If, before auditioning a microphone, I examine some data to find that the microphone advertisesan extended frequency response that doesn't deviate more than 0.5 dB That information sets me up to believe, before I've even heard it, that the mic will perform well.
I'm glad you brought up confirmation bias, because it's salient here. If, before auditioning a microphone, I examine some data to find that the microphone advertisesan extended frequency response that doesn't deviate more than 0.5 dB very low THD+N figures That information sets me up to believe, before I've even heard it, that the mic will perform well...
Brad, yours is a long post. I choose to deal with it one point at a time, the first being:OK. Same solution. Blind listening where nobody knows what mic they are listening to, and therefore what '"specs" they are listening to, whether claimed or actual.If we really want to circumvent confirmation bias...we can.
If we really want to circumvent confirmation bias...we can.
Blind listening is great.However, what's near-impossible is blind working. And I'm continually amazed at how often the thing that wins the "shootout" doesn't win in context; isn't selected when actual music is being made and recorded.
If we really want to circumvent confirmation bias... we can.
Not really at this point of audio equipment development. Everything else in the system also imparts its own sonic signature as well. That skews the tests every time.When you get to the point when even a power cable changes the sonic picture you are also evaluating the "rest of the story".
Sure in a work situation, being blind to the gear we use can be very difficult. But you mentioned the making and recording of music changing which mic you choose. Can you give some practical examples?
...in the context of a distorted electric guitar in a production I often prefer a good 57 to more expensive microphones which sound subjectively preferable in "solo",
I select microphones, typically, that sound most to me like the source sounds in the room. I maintain that there's a decidedly imperfect correlation between that characteristic and a microphone's measurable parameters. Otherwise there would exist such a thing as the "perfect microphone," and I've yet to encounter it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_head_recordinghttp://www.neumann.com/?lang=en&id=current_microphones&cid=ku100_description
Thr trumpet has a large amount of upper harmonics present, all the way to 50k hz. Seems no one ever complains about the sound of a trumpet until we stick our less than accurate stuff in front of it.
Most microphones cannot deal with all those upper harmonics so they either distort them or in the case of a ribbon mic, low pass them.