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Comparing microphones

Thursday, November 4th, 2010 | by


We’ve just added a neat new feature to the Microphone Database. It will allow you to compare two microphones in a way that has never been done before.

You might have noticed that we’ve been publishing standardized frequency response graphs, meticulously retraced onto a common scale. We now have about 800 of these graphs, for 600 microphones.

Now, you can overlay those graphs. One on top of another.

There is no easier way to visualize the differences between two response graphs.

To be sure, frequency-response graphs are not the final word in describing how a microphone will perform. But they provide a meaningful data point, especially when compared to the graphs of similar microphones.

The graph comparison tool will pop up when you click on one of these graphs, e.g. for the SM57 or U 47 or U 87.

The search form is not fully-baked — best bet is to type the first few characters of the manufacturer’s name or the mic’s model name/number, but not both. For example, “shu” or “sm” but not “shure sm57”.

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t seen it, here’s the microphone sale listing demonstrated in the video.

Posted in Colophon, Video | 3 Comments »




3 Responses to “Comparing microphones”

  1. Ian Shepherd

    December 2nd, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    Great feature ! I think you should highlight the text “Click to compare” though, I missed it to begin with. Or, just add a “Compare with” search box somewhere prominent ?

  2. Jason Nowka

    July 8th, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    Absolutely AWESOME!! I am a live sound engineer, and I am constantly researching mics/mikes. I can not remember curves. This is what I was going to build for myself. Your representation is even better, the simple fact you can overlay and compare. Something like this should have existed over 20 years ago. Right? Thank you, Thank you!!! Jason

  3. Jimmy Walter

    February 22nd, 2022 at 10:04 pm

    Is there a setup or program for using a second microphone to cancel out reverb/echo? I have a very echo-y room with wood floors and plastered brick walls and high ceilings. I tried iZotope and it gets rid of the echo, but only in exchange for a very degraded quality.
    I make videos, only voice, I do not record music

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