12 Gauge Microphones

Brad makes two models, the Red12 omnidirectional condenser, and Green12 cardioid condenser. The mics don’t just look like shotgun shells, actual Winchester (red) and Remington (green) shells are used for the body, they’re the perfect size to house an XLR-M jack. Both mics use 10mm electret capsules and require 48V phantom power, though 9 or 12V would probably work also. To create the cardioid pattern, the Green12 has a 6mm cutout on each side below the capsule. The jack is glued in so unfortunately I couldn’t peek inside to see the other components.

Connecting these to a cable is a tight fit but easy enough. Finding a clip to attach them to a mic stand was a little more difficult. The mics don’t come with clips and these  are super skinny with a diameter of just 19mm. I hate having to use duct tape but that was about all that worked when I first got these. Standard spring clips should also work if you’ve got some.

Green12s in Shure A75M mounts

How do they sound?
These don’t sound like most small diaphragm condensers, they don’t have extended highs or super fast transient response. These have lots of mids, like comparing Genelecs to NS-10s. Maybe that’s what you need, maybe not. They have a fairly strong output level and moderate self-noise.

Here are some examples of the mics in a spaced overhead technique on acoustic guitar.
First up is the Green12 Cardioid condensers.

Now here is the Red12 Omnidirectional condensers.

I don’t have any great small diaphragm true condensers but I have two other electret mics, the Audio-Technica AT2021, and the Karma Audio K-Micro.
To compare these, I set up some test files to play out of a monitor with each mic 12 inches away, midway between the tweeter and woofer. The mics were at the same distance and were going through the same preamp with the same amount of gain.
Here is the test file.

Here is the One of the Green12 cardioid mics pointed at a Yamaha HS50 monitor. Please note, the hum you hear is not the mics but my neighbour’s dishwasher that started up right when I started recording these examples. (yes I know this is a stupid excuse)

Here is the Red12 omni condenser

Up next is the Audio-Technica AT2021 cardioid condenser

And lastly the Karma Audio K-Micro omni condenser

Each of these mics sound very different. The K-Micro had the most output level, about 2.5 dB hotter than the Red12 and pretty close to the Green12, but almost 10dB hotter than the AT2021.
The differences in level between each model in the 12 gauge stereo pairs was about 1/10th of a decibel, although there was a slightly brighter mic in each pair.

Tonally, the Red12 sound the best to me, the others seem to have a shrill high frequency ringing, each at different frequencies. The Green12 has a more pronounced mid frequency and low frequency rolloff.

Obviously if you don’t like DIY gear, you’re not going to like the look of these. All the people I’ve shown these to thought they were really cool. They make a good useful gift for musicians and engineers.

For $35 each the Red12 work pretty nicely on acoustic guitar, and would probably be great for dirty room mics. The Green12 for $50 has a more contoured frequency response that I didn’t prefer for acoustic guitars, especially one that already has a lot of midrange. I could see it working well under a snare, or as an extra mic on electric guitar to get an aggressive tone.

Are these my favorite mics in the world? Definitely not. Would I recommend them? Yes. They work well, they’re hand built and met my expectations for the price point.

Buy 12 gauge microphones at www.12gaugemicrophones.com

Electric guitar has had all the glory for too long when it come to microphone shootouts. Well, when it comes to just about anything, but that is beside the point. A conversation with a listener of The Home Recording Show about what microphone to put in front of a bass cabinet got me thinking more than a normal human should think about the subject. My stock answer has always been to use a large diaphragm dynamic moving coil microphone. This would be your standard Shure SM7b, EV RE20, Sennheiser 421, Heil PR40, et cetera. Now the reasonable doubt to this approach started to creep into my head.

I decided to test my usual choices and conventional wisdom to see what actually happens when you try different types of microphone designs, polar patterns, and distances from the source.  It was once again time for me to slip into my studio lab coat and get down to some serious business (as I have convinced my wife). I would have liked to use every microphone that I have available to me in the studio, but I knew that would do none of us any good.  What I ended up doing was taking one microphone to represent each of the different varieties.

And the nominees are:

Small diaphragm cardioid moving coil dynamic – Shure SM57 -[more info via Recording Hacks]
Small diaphragm omnidirectional moving coil dynamic – ElectroVoice 635a [more info]
Large diaphragm cardioid moving coil dynamic – Shure SM7b [more info]
Figure of 8 ribbon dynamic – Apex 210 (w/ Lundahl transformer) [more info]
Large diaphragm cardioid condenser – Audio Technica 4040 [more info]

The tests that were conducted were as follows:
The Shure SM57 and the EV 635a at 1 inch to show proximity effect
All microphones at a distance of 8 inches to show standard placement
All microphones at 4 feet to show room ambience pickup

All were tracked on axis.  The SM7b had the presence circuit engaged and the bass was set to flat.  The Audio Technica had the -10 dB pad engaged and bass was flat.  Preamp gain was fairly similar among the microphones until I got to the AT 4040.  It needed far less gain even with the pad engaged.

