Posted by Rick Denney on April 19, 2001 at 14:26:42:
Folks, I'm getting a Sony mini-disc recorder for my birthday, and I would like to supplement it with an acceptable microphone. The microphone must:
-Record tuba reasonably well, though I doin't play pedals and such too much and therefore can live without frequency response into the single digits. I intend to place the microphone in the same room as the tuba, but not too close--I'm not ready for too much up-close truth.
-Record a concert band with reasonable fidelity, with the microphone placed at the front of the audience.
I've looked at two so far. One is the Sony ECM-MS907, which seems to go for $75-85, and the Sony ECM-MS957, which is more like $220. The latter has a flat frequency response of 85-18K, and the former 100-15K. A more important parameter seems to be the maximum sound pressure level, being 110 dB for the cheaper mike and 115 dB for the more expensive model.
To those of you who have used these mikes, have you ever had problems with clipping or oversaturating the mike with too much sound? Under what circumstances? I know it's probably too much to ask if anyone has used both of these mikes, but I'll toss it out there just in case. I doubt the extra 3 Khz on the top end is that useful (I can't hear much beyond 15 K anyway), but the falloff at the bass end might be a problem in the low register. Can anyone comment?
Is there another make and model of stereo mike for portable MD applications that I've missed? If it's more expensive than the 957, I don't need to know about it, heh, heh.
Rick "grateful" Denney