Measurement microphones

[ShinOBIWAN]

I'm looking into upgrading my very basic Behringer ECM8000 mic to something more accurate.

In the past I've hired out an Earthworks measurement microphone + pre-amp but at £9 per day its pretty expensive and I'm at the stage where I'd like to redo some measurements but the mic is out on loan so I'm stuck playing the waiting game until its returned and can be loaned out again.

I've briefly looked into the big names in measurement mics and it seems Earthworks, Bruel & Kjaer and GRAS are the ones to own. My problem is finding places on the web that sell these microphones as well as pricing.

Could folks post places they've found for these brand or others they'd recommend so as to help me and maybe others who have similar queries.

[ShinOBIWAN]

To get things started here's one place in the UK that hires out a range of very high quality measurement microphone and pre-amps. This is at a price though of course:

http://www.gracey.com/prod-06a.htm

[pinkmouse]

You can try my mate Pete, at Crystal Pro Audio. He gets S/H measurement mics in occasionally, and quite often has other interesting stuff in as well.

Oh, and I might buy your ECM off you as well.

[CrisTUFR]

ShinOBIWAN,

There's always the option of going DIY, and having your mic calibrated by a pro. I have a helpful wiki page up here with a small list of project links:

http://support.supermegaultragroovy....hp/Microphones

I hear that some DIY mics outperform the ECM8000, and I've seen correction curves for capsules (WM61a, in particular) that demonstrate they need far less correction to get flat.

Even with a great microphone, you still need to get calibration data for it. I picked up an Earthworks M30 a few months ago, and had to pay extra for the calibration file to ensure it's flat.

As far as I know, you don't need to go overboard with the preamp (AFAIK, the Earthworks preamp costs a few grand). Most preamps are very flat over the entire audible frequency range, and you can get away with the built-in preamps that come with a lot of the USB-/FireWire-powered audio devices on the market. (I was surprised by this fact too, but it came directly from Earthworks...)

I use my Earthworks mic plugged into a MOTU Traveler right now, but I think one could easily get away with a far cheaper device (Like an Edirol UA-25 or FA-66).

Hope this helps,

Chris

[ShinOBIWAN]

Originally posted by pinkmouse
You can try my mate Pete, at Crystal Pro Audio. He gets S/H measurement mics in occasionally, and quite often has other interesting stuff in as well.

Oh, and I might buy your ECM off you as well.

Thanks Al,

I've sent him an email so here's hoping

[Depth Charge]

There's always DPA mics (http://www.dpamicrophones.com), they mostly do stuff for recording (they have some very interesting articles on micing techniques etc as well) but also do a reference mic (4007/4004) for measurements and such like. I think it uses a Bruel & Kjaer capsule, I could certainly be wrong though. Do a froogle search, I think they cost about £1100 or so. They have also just launched a cheaper line of mics (4090/4091) along the same lines. I think they are somewhere in the £300 - £350 region.

Alternativly you could mod an ECM8000 (http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...1&page=1&pp=25) and then perhaps send it away for calibration. I'm thinking of getting a few ECM8000s for modding to do some recording. Apparently they can sound about as good as some of the cheaper Earthworks stuff.

[ShinOBIWAN]

Originally posted by Depth Charge
There's always DPA mics (http://www.dpamicrophones.com), they mostly do stuff for recording (they have some very interesting articles on micing techniques etc as well) but also do a reference mic (4007/4004) for measurements and such like. I think it uses a Bruel & Kjaer capsule, I could certainly be wrong though. Do a froogle search, I think they cost about £1100 or so. They have also just launched a cheaper line of mics (4090/4091) along the same lines. I think they are somewhere in the £300 - £350 region.

Alternativly you could mod an ECM8000 (http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...1&page=1&pp=25) and then perhaps send it away for calibration. I'm thinking of getting a few ECM8000s for modding to do some recording. Apparently they can sound about as good as some of the cheaper Earthworks stuff.

Interesting stuff, thanks for that.

Do you know any place in the UK that sells the Panasonic electrets?

I've found the Earthworks M30 available for around £370 inc shipping and taxes from the US. The M50, which is the one I hired, is around £1000. My budget is around £300 so no M50 for me.

I'd like to give the ECM8000 mod a try though before I but down hard cash.

[nemestra]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN

Do you know any place in the UK that sells the Panasonic electrets?

Hi Shin,

I got a few Panasonic capsules from Vikash many moons ago when he was first experimenting with them. Don't know of any UK source. Pinkmouse suggested a UK group buy from Digikey some time back I think. Meanwhile Vikash has made kits available, no experience of them, but see the following threads for info on sourcing capsules and for the kits:

Mic Preamp PCB kit offering (measure FR etc)

Measurement microphone

A little cheaper than the pro alternatives...

James

[David Gatti]

Have you looked at Bamberg Labs' calibrated Panasonic mic & preamp?
It's what I use.

http://www.bamberglab.com/mic_probe_preamp.shtml

[Vikash]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN
Do you know any place in the UK that sells the Panasonic electrets?

http://www.madaboutsound.com/prod_det.asp?product_id=10