons are "dynamic" mics that are generally quite fragile.

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 7: yes USB microphones could theoretically sound as good as their full analog counterparts, however out here in the real world they almost never do. Main reason is cost. USB mics are marketed to home users who don't want to have to buy all the parts to a decent recording system. Putting the microphone, preamp, and ADC in one small package usually reserved only for a microphone, and then doing that to a (usually low) price point, is going to equally lower quality. A proper modular system in addition to being more flexible, is almost always going to sound better. The closest thing to an exception to this rule is the Neumann Solution D series, but they aren't USB, just AES, and they're ridiculously expensive.

This is a fact, not a myth. Show me a USB mic that has all of those things done right, and I'll gladly take that back though...

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 9: Phantom power can damage mis-wired ribbon microphones, which are dynamics.

Did not know this, thanks!

Mathieu Benoit wrote:

macrae11 wrote:
Myth 1: in polar patterns they leave out shotgun mics. I can only assume this is because Shure doesn't make any shotguns.

Does Shure make these?
Parabolic Microphones

Not that I know of, but I just checked their site, and Shure does make a couple of shotguns. Who knew? A parabolic mic, just pretty much just a short shotgun pointed into a parabola.

Keep in mind that this article was not aimed at professional audio technicians but the MI crowd of buyers.
Pure marketing.

A.

Re: "Myth" #5

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1598