So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones? - Social Sound Design

So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2012-08-29T10:57:07Z

This is maybe stupid question, but what other things, other than frequency response, make mic sound good? i mean if we take cheap and expensive mic with same frequency response/selfnoise/sensitivity/polar pattern and compare the recordings, they probably will sound different..and the winner will probably be expensive one.

Answer by Internet Human for So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2012-08-29T11:12:07Z

The membrane is an analog device. It's operation varies continuously. Thus, you cannot change the overall recorded signal to sound like what another microphone would have picked up using static post-processing. Regarding noise, different microphones also have different noise prints. Different microphones also have different housings, which affects how the signal is directed to the membrane (reflections and phase cancellation occurs). There's just so many variables.

I don't think it's a question of cheap vs expensive nowadays, at least in studio microphones. It's just good design vs bad design. You can find many microphones with good design for cheap nowadays, although the used inventions are likely ripped from expensive microphone designs (e.g. Neumann). It's just the manufacturing that's cheap.

In field-capable microphones there's much less competition and less cheap copycats.

Answer by RedSonic01 for So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2012-08-29T11:14:35Z

expensive/good mics basically pick up more detail and clarity as well as having lower self noise. It's impossible to EQ in detail.

Answer by Cam Goold for So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2012-08-29T11:16:19Z

I wouldn't always say the winner is the expensive one, like a bad mic used well is always better than a good mic used poorly. Weeelllll sometimes : P

But my understanding (and I possibly think this just to sleep better at night) was that the reason you can't truly just process sound from a cheap microphone is that it may have not captured those frequencies in the first place. Or at least not in the same way. So by trying to bring those characteristics out, your enhancing certain aspects, likely the bad along with it.

That and of course the physical components may differ greatly, meaning colouring in the more expensive mics will be closer to what we hear on a daily basis and be what we class as more professional. Plus we need to keep thinking this was, or else who would make money making heart breaking & expensive mics.

Answer by Shaun Farley for So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2012-08-29T12:11:32Z

I think your main issue with understanding this is that you're looking at it from too simplified a view.

Frequency response curves can only be so accurate, and even within a manufactured line of a particular mic by a particular company there may be slight variations.
Polar response is not identical between two different model microphones (even though they're both labelled as hyper-cardioid). They will be very close, but not identical. In addition, polar response changes based on frequency within the spectrum.
Sensitivity can be misleading, because truly quiet sounds can be identified in a signal even if their in the noise floor. The sensitivity measurement is not necessarily tied to the mic's signal to noise ratio. Many manufacturers will say that a mic can respond to "X" level sounds, even if they're in the noise floor...because there is a measurable pickup.

There are other issues involved as well: such as response time (which factors in to sensitivity, though it is rarely mentioned), or subtle phase differences that contribute to the mic's overall tone/color (independent of frequency response).

As has been mentioned it's largely a case of design. Mics are designed for specific purposes, and trade offs are allowed to control cost versus specified use. It can also depend on the source you're recording. I've been editing some fabric sound I recorded, and two of the mics I used are nearly identical sounding in some of those files (a Neumann TLM-170R in hyper-cardioid and an AKG SE 300B with with CK93 capsule). They would sound very different on a voice recording though.

Answer by Peterrrz for So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2012-09-21T15:16:55Z

basically, get a U87 and a cheap condenser, make a 'hissing' S sound into each and record the results. you'll have your answer.

Answer by Music Guy for So why its not possible to eq cheap mics to sound like expensive ones?

2013-06-12T00:56:12Z

Think of it this way. Do you think you could ever EQ Jimmy Durante singing to sound like David Clovedale of Whitesnake, Whitney Houston, Robert Plant, etc.? Good sound is usually made by having GOOD equipment at each stage of the process; not by having trashy sound that some plugin is trying to make up for. If you don't put it in in the first place, good EQ is unlikely to make up for it never having been there to begin with.

Thought of in terms of bandwidth, can you compress a large text file down to three bytes, and expect to get the original back? Can you take an eight bit recording, upsample it to 16, and expect the lower eight bits to be of similar quality as if you had recorded it in 16 in the first place? You are starting with less detail; i.e. less information. How do you propose to add the missing information? With static EQ settings? I have a friend who has been in music for 30+ years; and still cannot see why upsampling a low bit depth signal doen't yield a high quality one. Save yourself a lot of bad mixes and listen to me: do every part of the process right, if you want high-quality results. You may be able to leave out some steps and get your result sometimes, but you may never let one step degrade the signal, thereby losing information, and expect to get similar quality to if it had been done right in the first place. By "polishing a turd", you will never get a silk purse or a juicy steak.