| Microphone ComparisonTest |
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| Written by Hank Castello | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 04 August 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ugly, but effective! There are a lot of variations on this theme, of course. Maybe you're already in the business and have just figured out that your current inventory of two wireless sets won't cut it for doc-style wedding videography and you quickly need four more sets. What can you afford to buy now? What level of quality must you adhere to? What quality difference is there really, between the $150 and $350 sets; between the $350 and $700 sets? This article holds the answer for you! Minutes ago, I hooked up four wireless sets - each a different model, around a solid Shure XLR mic (which I inadvertently called a Sennheiser in the audio test!), positioned myself about one foot from the mics and read off the test. I wanted to get my wife in on this, so there would be both male and female voices, but she was too busy watching Larry King! I have always said, "yes, it is always better to have the best possible quality..", but reality doesn't always allow that. The best wireless set you can buy, will make the soloist sound terrible if the mic is pinned on the groom, standing fifteen feet away. I firmly believe that audio is at least half of what makes your video. That's why my position on this subject is that "quantity beats quality because when it comes to mics, quantity usually means quality". In other words, it is better to have half a dozen "good" wireless systems than two or three "great" ones. Consider, for instance, a typical wedding where you have not only an officiant and a groom to mic, but also a soloist, a pianist, perhaps a quartet, one or two readers, oh - and don't forget the father of the bride. That's at least seven mics needed. I like to also have a shotgun aimed at the guests. It's great for getting applause and laughter and for those times when the officiant asks the guests to respond to something. But there are two sides to my argument. I've stated one side - that even a lesser quality mic will do a better job at close range than a better quality mic will at long range. The other side of the issue is, "just what is the quality difference?" and "does this quality difference justify the expense?". There is only one person who can answer those questions - YOU! I've posted five mp3 files, named a;b;c;d and e. 'E' is the control file, made with a Shure 588SDX, XLR'd to a Marantz 660 digital recorder. While only a $90 mic, it is a full-size XLR mic and probably gives as good a quality as we would have a right to expect from a wireless lav system. I bumped the mic stand once or twice, and thought about re-doing the test, but what the heck - we do "reality" event videos, right? So, just consider those bumps a dose of "reality"! :-) I've zipped up the four wave files for purists to download. Those with less time may choose to listen to the mp3 files. (Click the 'read more' link below to access the files) I've zipped up the four wave files for purists to download. Those with less time may choose to listen to the mp3 files.
It would probably be best, to listen to each audio file before submitting your opinions. Please tell your friends to try this test. Thanks for your participation. We'll post the results after we get sufficient submissions. Please submit only one entry for each test. We are tracking IP's and will discard any dupes. Mic Test Results
This next table shows what each mic (left column) was guessed to be:
To address some of the comments below and those made in the forums, I've added a "Mic Test Summary" page. (Click)
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