Are High Priced Microphones the Only Option?

This project will conduct an experiment in which the performance of two groups of microphones is measured. These two groups will be the inexpensive and “expensive” microphone groups. The inexpensive group will be under $150 and the “expensive” group will be above $150 while under $1000. This experiment will aim to answer the question, “Are Higher Priced Microphones the only option?”. This project will take two recordings of a band performing one song and then mix (or edit) them to the best versions. These recordings will then be used in a survey that will be sent out to those in and outside of the college of music at GMU. This survey will be divided into three sections while providing some information about the survey‘s intent. The first section collects music background information regarding the participant’s musical background. The second section would be asking questions about each recording concerning certain aspects of each recording. The last section will then ask questions comparing the two recordings. Lastly, in the last section, it will be stated that the two recordings were inexpensive and expensive, the participant will be asked to pick which is the expensive group. The participants’ responses will then be used to reach an answer to the main research question. This project aims to act as a guide and reference for those starting in Music Technology or for musicians and others who are not going into this field and would want help buying their equipment.

Hello, everyone. My name is William Aranibar Vargas, and I’m a music tech senior.

Today I’ll be exploring a question that’s been on my mind for a while now. Which is, Are High-Priced Microphones the Only Option?

Now this connects to a story that starts out when I was first entering this field.

where I was allowed the opportunity to help in a recording session.

During this session I was asked, what microphone would I choose to record a specific instrument.

This at first left me a little, speechless, and I ultimately asked my upperclassmen what they would have chosen because I wasn’t confident in the microphone that I would have chosen. But

over the years this led me to wonder. A very similar question to my main research question, which is.

does the price of a microphone significantly impact the performance?

Now, my project

going along with this research question explores this through an experiment. and that experiment consists of comparing 2 microphone groups.

The first of those 2 groups consists of microphones that are below $150,

or the inexpensive group.

and the second group consists of microphones above $150, but below a thousand dollars, which is the quote, unquote.

expensive group.

Now this range is due to the available inventory that I had at the Audiolab on campus, as well as the abbreviate or quotation of expensive, because microphones can easily be way way higher than $1,000.

Now, what did I do with these 2 groups of microphones? I used these microphones to record a jazz combo performing one song simultaneously.

so

I would end up with 2 recordings of the same song, but using 2 different groups of microphones.

Now I, the end goal is to mix and master these recordings in order to use them in a survey that will be sent out

to those in and outside of the College of Music.

The survey is separated into 3 general sections. The first is music, background information, the second is listening to the recordings, and lastly, comparing and contrasting the recordings in order for the participants to reach a decision on which recording, they believe is the quote unquote expensive group.

Just as a note of clarity. The responses that I will receive from these surveys will ultimately answer the main research question.

I will not be the one answering the research question, the participants will. and another point of clarity. This project is incomplete, as of now, due to some setbacks that happened during the semester which I’ll get into later.

But before that I want to talk more about the place that I recorded these or the recording site.

Now I use the room in the Music Theatre Building, which is Room 2027,

which is on the second floor.

And I also used the audiolab to actually record this

into the console in the audio lab

through the use of a mobile unit. This mobile unit had some microphone preamps and

microphone inputs which were then sent through the Dante network through an Ethernet connection.

From this room downstairs to the audiolab console.

Next some more information about the survey

in general. This survey had 3 goals. The first was to collect music background information of the participants.

second, was to ask the participants to listen to the recordings and answer questions about each individual recording, and, lastly, for those participants to compare and contrast the recordings to come to a decision on which one they thought was the quote, unquote, expensive group.

Now in terms of prep work, I took inventory of micro of the microphones available in the audiolab. First.

then, I set guidelines using the modern recording techniques textbook that many music students may have encountered on their journey of learning.

and lastly, I used many reference tracks, songs, performances in jazz to get myself more accommodated to mixing and mastering jazz.

Now some setbacks and changes that occurred throughout the semester that push back

my project first was access to the room. I actually didn’t have consistent access to this room for a very long time until about 2 to 3 weeks ago.

Next were time conflicts between me and the musicians which ultimately led to some musicians not being available on the final recording date, and lastly, some microphones were not available on the date of this recording, so I had to change them to other ones.

Final thoughts are, I hope, to finish this project, strong with the survey, conducted next semester, and to collect a lot of useful information for those in the future. Thank you.