Microphone: sE Electronics sE2200. Is it good?

So, the sales person at Sweetwater recommended I get an sE Electronics sE2200 Large Diaphragm Condenser microphone to record my acoustic uke. Anyone here able to recommend it? Is it a great mic?

cyber3d said:

So, the sales person at Sweetwater recommended I get an sE Electronics sE2200 Large Diaphragm Condenser microphone to record my acoustic uke. Anyone here able to recommend it? Is it a great mic?

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Reading the reviews on Sweetwater's own website and around the web would be the place to start.
It seems to get good reviews although I haven't used it.

Nominally though, a small diaphragm condenser (SDC) microphone is considered the usual studio microphone for an instrument while a large diaphragm condenser (LDC) microphone is considered the usual studio microphone for vocals although rules and conventions are meant to be broken.

Nominally SDC microphones are more detailed and have less proximity effect. LDC microphones are a little less detailed but usually warmer and also sound different as you move closer or further away from the mic.

I'm sure its a decent microphone but what else do you want to do with it?
As a simple purchase I'm sure it will work well but you could also do some general reading on microphone types to get a better idea of what they all sound like.

For the record, I record with SDC microphones and I don't own an LDC yet.

Just browsing Sweetwater's own website there there are a number of SDC microphones that I would personally pick rather than the Se2200 just for the purpose of recording a ukulele and they're cheaper too although that doesn't mean that the Se2200 is a bad recommendation or that my choices are really better.

Discussing the pro's and con's of microphones is a whole other can of worms.

A whole can of worms yes indeed. Personal tastes.

I've been experimenting with mic setups a bit. Currently, I'm repurposing the mics I use at work for recording acoustic uke instrumentals. I'm Recording directly to a Zoom H6 with it's XY mic at 90 degrees to cover the whole instrument (nut to saddle) along with a Sterling ST31 FET condenser pointed directly at the 12th fret. As I get more familiar with the KLOS uke I want to capture more of it's sound. I like this setup with the Tiny Tenor solid mahogany (at least to my ears). But, I can push the KLOS really hard. So I'm hoping the sE Electronics sE2200 will outperform the Sterling. I like the idea of a large diaphragm mic combined with the XY.

I just have a feeling - for the uke at least - the Hyper-Cardioid Polar Pattern of sth ST31 is too focused compared to the large-diaphragm cardioid. IMHO of course.

I'm not unhappy with the Sterling mind you. It has been interesting hearing the range of mic capturing potential at the cheap end, middle of the road, and I would imagine even at the high end range of mics.

What are you going to plug the mic into though? Are you using a USB interface that goes into a PC? Some kind of mixer studio setup?

This mic appears to have an XLR output, so I'm curious as to what the rest of your recording rig is

kissing said:

What are you going to plug the mic into though? Are you using a USB interface that goes into a PC? Some kind of mixer studio setup?

This mic appears to have an XLR output, so I'm curious as to what the rest of your recording rig is

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I'm going straight into teh Zoom H6 which is balanced XLR in (4 channels) Currently the Sterling goes into Track 3 and I am using the 90 degree Twin Mics fitted to the "head" of the H6 which records to stereo tracks 1 and 2. Usually, I record to the H6's internal SD Card then import that into my DAW (Audition CC 2019). I do have the option of using the H6 as an Audio Interface. But I prefer the SD Card method. I am using the H6 because of the portability. When I record others I usually work with my Tascam DP24SD and import the tracks into Audition.

I might do a post on my setup with Audition and the Zoom H6 as Audio Interface. And I just got an APHEX Aural Exciter plugin. There is an interesting story about Aphex as I used to work there decades ago when the Aural Exciter was big. Really good VST plugin to check out.

Multiple microphone recordings (x,y patterns and such) can be more trouble than they're worth. Unless your very precise they suffer from a issue called Comb Filtering.

I recommend experimenting with just one good microphone and seeing what you get from moving the microphone around. Also your position in the room while playing can have a great impact on the quality of the recording.

If you want to try an LDC then I would read the reviews on Sweetwater to start with. There may be better choices.

I have a Line Audio CM3 which is a Wide Cardioid SDC which is VERY smooth and makes great recordings. It has a great reputation. It's quite modestly priced as well.

anthonyg said:

Multiple microphone recordings (x,y patterns and such) can be more trouble than they're worth. Unless your very precise they suffer from a issue called Comb Filtering.

I recommend experimenting with just one good microphone and seeing what you get from moving the microphone around. Also your position in the room while playing can have a great impact on the quality of the recording.

If you want to try an LDC then I would read the reviews on Sweetwater to start with. There may be better choices.

I have a Line Audio CM3 which is a Wide Cardioid SDC which is VERY smooth and makes great recordings. It has a great reputation. It's quite modestly priced as well.

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Thanks anthonyg. Is comb filtering syndrome something I can avoid by flipping the phase on one of the channels? excuse my ignorance on the subject.

cyber3d said:

Thanks anthonyg. Is comb filtering syndrome something I can avoid by flipping the phase on one of the channels? excuse my ignorance on the subject.

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Comb filtering in simple terms is a problem caused by the same signal being recorded by two or more microphones and one of the signals being delayed in comparison to the other causing some frequencies to be muted and others amplified.

Here's a reference, https://www.sonible.com/blog/avoid-comb-filter-effect/

Unless your really on top of the issue its usually better to make single microphone recordings.

Personally, I prefer it if the mic is connected to a computer (eg: via audio interface or USB microphone) because when you hit record on a recording program (like Audacity), you see what you are recording visually on the soundwave graph being generated in real time, and can listen to yourself straight away, delete and cut and edit pretty much instantly, with lots of control and freedom. It would be incredibly easy to experiment the different settings, mics, mic positions and proximity.

I'm not familiar of using a handheld recorder like the Zoom H6, but it appears to be a bit more limited on what you can do on the fly compared to what you can do on a computer. I'd imagine the main advantage of a handheld device is portability, if you want to be recording in places where it's a hassle to take your computer's recording equipment, such as a lecture, classroom, or recording outdoors.

kissing said:

Personally, I prefer it if the mic is connected to a computer (eg: via audio interface or USB microphone) because when you hit record on a recording program (like Audacity), you see what you are recording visually on the soundwave graph being generated in real time, and can listen to yourself straight away, delete and cut and edit pretty much instantly, with lots of control and freedom. It would be incredibly easy to experiment the different settings, mics, mic positions and proximity.

I'm not familiar of using a handheld recorder like the Zoom H6, but it appears to be a bit more limited on what you can do on the fly compared to what you can do on a computer. I'd imagine the main advantage of a handheld device is portability, if you want to be recording in places where it's a hassle to take your computer's recording equipment, such as a lecture, classroom, or recording outdoors.

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How do you compensate for latency?

I tried using Adobe Audition as my DAW running the line through a Focusrite Scarlett ver2. Still too much latency. Very fast components in my machine.

Latency isn't a given that everyone deals with when recording direct to a computer. I use a Macbook Pro and Garageband. I've used a Focusrite Scarlet as the interface and currently using a Behringer X18 as the interface. I don't suffer from latency. Latency is an issue you need to sort out.