AES microphones experiences.

[RadoStefanov]

I am interested in real life experiences with AES microphones. 

Not only the superCmit...

[ryanpeds]

I boomed with a superCmit for about 4 months last fall. The biggest draw was the built in noise suppression. We converted to analog using the power supply/converter box to go in to out cooper 106. However, the AES was nice to get back to the cart. You can lay it right next to power and it doesn't affect it like it would an analog signal. We tried for awhile to do a wireless workflow with it but we kept having weird power problems with the SMQV's. If we would have had more time with it to troubleshoot with it that we would have figured it out. What we did was I wore a fannypack with an NP1 and battery distro. That fed the mics power supply and tx's.

 

Overall the mic is a fantastic performer. We were able to get the best sound off of our backlot that we have had in years because of how tight the pattern is on the microphone along with the built in noise suppression.

 

The AES wasn't the biggest sell on the microphone because we were going to convert to analog into our mixer anyway. I would imagine that if you had a mixer like the DEVA 32 that this would be a much more important feature or if you were using a 788t with a CL9.

 

I would have loved to try an all digital wireless workflow with it as well as I'm sure that would have solved our power hum issue.

 

Has anyone tested the noise floor difference between an all digital workflow vs converting the mic to analog?

[RadoStefanov]

The one time I used SuperCMit on a BBC show it sounded noisy as hell. 

[Richard Thomas]

The one time I used SuperCMit on a BBC show it sounded noisy as hell. 

 

Yes, they are

 

Heard the Neumann KM-Ds are very quiet- I think Simon Bishop uses them (I haven't, though)

Speaking of this, has anyone found any improvement running Sennheiser 8000s with the AES42 module? 

[bmfsnd]

The Neumann 81D's are fun.  Natural response, very directional, integrated compressor/limiter that "prevents clipping", and it works in a variety of environments. And it has a blue light!

[Constantin]

I have a pair of the Neumann KMD184. I bought them for music recordings and only really used them for that. I was hoping for very little selfnoise and just like a very clean sound. On paper the digital and the non digital versions have nearly identical specs, if anything the digital version has slightly more self noise. But maybe it's due to how the signal travels down a long cable or whatever, but to me the KMD always sounded much quieter to me. That may have been imagined, though. But they do have an optimized A-D converter, so that may help with noise arriving at the recorder, too. They also have a built-in limiter/compressor which can be useful. Overall these are really nice mics, but honestly I can't say if they are worth the extra money.

If you want to find out for yourself, I happen to have a pair for sale in the wts section [emoji6]

[Todd Weaver]

Has anyone tested the noise floor difference between an all digital workflow vs converting the mic to analog?

I use a lot of all digital workflow. The noise floor is well below anything I could have imagined just a few years back. Noise just isn't an issue with this type of setup.. Analog gain stages can add noise to the signal, depending on the preamp and analog circuitry. With digital, you won't add additional noise after the signal is converted to a bit stream. With these AES microphones, that starts somewhere just downstream of the capsule as opposed to the long run of tiny wires that the analog signal must travel through before reaching the A to D converter on your mixer or recorder. Each circuit an analog signal travels through along its way can have a minor or drastic effect on the final sound that ends up on the recording.