The equipment used was as follows: my customized Fender jazz bass, direct to a Golden Age Pre-73, to the SSL Alphalink, to Pro Tools, reamped via a Radial RMP Pro, to a vintage Ampeg V4 amplifier, and finally to an Ampeg SVT 8×10 cabinet.

Bass Guitar Mic Shootout by theaudiogeek2

Are these microphones a great example of what all the other microphones in their class would sound like?  No, not really.  What would be?!  The most important thing to take away from this experiment is the differences from one type of microphone to another.  This is not about which one sounds best as much as it is what sound would be best for which particular application.

On the heels of a giant ribbon microphone shootout, I am much more likely (at least in the short term) to put up a ribbon mic in the mix just to see what happens.  I think that in this shootout, it was the surprise stand out.  I think that I would likely use it as a solid number 2 choice.  Still my favorite was the Shure SM7b for most applications.  The Shure SM57 may be a surprise to many that it did as well as it did in this application.  A simple moving coil dynamic microphone should never be underestimated.  They just work!  Enough said!

Now, just maybe, if this idea has crawled inside your brain and laid eggs you may be more willing to take a second listen to some microphone choices you may not have previously reached for in a particular application.  If anyone out there tries something different because you are now thinking about it, please let us know what you did differently and how it turned out.

You can put ANY MIC in front of ANY SOURCE, it may or may not sound how you want.

How to mic anything:
Step 1 – Put a transducer where the good sound comes out.
Step 2 – Listen. If the result is worse than real life then it’s the wrong mic. If it sounds good, start recording.
Step 3 – Repeat until you find the right mic or run out of options.

Once you start using multiple mics (non-stereo) it gets a tiny bit more complicated but the rule of thumb I go by for placing a single mic.

Here are some other epic microphone failures.

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The Shure SM57 is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) microphones in the world. Virtually everybody that has heard a recording since 1965 has heard the sound of an SM57; on snare drums, on guitar cabinets, and on the Presidential Podium (that recording of Nixon saying “I am not crook.” was recorded by the SM57). So how did this cheap little microphone become so prolific? Let’s take a look at where it came from:

Before 1965, Shure had already made quite a name for itself in the audio industry. It was the most popular maker of cartridges for record players and had found microphone success in everything from securing the contract though making throat microphones for the US Air Force (allowing pilots to speak to each other over the roar of engines) to miking the man who brought rock and roll to mainstream America: Mr Elvis Presley.

The microphone that was often connected to Elvis was the Shure Model 55. This mic garnered acclaim because of it’s awesome-stupendous art-deco styling, its affordability  (ribbons were the predominant microphone type at the time), and its excellent sounding capsule: the Unidyne (developed by Ben Bauer in 1939). Engineers at Shure continued to develop their successful Unidyne capsule to make it better and better as time went by. Eventually a grumpy/ingenious engineer named Ernie Seeler developed the Unidyne III capsule, the very one used in the modern SM57 today. This capsule first found itself in the Shure Model 545, a microphone that looked veeeeeery similar to the SM57.

The Model 545 was pretty successful because of its great sound and its ground-breaking end-address capsule. Prior to the 545, microphones were more prone to feedback and less accommodating to close-miking because the capsule didn’t get right up against the sound source. This allowed more ambient noise to enter the recording. The 545 found itself in a lot of US studios, again because of it’s low price and superior rejection.  The Model 545 was most notably used on Brian Wilson’s voice on a little album called Pet Sounds to track his voice separately while recording vocals shoulder-to-shoulder with the Beach Boys.

Meanwhile, back at Shure Brothers Incorporated, the crazy engineers kept trying to improve upon the 545. Television was becoming a big thing, so they decided they would build a mic for this demographic.

They already had an excellent capsule, but they needed a microphone casing that would withstand the rigors of TV studios. So they did what any 11-year-old child would do and tried out their designs by cooking them, dropping them, and immersing them in salt water. Once they had a superhero microphone that survived the tests, they gave its body (same as 545) a non-reflective coating for the cameras, and removed the on-and-off switch (you don’t want pesky talent accidentally turning off their mics). In 1965, when the uncreative naming people at Shure affixed an SM to the model name to indicate that it was a studio microphone, they were referring to TV studios.

Eventually word of this microphone’s infamous durability traveled into the burgeoning live sound industry, and techs starting bring along these trusty little mics. Studio engineers loved them too, not only because they sounded good, but also because they had extremely high SPL ratings. This meant that  they could use these mics to get the sound that was becoming increasingly popular: close miking.

There you have it: the indisputable history of the Shure SM57. Tell your friends.

The Shure SM57; the classiest thing in this photograph.

Sources:

Shure Incorporated Official Website
Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Beatles – Geoff Emerick
Wouldn’t It Be Nice: Brian Wilson and the Making of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds – Charles L Granata

This is a listening test. I used 4 commercial pop filters, and Terry’s foam method. This is a blind listening test for the first number of days. All you need to know is that the first sample of my terrible singing is me, a Manley Gold, a Vac Rac pre, and no filter. The file is 44.1/16 aiff.

