19 Mar
2010
19 Mar
'10
7:12 p.m.
On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 07:21:04AM +0000, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
On Thu, 2010-03-18 at 17:24 -0700, Ken Restivo wrote:
Wow, thanks.
I did an A/B test between the PG58 and the Zoom, and I'll be damned if I could tell
the difference between the two in a proper double-blind scientific test.
The Zoom had a slightly better high-frequency response-- not surprising since it's
condensed carbon, and the PG58 is basically a tiny speaker with a coil and a diaphragm.
But it wasn't anything I would make a big deal about.
Also, at close range I didn't hear much background noise, so the either the Zoom
isn't very omni or the PG58 isn't very cardioid :-)
And, the PG58 with its built-in pop screen lets MORE pops through than the Zoom with
it's little foam windscreen. Go figure.
Another disadvantage to the Zoom, though: little clicks and pops-- probably due to the
Zoom's little microcontroller not being able to shovel bytes to and from the USB fast
enough.
It's going to come down to convenience, I think. I prefer dealing1 with my M-Audio
FastTrack with its nice XLR and TRS connectors and ability to turn off hardware
monitoring, than dealing with the Zoom with its always-on hardware monitoring and dinky
1/8" jacks. So I'll probably end up using the PG58 for everything except
background vocals where we'll have 3 or 4 of us standing around the Zoom in a
120-degree pattern.
-ken
So I am recording the band's vocals tomorrow
for this record, and, due to acute poverty and our practice-room-mates absconding with all
the mics, the only mics we have available to us now are:
1) Shure PG-58 (with on-off switch! woo-hoo!)
and
2) Zoom H2
Which of these not-very-good choices would you recoomend would be slightly less crappy
for recording vocals?
The Zoom has condenser mics, which to my ears are quite good, but are designed for
ambient recordings and might not handle sound pressure levels of close-range vocal use.
Also, it has that 188ms delay in it too, and no way to turn off hardware monitoring. How
bad is the PG-58 though?
Doesn't matter. Just use *some* kind of mike and get it recorded!
People wax lyrical about the difference in tonal quality between
different microphones. I can't hear a bloody difference, at least not
once you've gone beyond a cheap crappy PC desk mike out of the ??1 shop.
What I can hear is people not getting on with the job because they heard
somewhere on that there Intarweb that SM57s are drum mikes and cannot be
used under any circumstances for vocals ;-)