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By now you’ve probably heard about 3D Audio’s audacious “shootout” listening session with 49 vocal mics presented “blind” to a panel of studio engineers. In addition, the whole thing was recorded and put on a CD. You can order it on the 3D web site for about $35. Is this an essential tool for microphone evaluation? No, not really. Still, my gut feeling is that this CD could prove helpful, particularly for anybody relatively new to recording who is considering dropping a kilobuck or two into new mics over the next few years. So if the cost of a decent steak dinner is not a budget-buster for you, then you might want to check it out for the following reasons, in descending order of value:

•Checking up on your listening skills and your monitors
•Broadening your “wish list” for mic purchases
•Narrowing your “wish list” for mic purchases

Reality Check: Listen Up!

I won’t go into all the details as to how this was done, or list all the microphones involved. For that background, see the 3D audio website. Suffice it to say that the tests were done with appropriately anal precautions and controls to assure a reasonably level playing field. There was the human factor, of course, but the two veteran Nashville background vocalists performed with astonishing consistency.

The first thing you want to do when you get this CD is pull out the booklet and give it to somebody else and have them hide it for a couple days. You absolutely, positively must start out with no knowledge of which mic is which.

So stick it in your CD player, crank the monitors to moderate levels, and start listening. After three or four cuts, you’d better be hearing some significant differences. If you are not, you either need new monitors or you need serious work on your listening skills—or both.

Unless you’ve spent a lot of time auditioning mics, you probably could use some polishing of the specific listening skills required for critical mic evaluation. And that’s where I think this CD might have most value--as a warm-up to crucial “live” auditions which you may have to do under less than ideal conditions or in a time crunch. You need to go into those final listening sessions with your ears already fine-tuned to catch subtle differences that will belie the “brighter is better” syndrome.

Adding to Your List

Okay, let’s assume you are hearing some differences. Some mics will strike you as relatively blah. Others will stand out as particularly pleasing for whatever subjective reasons you have in the forefront of your mind. Most will fall somewhere in the middle.

However, before proceeding further, let’s deal with the obvious problems. Although this whole project was done with tender loving care and first rate ancillary equipment (Great River and Grace preamps, Prism converters, etc.) this is a 16/44.1 digital format you’re listening to. Not the highest of fi. Some subtle differences you might hear on a live feed or on a higher resolution analog or digital playback will not be heard here, regardless of the quality of your monitors. (And don’t tell me it doesn’t matter because it all ends up on CD anyway. Bullshit!) Also, the singers were told to maintain the same distance to the mic, but some mics might sound better closer up or further back. No pop filters were used, though some mics might benefit from one. Variations in capsule manufacture and diaphragm tensioning can make significant differences in sound between two mics of the same model. The recording space was relatively dead, but some mics might gain depth and air in a more ambient environment. You really can’t judge self-noise in these tests, but that can be an important consideration. Etcetera, etcetera…

For all those reasons and more, you DO NOT want to make this the final arbiter of a purchase decision. (3D’s Lynn Fuston says as much with his “Engineer’s General” warning in the booklet.) Still, as you go through on your first listening of the female vocalists, note what you like and what you don’t. Then hide that list from yourself. Do the same with the male vocalist tracks. Then take a good long break to erase your memory, and do it again but with different monitors or, if you only have one good monitor setup, with a good pair of headphones. (Mic mod master Klaus Heyne thinks this is the way to go anyway.) Then compare your two lists. Surprise! Probably didn’t get a 100% match, did you?