The vinyl illusion ?

[Macca]

Why would there be cross contamination, they would have to be sending their pick up to different recording devices for the comparison to work? Unless you are saying that just having one mic next to another will have an effect on what they pick up but I'm not clear how this would happen.

[agk]

This discussion is proceeding far too long and sensibly.

VINYL ROCKS!

[Stratmangler]

What sonic cross contamination?

There's no physical connection between the mics. They're separated by a couple of millimetres.
The mics are in their own shock mounts, and connected to their own stands.

The reason why they have the mics in just a single vertical plane is to remove any issues that might be caused by mic placement - move the setup a foot to the left and things will sound different.
Place one mic next to the other and it's likely to sound different because of where it's sited in the room.
On top of that, no matter how hard you try, you'll never get the same output level because you'll never get the singer to be the same distance from the mic.
This way the mics have the singer equidistant from them (so pick up the same volume vocal), and pick up sound reflections from as near the same place in the room as it's possible to.

The microphone will work just as well, and give the same result in either orientation.

[RothwellAudio]

But surely by being placed so closely together, the one not being sung into is still picking up the singers voice regardless, thereby tainting it with its own sonic signature?... The test would've been better, and the results more valid, had the respective microphones been placed further apart, so that neither could interfere with the other.

I don't understand. How would the two mics interfere with each other?

Fair enough, but I still don't think that was the ideal way to have conducted the test.

That's the way I compare microphones.

Yes, but the fact that both mics were being sung into at the one time means that they would've BOTH influenced the sound of the singers voice to some extent, regardless of how they were supposedly 'separated out' in post production.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Are you saying the (unused) mic will produce reflections? Or cast an acoustic shadow?
Two microphones picking up the same sound and recorded on two different tracks of a multitrack recorder is a standard technique for mic comparisons.

[Marco]

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Are you saying the (unused) mic will produce reflections? Or cast an acoustic shadow?

Pretty much, yes. Also consider the vibration angle, and how microphones are designed to work! Just because one of the ones in the video is apparently sitting there 'doing nothing', in such close proximity to the other, when it's being sung into, doesn't mean that it is

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

Pretty much, yes. Also consider the vibration angle, and how microphones are designed to work! Just because one of the ones in the video is apparently sitting there 'doing nothing', in such close proximity to the other, when it's being sung into, doesn't mean that it is

Marco.

At no point is one microphone sat doing nothing.

[Marco]

Yes I know, but set up as shown on the video, one microphone will undoubtedly will be having some sort of influence on the other, as I've outlined. For me, there is no doubt about that.

It's simply wishful thinking to consider otherwise!

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

Well what you propose as a valid test is a non flyer.
You set 2 identical mics up in different places in a room, and they will undoubtedly sound different. They'll pick up different sound reflections, and that's before anyone opens their mouth to sing.

[Marco]

Hey, I guess at the end of the day you have to chose your compromises. Maybe try it in an anechoic chamber instead?

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

Right then. Yes, he's back again...!

Just had a vinyl session listening to Mr Scruff's 'Friendly Bacteria' album and it sounded bloody amazing after all of the other stuff. Really deep low bass with crisp clear high frequencies and a real sense of precision all round. Yes I know, it is almost certainly digital, it is almost certainly Pro Tooled to death with frequency enhancers and aural exciters galore but it sounds bloody fantastic. So, I reckon my biggest problem was with an album that dated from 1973.

The Mr Scruff stuff is mainly composed of vinyl DJ's, drum loops and loads of samples so with that in mind, how do you explain 'The Closest Approach to the Original Sound' as stated by Quad...?

I have two particular favourite tracks on this album and those are Where Am I and Come Find Me.

Brilliant album.