Microphones and Recording at NAMM
January 2012. Anaheim, CA – a major component of the NAMM show was the expansion of home and personal studio recording and playback technology. The prevalence os distributed computing (in smart phones, tablets, laptops and embedded in devices) has now brought the location of these recording devices from the dedicated studio to the home, local stage, and general outdoor environments for music. This has required a change, both in the recording equipment and the microphones that are used.
On the portable device side Alesis introduced the iO4 – a 4 channel device interface to USB2. The unit features a small form factor for a 4 channel input (XLR or 1/4″ mic with phantom power, guitar or line-in), input line level control , MIDI input/output, with 24 bit (48KHz) A/D & D/A converters. The unit features an external power supply connection and a monitor output capability in addition to the two 1/4″ jack main audio outputs and the USB data.
There were a number of new microphones shown at the show. At it is a studio centric audience (pro and home recording) the diversity of microphones was quite large, and most companies had expansive displays. We had the opporunity to talk about several of the offerings from Blue, Senheiser and MXL.
Blue introduced their first USB / iPad Mic – the Spark Digital. This is higher end microphone that is based on the Spark XLR studio microphone It has a high fidelity condenser capsule with a medium diaphragm that can be used for vocals, drums, pianos and instruments. The unit features a unique digital control called the Focus Control which provids two different sonic options with a single button interface in one product. The unit includes an adjustable desk stand and built-in shockmount. It also includes y-cables for each platform with a headphone jack for zero-latency real-time monitoring. The Spark Digital will be available in 2012 with an MSRP of $199.
Blue was also showing their Bottle Rocket, Bottle Rocket Stage Two and Bottle Rocket Stage One interchangeable capsule studio microphones. These tube microphones feature the ability to have and configure, with a preamp, one microphone body in a studio, and be able to change the characteristics of the sound. The interchangeable capsules called “Bottle Caps” are Blue’s innovative system of nine pickup heads, each offering a different tonal characteristic and pickup pattern. They range from targeting airy highs to deep lows, and allow the system to capture anything from vocals to bass, wind instruments to horns — and everything in between with a level of detail and clarity typically found only in expensive and rare vintage mics.
Senheiser introduced thier new XS Wireless microphone system. This cost effective professional level solution is available a a vocal, instrument, headset and presentation mode configurations. The system featuring a sub $500 MSRP, with true diversity reception. The system has 960 available frequencies tunable in 25khz steps on a 24MHz switching band. The center frequencies are switchable between the 548-572Mhz band and the 614-638MHz band. The unit has a bodypack transmitter, a selection of multiple mics, an EM10 receiver and provides 10 hrs of operation on 2 AA batteries over a 250ft transmission range. The unit has a standard balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4″ outputs. These capabilities and frequencies are new to the price point.
MXL was once again showing thier full range of mics from USB recording through high end studio. One of their new studio series mics is now available as a full kit. The V67 series is easily identified by thier green body color and offer a full line of stuido mics – a stereo condenser, a dual diaphragm condenser, a large diaphragm condenser mic, a large capsule condenser mic and a small diaphragm instrument mic. The V67GS is a large diaphragm mic targeted for vocal and string instruments. The mic combines Class-A FET circuitry with a transformer coupled output for an open sound with an omnidirection pattern. The V67GS has a high-pass roll-off switch for an additional -6 dB pad for versatility in application.
MXL V67 Recording Kit
A companion mic is the instrument targeted small diaphragm V67N condenser mic that is a cardioid patterned pickup that is targeted for bright instruments such as acoustic guitars with interchangeable capsules allowing for recording of pianos, drums, and choirs. It has a ver clear tone and flat response curve that makes it a very good mic for recording the band behind the lead vocalist. These mics are bunded in a kit with the shock mounts for easy recording use. The kit has a single V67GS and two V67Ns with the replacement capsules and the shock mounts all in a padded case. The kit is available now for MSRP of $449.
