Steele Vintage Broadcast Microphone Collection | Hacker News Reader

Steele Vintage Broadcast Microphone Collection

digilab.libs.uga.edu

26 pointsbrudgers9 comments

I love hearing the differences from the different styles and ages of mics. I wonder if these are in working condition? Having a sample recording from the various mics in the collection would add a lot to the site. Maybe not every single mic, I'm not trying to be greedy, but at least one from each style and pick up pattern.

In the category of unknown pickup patterns, I wonder if maybe they are not in working condition as it seems like it would be a matter of testing them to determine the pickup patterns.

I absolutely love the sound of Ribbon mics, it's a shame they're so fragile

I'd love if podcasters would begin using the bidirectional pickup pattern - having everyone separately mic'd and compressed loses the natural difference in sound dynamics that exist between people's speaking voices

Having every voice equally loud occasionally urks me when the content is meant to be a two way conversation

> Though [the dynamic microphone] type is not in wide-spread use today, it is the most common microphone type in the Steele Collection.

That doesn't seem right - dynamic mics are everywhere in the broadcast industry. The Electro-Voice Model 635A on that page is used for news gathering, and the RE20 is in station booths everywhere.

Could it be the growing prevalence of USB mics used by podcasters and others? I don't own one of those nor follow the industry so not sure if those are dynamic or not.

The ubiquitous SM7B (podcasting) and SM58 (live vocals) are both dynamic mics.

The SM58 is by a large margin the most popular vocal mic in the world

The SM57 is also an industry staple for pretty much everything from drums to guitar to field recordings

The SM57 and the SM58 are essentially the same thing, except for the 58 foam screen that makes it more suitable for miking singers, while the 57 is more suitable for instruments. They both are rock solid pieces of gear that won't disappoint, and when more sensitivity is needed, an external preamp such as a Triton Audio, Klark Teknik or a similar one will quietly provide more gain without the need for a more expensive mic. If you want to purchase one of the above mics, beware of the numerous fakes around, and buy only from reputable vendors.

USB mics could also be dynamic, the difference is the USB and internal ADC, however they are aimed at a different use case. Dynamic mics are among the best choices for live singing and miking loud instruments (drums, guitar/bass cabs, etc), while USB mics primary use is podcasting by people who don't have or need a mixing deck. I would never ever use a USB microphone for music because, sound quality aside, it could introduce a non predictable latency and possibly phase differences when used in two or more channels (8 USB mics = 8 ADCs with 8 different clocks, unlike for example a single audio interface with single multi channel ADC or more ADCs sharing a common clock), so although USB sales have increased lately, dynamic ones remain king when music is being played or recorded.

Yeah, dynamic mics are definitely still in use and very common on stages, for podcasting/radio (the classic voice of radio sound is a large diaphragm dynamic mic like the Shure SM7B), and many other professional applications. Though at the professional level there are many use cases where condenser-based microphones are preferred (i.e. low noise applications, shotgun mics, etc.)

However, looking at the transducer market overall, I would bet that condensers make up the large majority of global production. If only because of the growth of MEMS arrays in phones and computers and a growing number of cheap electret condensers used in other consumer and prosumer electronics.

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