CAD mic tests, Not bad for $25

Noiz2

Noiz2

Sound Ninja
So I split a purchase of the CAD mic pair ($49.95/ pair) (CM 217) and ran a few tests. Not terribly scientific but... I set it up on a stereo stand next to a cardioid Oktava and recorded a bit then dragged them into PT and looked at the spectrums signal level etc.

Firts off these are SMALL. It's a hair over 3" long and a hair under .75" in diameter. That is the same diameter as a male XLR and only 1/2" longer. And light .8oz.

Listening to them the CAD is about as hot. With all the settings as close to the same as poss I got less than 1dB difference in peaks. The CAD has more hiss, or I suspect the hiss is in a more noticeable place. With peaks the same the level in a quiet room was actually lower with the CAD but it sounded "hissier".

When I looked at the spectrums you can see that the CAD has significantly more "stuff" (this was a quiet room not a silent chamber so it's hard to tell what is noise and what isn't) above 2K. According to the spec sheet the CAD has a bit of a bump at ~~ 3k - 4k so this "noise" might just be more of the room tone. But it comes out pretty much the same, that boost gives you more noise/ air in the 2-4k zone. With any normal signal level you won't be hearing it much.

The Oktava sounded more "open" and transparent, the CAD had a touch more of a "mic" sound.

Over all a surprisingly good sounding mic. It wouldn't be my first choice but at $25 each I'll probably get a few more for dangerous (to the mic) situations. It would also make a great plant mic. And if you just got your camcorder and are dying to get better sound that the onboard mic this could be an excellent choice, very forgiving for a new boomer, good enough, light enough that you could literally use a fish pole, and cheap enough so you can get a taste but you haven blown all you $ so you can still hire that pro when you decide to get serious about the sound.

I have some screen shots.
Oktava%20qt%20test.png

This is the Oktava, quiet room no roll off. Not sure what caused the little spike, it didn't show up in other selections, but the specifics are pretty meaningless anyway it's general response I was looking at.

CAD%20qt%20test.png

CAD quiet room no roll off

Same set up but with the 80Hz roll off on the MixPre engaged.

OKTAVA%20qt%20-80%20test.png

Oktava

CAD%20qt%20-80%20test.png

CAD
 
Last edited:
Oh and it's the Dark Blue lines, the light blue are the instantaneous level and those are dropping since I had stopped playback. With this plugin there isn't a way to freeze the average for any great amount of time so one has to move quick to get a screen capture before it starts settling.
 
Noiz2 said:
So I split a purchase of the CAD mic pair ($49.95/ pair) and ran a few tests. Not terribly scientific but... I set it up on a stereo stand next to a cardioid Oktava and recorded a bit then dragged them into PT and looked at the spectrums signal level etc.
Click to expand...

Was this the CAD e70 or GXL1200, or some other model? At 49/pair was this a used price?
 
Well that was a "slight" omission wasn't it! CM 217. $49.95/pair new at Musicians friend (and a bunch of other places).

I'll edit the post.
 
Noiz2 said:
Well that was a "slight" omission wasn't it! CM 217. $49.95/pair new at Musicians friend (and a bunch of other places).

I'll edit the post.
Click to expand...

Ah, lower on the condenser mics products page of the CAD site... Thought maybe there was a secret handshake to get good deals...
 
Inside engine compartments, strapped to the forks of a bike, a plant mic close to railroad tracks, close to exhaust pipes, in a condom under water, close to a firearm, close to a cannon, strapped to parts of vehicles. That kind of thing.
 
What's your experience been compared to using dynamic mics in those types of situations (which I'd gotten the impression where the goto mics for those types of recordings)?
 
None whatsoever, I just got the mic (I wish I was that busy!). But I have used lavs in some of those situations. ie under the hood. Considering it tonal coloring it would probably not be the only mic I put on an exhaust, for instance, but? Dynamics are used a lot because of robustness but they are low out put so not the best in some situations and if tone isn't an issue then $100 or so for an SM58 VS $25 for the CAD... I'm going to try it on something in the next week that I probably wouldn't put a dynamic on. Were doing an ad with a mountain bike doing fast and strange stuff and I'm going to use the CAD an inch or so from where the rubber meets the road to see if we can get some really good tire sounds. The CAD is so small and light I should be able to tape it on a gooseneck to the front forks. Could be great, or junk.
 
I guess the summary of the above is, it's a tool. And we didn't have too many in the danger zone do choose from. Now there is a condenser that can be added to the tool box. You still have to pick a mic that works for what your doing.
 
Kind of OT... but I've used the original CAD e-100 for years. GREAT mic. (FYI...it's the only mic James Earl Jones would use for his VO work!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top