The filters used were the Pauly, the Pete’s Place, the Steadman (round one) and the Popper Stopper.

Download Filter Test

Answers

ɹǝʌoɔ ɯɐoɟ (9#
ʎןnɐd ǝɥʇ (5#
ǝɔɐןd s,ǝʇǝd (4#
ɹǝddoʇs ɹǝddod (3#
uɐɯpɐǝʇs (2#
ɹǝʇןıɟ ou (1#

I for one will not stop using a pop filter (I have far better things to do than edit out pops from vocals) but I’m more aware than ever that this choice affects the sound in a negative way.

What do you guys like for pop filters?

What’s in common with the common boom mic stand made by countless brands? They all use rubber in the boom arm adjustment. The rubber dries out, slips or just doesn’t grip well enough.

Ya know what kind of stands don’t ever sag? Cymbal stands. Why? Because of the metal teeth that lock together. Mic stands should use this type of adjustment! But they don’t! Perhaps they do in very expensive designs, but the majority of stand designs use the stupid rubber junk that just does. not. work.

What the world needs is a revolution in affordable mic stand design. Metal Teeth!!

Does anyone have recommendations for great, affordable, and well designed stands? Please let me know.

PS. I honestly spent close to an hour looking for pictures for this post. I can not find a picture of the inside teeth of a cymbal tilt.

You may wonder why there are so many M-Audio mics in this shoot out.  Well that’s because they make good mics for the price, we had a variety on hand, and it seems like these mics don’t get a lot of attention.

The mics:

• M-Audio Nova
• Audio Technica AT2035
• M-Audio Solaris
• M-Audio Sputnik
• AKG C 414 B-XL II
• Audio-Technica AT4060

The source was Kate singing the first line of ’9 Crimes’ by Damien Rice. Each recording is a separate take, though she is very consistent. No processing has been done. Drop all the files into your DAW, keep the piano track active if you like. Scroll down to the bottom to get the files. The order of the files has been changed so you’ll need to guess which is which.

Leave a comment with which mic sounds like the best fit for her voice and I’ll email you the answers.

Other things to think about:

Which mic sounds like it’s the cheapest?
Which mic sounds the most expensive?
Which 2 mics are the tube mics?

M-Audio Nova $119

• affordable large capsule cardioid condenser
• 1.1” evaporated gold diaphragm
• solid brass capsule
• Class A solid state electronics
• 20Hz-18kHz frequency response
• includes hard mount, cable  and soft case

Audio-Technica AT2035 $235

• Large diaphragm for smooth, natural sound and low noise
• High SPL handling and wide dynamic range provide unmatched versatility
• Custom shock mount provides superior isolation
• Switchable 80 Hz high-pass filter and 10 dB pad
• Cardioid polar pattern reduces pickup of sounds from the sides and rear, improving isolation of desired sound source
• Includes custom shock mount and protective pouch

M-Audio Solaris $399

• affordable large diaphragm cardioid condenser
• 1.1” solid brass capsule w/ evaporated gold diaphragm
• Class A solid state electronics
• all Solaris microphones exhibit no more than +/- 1dB variation from each other
• cardioid, omni and figure-8 polar patterns

M-Audio Sputnik $899

• vintage tube design
• 3-micron evaporated gold Mylar diaphragm
• low-current 6205M dual triode tube
• cardioid, figure-8, and omni polar patterns
• -10dB (attenuation) pad
• 80Hz high-pass filter
• solid brass body with polished nickel finish
• dedicated power supply with included 7-pin cable
• professional shockmount
• soft cloth bag
• custom flight case

AKG C 414 BXL-II $1299

• High sensitivity and extremely low self noise
• Five switchable polar patterns for placement and application flexibility
• Two-color LEDs provide quick visual indication of selected polar pattern and output overload
• Elastic capsule suspension greatly minimizes structurally-transmitted noise from chassis vibration
• High sound pressure level capability and wide dynamic range
• Completely immune to electrostatic and electromagnetic interference from digital gear, computer monitors, etc. thanks to solid metal housing and transformerless output stage
• Three switchable bass cut filters and three pre-attenuation pads with LEDs for quick visual indication
• All switchable components operate in low impedance circuits for ultra-high reliability even in extremely humid conditions

Audio-Technica AT4060 $1905

• Vintage tube sound with the versatile performance necessary for the most demanding studio applications.
• Wide dynamic range, low self-noise and high max SPL capability.
• Carefully-controlled cardioid pattern maintains uniform off-axis response.
• Dual large-diaphragm elements for extended frequency response.
• Hand-selected tubes are aged and individually tested to ensure peak performance.

The sound files

Get the files here: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1053122/vocal%20mic%20shootout.rar

Leave a comment with your guesses and I’ll email you the answers.
Answers are now here

Pic found on GearSlutz