I dislike the MKH20s because of the very obvious (to me) hiss in
quiet ambience recordings, compared to other mics such as MKH 8020
and AT 4022.
Vicki
On 20/01/2012, at 8:27 AM, Dan Dugan wrote:
> A few weeks ago someone, I think it was David Brinicombe, mentioned
> observing HF noise in Sennheiser MKH 20 microphones. I've noticed
> it too, when looking at a spectrogram of a quiet environment.
>
> This morning we did a comparison of a 3032 next to an MKH 20 on the
> carpet of an interior room, covered with some blankets. The diffuse-
> field HF boost switch was in the flat position. I used the preamps
> in a Sound Devices 744T. I posted an expanded-scale picture of the
> resulting spectrum at:
>
> http://www.dandugan.com/downloads/Nature_Sounds_Photos/
> AT3032_v._MKH_20_noise_via_744T_preamps.png
>
> Red is Sennheiser, green is Audio-Technica. The down-sloping curve
> on the left is obviously ambient noise. I tried to match the levels
> at around 500 Hz. I believe that above 1K we are probably seeing
> mic self-noise plus preamp noise. The "hiss" from the MKH 20 is
> obvious. I put hiss in quotes because I can't hear this noise at
> all. It isn't trivial however. I see that up-sloping top end in
> recordings from quiet locations.
>
> The tonal artifacts in the 3032's spectrum, especially in the range
> 400-1KHz are curious. They could be from the mic or the preamp, not
> investigated yet.
>
> My first guess is that the MKH 20 might be equalized in its
> electronics to compensate for a naturally rolling-off HF response
> of the capsule.
>
> -Dan
>
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