Planning on doing a research project on the frequency response of a vintage U-87 as opposed to a new U-87. Goal is to test the difference in frequency responses to see why we like vintage mics, and if there really is a difference! Details in description. Could use advice! audioengineering

This is for my Electromechanical Systems class (Aerospace Engineering degree), but I'm also a huge audio engineering junkie. My main questions are application-based: if they need phantom power, is there any way for me to attach my equipment to the pins to read the voltage differences? (I have access to a lot of really high-end lab equipment to do this, would not damage the mic in any way). If it was a dynamic mic, I could just rig it directly up. Will Phantom Power mess with this? Also, are there any glaring mistakes in my plan? (Will post a more detailed writeup soon if this gets any attention). Thanks guys!

Edit: Another question: I can set up a small anechoic chamber around the mic and monitor (think something the size of a refrigerator box). If I pad everything, add bass traps in the corners, put ridged acoustic treatment panels on the sides, etc, will this function as well as a full-size anechoic chamber? Ironically, I could probably do this in a full-size anechoic chamber at the Pickle Research Campus (University of Texas represent!!), but the STUPID FUCKING data acquisition system has to run on Windows XP with a custom port on the back, so I have to jerry-rig something in our instrumentation lab...

Edit 2: A quick run-down... I will be running a falling sine wave at a constant spectral power density (if I can't find an easy way to do this in a DAW I'll just play a white noise sample and sweep a high-Q bandpass down the spectrum) and find the difference between two microphones. Hopefully, I will be using a vintage U87 (or an old U87AI, still waiting to hear back from the studio) and a new U87AI (or a barely used U87 - again, depends on what my buddy at his super-high-end studio can swing!). I will have to read the voltages directly from the pins, but this is not an issue because I have access to a lot of really high-end data acquisition / component testing hardware. After accounting for the frequency response of the monitor (Adam A7 - ribbon tweeters up to 50kHz whooooop), I'll be able to tell the difference between the two mics. Pretty excited about this test, after my technical report is done I want to write an article on it and submit it to an audio magazine or something, or maybe hit up some of my friends at EARMILK or some other large online blog/news channel. I've always wanted to have an article published in something like that!

Submitted March 21, 2016 at 10:00AM by masteriskofficial http://ift.tt/1PngEj6 audioengineering