[TenTec] In praise of older technology

[Richards]

Well said, Bob.

Last summer, on a Brand X discussion forum, we discussed what is the 
"best" microphone and what is the best EQ setting.    I suggested that, 
because we only use +/- 2700 Hz audio and RF bandwidth - pretty much any 
decent microphone costing $15 or more SHOULD be linear across that 
narrow spectrum, and I made recordings of several microphones bearing 
widely different price tags to prove it.  No one has correctly 
identified the $15 Samson RS10  from the $150 Heil PR-20 or even from 
the $99 Sennheiser e835, and several others by RadioShack, Shure,  and 
the real kicker in the bunch... a $1 computer mic I purchased on eBay.

I dared to suggest audiophiles use EQ to "fix" or compensate for uneven 
room acoustics ... but oddly enough audiophiles often employ pre-amps 
and power amps lacking any bass or treble or EQ controls at all - 
instead they seek uncolored input, and uncolored output, using EQ 
sparingly or not at all to compensate for uneven room acoustics.   So, 
on that logic,  maybe we should use FLAT EQ on the transmit audio, on 
the theory of what goes in uncolored and natural, might come out 
uncolored and more natural than if we had messed with it.   After all, 
most decent microphones are linear across the 200- 2700 Hz +/- range - 
if we want to sound natural, why color it with phoney EQ settings ?

I am sure there is some fallacy lurking in the weeds, but this seems 
logical to me.  Garbage in... garbage out...     Natural, simple audio 
in... ok you get the picture.

So I keep it simple, I use reasonably good, but not overly expensive 
microphones, and avoid excessive EQ  coloration (occasionally I add a 
slight boost to the mid range frequencies to be more punchy in a 
crowd... but not otherwise.)

Am I missing something?

--------------------------------------  K8JHR  --------------



On 2/24/2014 3:35 PM, Bob McGraw - K4TAX wrote:
> Yep and likely he had a bunch of external processing and EQ equipment as
> well.
>
> I hate to say it folks but we are using a communication audio range
> which is typically comprising a frequency response between 200 Hz to
> 2500 Hz out of the entire audio spectrum   That range is defined by the
> filter, be it hardware or DSP, that is part of the SSB generator.
>
> Trying to cram wide band audio through a filter of this bandwidth is
> like trying to push a bumble bee through a drinking straw.  Nothing nice
> is going to come out the other end.  Just like I tell the kid in the
> band, it's easy to be loud, just buy another amp and crank it to the
> max.  Now being good, well that takes skill, knowledge and talent.
>
> Now lets try to get the best quality out of the 200 Hz to 2500 Hz
> spectrum of audio that's available.  It is a lot more of a challenge
> than buying and using some external processing and EQ and broadcast type
> mikes.
>
>_________________________________




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