recordinghacks

Brent Casey is an audio equipment designer, perhaps best known — to date! — for the Studio Projects line of microphones. He joined PMI Audio (parent company to Studio Projects) around 2002, redesigned the entire Studio Projects mic line around 2006, and in 2010 released the “Little Square Mic,” or LSM, which is in large part the subject of this interview.

Now that I’ve been recommending LSM to people, I wanted to get a little more insight into its origins. Brent was, as is always the case, gracious in his responses. Read on for some interesting, and maybe a little frightening insider information about the gear industry, and the full story on this little square mic too. (more…)

It’s a rather unique and great time in which we live; in this internet-driven age, small- and sometimes even singularly-staffed manufacturers can craft products and market them to the world with nothing more than a website. No more having to only choose from a small handful of companies making products for the masses; there are now hundreds of options in every possible price range. While this amount of choice can lead to option overload and make it more difficult to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff, there are many companies making excellent new tools for our craft.

Self-proclaimed “Bricoleur,” Philip Graham, started Ear Trumpet Labs as a way to place his Schoeps-style FET circuit into microphone bodies of his own design and imagination that recall everything from the spring-loaded shockmounts of early ribbons and condensers to industrial/”Steampunk” assemblages of discarded bicycle parts and copper tubing. They are as much works of art as they are functional instruments for audio.
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I recently scored this wonderful, but horribly pink toy piano. I found this to be a perfect opportunity to experiment with a few mic techniques. That, and I can never turn down the opportunity for over-the-top ridiculousness. (more…)

First I would like to thank all of you who responded to Part I of The Quest for the Ultimate Live Sax Microphone, which reviewed dynamic microphones. This is a very exciting project, and since the last article I have made a point of talking to each live sound engineer I could get my hands on. Based on the responses we received from the dynamic microphone article, and feedback from sound engineers on the road, we gathered an enviable collection of condenser microphones for evaluation here in Part II.

Before we get started, we need to keep in mind the premise of our quest: the microphone should be small enough to fit in carry-on luggage, and preferably it should fit in the saxophone case. We will stay away from clip-on microphones (for reasons explained previously).

We are looking for a natural and honest sound; the saxophone should be captured without loss of quality in any register, and the microphone should work well in live settings of various venue sizes. (more…)

The mic database has been getting smarter. Here is a quick tour of the new features.

Mic Awards

The TEC Foundation selects one studio and one live-performance mic annually for their prestigious TEC Award. We now list all the winners and nominees back to 2003.

A few publications, notably MIX and ProSound Web, have awards of their own. MIX appears to pick “certified hit” winners after every trade show, for example. We’ve listed all of these we can find, too. And we’ll be adding these to the site on an ongoing basis. (more…)

Lyre, lyre, your mic’s on fire!

Is it just me, or are microphones getting more and more exotic?

We have Snowballs, Yetis, Voodoos, Fat Heads, microphones with holes, pear-shaped mics, flat ones, round ones…

To accommodate all these weird shapes, sizes and different weights, each microphone now seems to come with its own, custom-designed shock mount.

What amazes me is this. The most inexpensive mics often ship with a cat’s cradle suspension system, whereas some of the big boys demand top-dollar for shock mounts that are sold separately. It’s as if you’re buying a high-end mountain bike that does not come with a proper seat. (more…)

The Holy Grail of voice over microphones: is it a mythological object or does it really exist?

If you spend any time on forums for fellow-gearheads, you know that the quest for the best VO-mic can take on Monty Python-esque proportions. People swear by certain brands, makes and models, based on their own (and often vague) criteria.

It is easy to forget that any microphone is part of a recording chain, and when you change one link in that chain, everything changes. Of course the source of the sound is very much part of that chain.

Very few armchair reviewers actually ask the question: What would make a microphone specifically suitable for voice-over work?

Before the home studio revolution, the answer would have been different. Talent would go into a certified soundproof recording studio and use one of the German workhorses on hand.

Nowadays, lots of VO’s hide in walk-in closets, cover themselves in movers’ blankets or buy a prefab foam-filled box from a boothtique. In other words: the ideal voice-over microphone has to handle less than ideal recording environments.

This is what I am looking and listening for in a VO-mic:

• minimal voice coloration
• tight pick-up pattern (cardioid or supercardioid)
• excellent rear rejection
• controlled proximity effect (bass boost)
• low susceptibility to sibilance (shrill “S”-sounds) and popping
• low self-noise
• high-pass filter to cut out lower frequencies
• rugged design, ready for the road

With this in mind, I had been shopping around for a new voice-over mic when a small miracle happened. (more…)

The tone from the NAMM exhibit hall floor was that the Pro Audio industry is enjoying a growing presence within NAMM.

The industry press during NAMM claimed that the Pro Audio vendors were out in force, in greater numbers than ever before. If the number of new product announcements is any indication, I’m inclined to believe these claims. Below we have news of 21 new microphones from NAMM, plus a new shockmount from none other than David Royer. (more…)

In this 3rd and final installment of our Best $200 Condenser feature, we hear nine different mics above a drum kit. Included as a neutral reference is a vintage AKG C 460 B small-diaphragm mic, modded by Audio Upgrades; this is a mic that really impressed me in the recent Prairie Sun Drum Overhead Shootout. (more…)

In mid-December I was fortunate to receive a package from Pearl Microphone Laboratory via their US distributor, Independent Audio. Inside? A pair of Pearl ELM-Cs! While a pair of large diaphragm condenser microphones arriving at my door is always exciting, their delivery was especially timely because not a week later, I had scheduled a major on-location orchestral recording, and the ELM-Cs were an ideal choice for my central pair. (more…)