Guess That Mic: Four Mics, Ten Listeners and One Surprise Winner

AP records the same voice through four very different microphones and sends the files around without revealing what they are. George, Robert, Robbo and a bunch of trusted audio ears rank them purely on what they hear.

Then the mics are revealed.

The result is a pretty good reminder that price, reputation and specifications only tell you so much. What matters is how a microphone actually sounds on the voice and for the job you need it to do.

And just to make the point beautifully, Robbo put the overall winner dead last.

LIBSYN FULL DESCRIPTION

It's time to Guess That Mic.

AP started out making a sample of one microphone for someone. As tends to happen around here, that simple job turned into four microphones, multiple preamps, a pile of audio files and a blind listening test involving ten people.

The idea was simple.

Listen to four mystery microphones on AP's voice. Don't worry about the badge, the price or what you think you're supposed to like. Just rank them.

The result?

Almost nobody agreed.

George liked 3, 4, 2, 1.

Robert went 4, 3, 2, 1.

Robbo went 2, 1, 4, 3.

And the more people AP asked, the more interesting the results became.

Once all ten votes were scored, the final result was:

1st, Mic 3, 27 points
Equal 2nd, Mic 2, 25 points
Equal 2nd, Mic 4, 25 points
4th, Mic 1, 23 points

So what were they?

THE BIG REVEAL

Mic 1
Microtech Gefell M 92.1 S tube condenser with M7 capsule
Recorded through a Grace m101

Mic 2
Microtech Gefell M 930 art

Mic 3
Austrian Audio OC818

Mic 4
AKG C414 EB with nylon CK12 capsule

Mics 2, 3 and 4 were recorded through a Neve 1073.

No processing or high pass filtering was deliberately added to the comparison.

And yes, the Austrian Audio OC818 won the overall vote.

Robbo ranked it last.

Which rather neatly sums up the entire episode.

This was never intended to be a scientific microphone test. It was about something arguably more useful, what happens when people actually listen without knowing the name or price printed on the microphone.

A mic one person describes as smooth and full, someone else hears as dark. One person hears useful presence, someone else hears too much top end. One listener's first choice becomes another listener's fourth.

HOW EVERYONE VOTED

George Whittam: 3, 4, 2, 1
Robert Marshall: 4, 3, 2, 1
Robbo: 2, 1, 4, 3
Chris Gates: 2, 3, 4, 1
Simon Murphy: 1, 2, 4, 3
AJ: 4, 3, 2, 1
Matt McKenzie Smith: 3, 4, 2, 1
Paul Baxter: 3, 1, 2, 4
Matty from Sonic Playground: 1, 2, 3, 4
Mike Aiton: 1, 4, 3, 2

MORE COMMENTS FROM THE SHOOTOUT

Mike Aiton

Mic 1: Sounds really good. Not over hyped anywhere with a good natural midrange. Mike guessed it might be a 416 and picked it as his favourite "by a country mile".

Mic 2: Sibilant around 7.5 kHz, less lower mids and consequently less full sounding. Definitely not Mike's cup of tea.

Mic 3: Subdued top end with a very full bottom end. Mike wondered whether it might be a ribbon.

Mic 4: Mike thought this sounded like a TLM 103, noting the bass lift and saying he would probably reduce some of that for AP's voice.

Matt McKenzie Smith

Mic 1: Matt heard harmonic resonances around 470 Hz and 980 Hz, plus some additional energy around 2.5 kHz.

Mic 2: "Sounds lovely", with a little more prominence around the 4 to 5 kHz area.

Mic 3: Hotter in the low end and sounding great, although Matt noticed a prominent phase offset.

Mic 4: Similar phase offset, along with great low end extension.

Matt's final ranking was:

3, 4, 2, 1

And perhaps that is the real conclusion of the whole exercise.

There isn't a microphone that everybody is going to prefer.

The expensive one isn't automatically better. The one with the flattering frequency response on paper isn't automatically better. And a microphone that sounds gorgeous solo might not necessarily be the one you'd choose when that voice has to fight its way through a commercial mix.

Pick the microphone that works for your voice and your job.

What a bloody novel concept.

Thanks to Tri Booth and Austrian Audio.

Recorded using Source Connect.
Edited by Andrew Peters.
Mixed by Robbo.
Tech wisdom from George the Tech Whittam.

Got your own audio issues? Visit justaskrobbo.com

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