Microphones - Can You Hear the Specs?

Moderator:
Helmut Wittek, SCHOEPS GmbH - Karlsruhe, Germany

Panelists:
Jürgen Breitlow, Georg Neumann Berlin - Berlin, Germany; Sennheiser Electronic - Wedemark, Germany
Eddy B. Brixen, EBB-consult - Smørum, Denmark; DPA Microphones
David Josephson, Josephson Engineering, Inc. - Santa Cruz, CA, USA

There are numerous microphones available to the audio engineer. It's not easy to compare them on a reliable basis, often the choice of the model is made on the basis of experience or perhaps just habits—or just because it looks nice. Nevertheless, there is valuable information in the microphone specifications. This masterclass held by well-known microphone experts of leading microphone manufacturers demystifies the most important microphone specs and provides the attendees with up-to-date information on how these specs are obtained and can be interpreted. Furthermore, many practical audio demonstrations are given in order to help everyone to understood how the numbers relate to the perceived sound. The masterclass takes a critical look on how specs are presented to the user, what to look and listen for, and what to expect.