0

In an untreated room, so we are talking about a very normal home studio without particular sound-absorbing panels or soundproof walls, what is the most important technical specification to take into account? I am currently using an Aston Origin with the following features:

  1. Frequency response 20Hz – 20kHz (+/-3dB)
  2. Equivalent noise level 14dB A-weighted
  3. Sensitivity at 1kHz into 1kohm 23.7mV/Pa
  4. Max. SPL per THD 0.5% 138dB
  5. Signal to noise ratio (rel. 94dB SPL) 80dB A-weighted

Speaking of an untreated study, what would be a good improvement you can make? A new microphone that has better features for this environment?

4
  • 1
    It's difficult to understand what you're trying to ask here. Are you looking for a recommendation for an alternative to the Aston Origin, or validation that you have the correct microphone, or is there some other problem you're trying to solve by changing microphones? If you're trying to solve a problem then please describe the problem - the answer may not be the microphone. Apr 22, 2022 at 8:22
  • 1
    Those specs don't actually agree with the English language site, but I don't really think that's really relevant what we're being asked - astonmics.com/EN/product/mics/origin#tab3
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 22, 2022 at 8:47
  • @7HzResearch There is no real problem, I ask which of the characteristics of a microphone are the most important to take into account if I record sounds inside an untreated room and why. Those entered are the values ​​and characteristics of my current microphone. If I had to change my microphone, what should I take into account regarding the quality of the recording? Apr 24, 2022 at 12:07
  • 1
    @RiccardoBarbo That's a little like asking which pair of shoes is best for walking a dog. There is some relevance but, without a ton of extra data about the room, its dimensions, the exact position and nature of its contents, the exact position and nature of any soft furnishings... etc, then it's essentially guesswork - there are too many parameters to take into account. You would be better off learning how to treat your room so that you can concentrate on getting the right mic for the sound source you want to record rather than worrying about having the wrong mic for your room. Apr 24, 2022 at 19:48

1 Answer 1

0

Nothing. It would be useless to shell out more money to get a higher spec mic.

In an untreated room of an usual city apartment you must use close miking to win the noises of the house & traffic and the very uneven room reverberation (=resonances). I guess you have a hobbyist grade mic preamp, so even a fully silent room and a zero self noise mic wouldn't allow clean recordings of gentle human speech from say 1 meter distance. So the a little high self noise(=18dBA in manufacturer's datasheet) isn't any problem. With close miking you'll get easily at least 75dBA level at the mic. You'll use editing, noise gating, gain riding or adaptive noise cancellation to make silent periods of the recorded track fully silent.

Noticeable bass roll-off at 100 Hz is not a problem. You cannot generate any useful deep bass sounds which fill your room evenly. The bass boost caused by close miking (=the proximity effect of cardioid mics) is unpredictable. In theory it and some lucky eq could together help you to record deep sub-100Hz bass with that mic, but you must have some incredible luck if it stays stable through a 3 minute song, not only for few notes here and there. And in any case those boosted bass sounds would start and decay slowly.

I guess any decent deep bass in your studio will come to your recordings directly along wires from musical instruments or as samples.

BTW. It's well possible that there's some mics which make just the right sound for a certain music or playing style. For ex. blues harmonica players expect certain harshness and distortion (it's the amp, too, not only the mic!). Even a vocalist may want something which colorizes just his voice as he likes.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.