Got Oktava, what's the -10 pad for?

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

Okay, sorry if this is a stupid question. I searched to see if this was discussed before but couldn't find it. I got my Oktava in today from Sound-Room and I want to know: in what situations would ever likely use the -10 pad? I feel stupid even asking this. Does it just reduce the volume by -10? Why would I need a pad for that when I could just turn down the volume level? Thanks guys.

 

[Huy Vu]

You'll probably never use it. The -10 db pad is only for situation where the surrounding is extremely loud to prevent the audio level from blowing out.

 

[ullanta]

The gain control on the camera or preamp modifies the level of its OUTPUT. Sometimes the preamp's INPUT (i.e., the output of the mic) is too high for the preamp circuitry, causing distortion. We say something like "the mic is too hot for the preamp". Turning down the preamp gain will just make the distorted signal lower, since the distortion occurs before the preamp's main circuitry. The pad, then, is used to protect the preamp from a mic that's too hot.

The MC012's are not particularly hot, and in general video-style use you won't have need of the pad. But if you're close-micing a loud source you mayt find it helpful.

Appendix: The term for the level of signal that a preamp can accept before distortion is called its "input headroom." A microphone's "sensitivity" measures the ratio between the loudness of a sound source and the mic's output level. If you're bored, you can use those two figures to determine what level of sound hitting the microphone will overload the preamp... the input headroom measurement is one of the ones that distiguishes a really good preamp. For examples of a preamp with really bad (negative, it seems) headroom, look up the M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 - even the included mic is too hot for the preamp in fairly normal circumstances, which has prompted M-Audio to release a special pad...