Four Tube Condenser Microphones

Ever recorded a whole mix with bright condenser microphones? —and then battling treble and transients, and trying to “warm up” sounds for a week afterwards? You’re not alone!

The modern solid-state condenser’s older sibling—the tube condenser—is often associated with a smoother treble and more mid-range warmth. The number one benchmark for tube condensers have for years been the original Neumann U 47 Tube. When used up front in the mix on, lets say vocals; it tends to create a warm and pleasant nearness of the voice. When used further back in the mix on drums or layered textures it creates a less intrusive sound that fits better into the background of the mix.

In this post I’ll have a look at four tube condensers with contrasting sound. None of them will break the bank—at least not compared to a vintage Neumann!

AKG Perception 820

AKG Perception 820

€ 545 currently at thomann.de, which is below originally intended marked price.

 

A few years back AKG released the Perception series to provide a low-cost alternative to some of their pricier models. With AKG’s high build-quality and this microphone’s sensible price it has the chance to be a modern classic in the lower price-range. Sound on Sound’s Paul White compared it to a Røde K2, but with a “more assertivepresence lift.” The microphone comes complete with a shockmount and a powersupply with selectable polar patterns and switches. This would be a great all-rounder especially for vocals, acoustic guitars and percussion. If you are considering buying one of these there are some interesting media you can check out. The first one is Sound on Sound’s audio-files where you can compare the same sources recorded with both the Perception 820 and the classic AKG C12VR. The other one is the attached promo video for the Perception range. You can hear the sources in isolation and the finished track is out on iTunes together withthe rest of the album.

the t.bone SCT 2000

 

€ 279 or approx. £ 234,00 -conversion rate at the time of writing.

A brand-name that makes you think of American food? ‘the t.bone’ is German online retailer Thomann’s own range of products. This microphone also comes with a shockmount and power supply, plus a wooden box to keep it in, and a suitcase for the whole set. Ingo Vauk wrotein a review in Sound on Sound that the SCT 2000 had a clear and transparent top end and a soft mid-range “— a useful set of attributes when it came to recording a male vocal that was a little edgy in high mid-range. The sound I originally captured with a Neumann KM84 was nice enough, but needed some mid-range taken out with the EQ. When I replaced it for the SCT2000 I got the sound without the EQ, giving a more natural result.” He also mentions how double-tracking and stacking up textures worked well with this microphone.

I think we’re on the track of a poor boys’ U 47 Tube substitute here. If the characteristics Ingo Vauk describes holds true for drums it would be a very exciting microphone to use for overheads.

Pearlman TM 1

 

$ 1600 at vintageking.com

If a U 47 is what you are looking for, this is currently one of the best value-for-money options you have. The Pearlman TM1 is designed and hand-made by Dave Pearlman. Like the microphones mentioned above this one also ships with shockmount, case, power supply and all you need to get started. If you are just starting up your own home-studio, this mic probably still costs a nice little sum of money. But if the classic U 47 sound is what you are looking for, this is really the price-point where the action gets started. Here is a little more information from Tape Op Magazine and here is an interview with Dave Pearlman about the microphone.

Cathedral Pipes Regensburg Dom

$ 1800 at www.cathedralpipes.com

The New Kid on the Block! This blog post was originally going to be limited to three microphones, but I just couldn’t leave this one out! If you forgive me for getting off topic for a moment, this is probably one of the funkiest looking microphones on the marked right now.

Cathedral Pipes is quite a new brand but definitely one to be reckoned with. It is the brainchild of musician and electrical engineer Chuck Dickinson who design and manufacture these microphones in the US. The Regensburg Dom is similarly priced to the Pearlman TM 1 and is a more modern (brighter and more bite) interpretation of the classics U 47 and U 67. The Regensburg Dom also ships with shock mount, power supply, cable and case. If you are considering buying one, Cathedral Pipes have put some vocal samples on their webpage along with some impressive endorsements. In fact, if you are into classic condenser and ribbon microphones, Cathedral Pipes is a manufacturer well worth a closer look!

Here is what Tape Op Magazine wrote about the Regensburg Dom and here is an interview with Chuck Dickinson explaining the microphone range.

Epilogue

The AKG combines a classic tube-sound with a more modern presence boost. The t.bone is as classic tube sound as you’ll get on a low budget. The Peralman is a modern version of the well-proven U 47 formula at a very attractive price. Finally, the Cathedral Pipes is a mix of two historic microphones and will give you classic valve sound with modern style presence.

 

Pre-amps

When the SE Electronics 2200 Tube came out some years ago I had the chance to do a speech test through a Focusrite ISA One on it shortly after. I knew how everyone were raving on about the solid-state version of that microphone, but I never managed to fall for it. There was nothing wrong with it and I usually recorded through a Toft Audio ATB console which I quite liked, but there was never any love at first sight for me. The tube-version through the Focusrite however was a totally different story—I got the creamy Neve-ness combined with the mid-range warmth of the tube microphone. That combination was love at first sight!

If you are a project-studio owner and you have a few decent microphones but are lacking creaminess or warmth, maybe a really nice pre-amp would get you just as far as a new microphone. A good pre-amp can also add some really nice life to D.I. recordings of bass and guitar. If I plan to use a software amp-simulator I always try to record with a little extra gain through valves. You don’t need the most expensive pre-amp for D.I. recordings, but it could turn out to be the factor that takes a digital recording from flat to lifelike. For a high-quality classic valve-sound the Universal Audio 610 Solo comes well within the maximum budget of the most pricy mics above, and so does the Focusrite Isa One if you rather want to go down the solid state Neve-route. Both manufacturers offer mono, stereo and multitrack options for these pre-amps.

Another way entirely for a smooth classic sound, which I won’t be covering here, is a high-quality ribbon microphone. I have shared some thoughts on this in an earlier blog post.

A great couple of resource if you are interested in the sound of Neumann/ Telefunken U 47 are www.u47clones.com and www.u47lovers.com.

Member of the original U47 clientele.

Original U47 Tube. (Photo Credits)

Three Hot Runway Mixtapes

I just put out three runway mixtapes on Mixcloud. They were made some time back for my good friend Andreas Constantinou who is a top of the range international hair stylist. Andreas runs Zoosh International in the UK and you can check it out on this link! Andreas choreographed some amazing shows to these tapes. It was all captured on camera by the equally amazing photographer Dave Sander.


Hope these get you dancing and jumping around!

Runway Mixtape 1 (For Stylist Andreas Constantiou) - by DJ Snowdrift by Snowdrift on Mixcloud

Runway Mixtape 2 (For Stylist Andreas Constantiou) - by DJ Snowdrift by Snowdrift on Mixcloud

Runway Mixtape 3 (For Stylist Andreas Constantiou) - by DJ Snowdrift by Snowdrift on Mixcloud

Building a Studio

Last year I was commissioned to build a small educational studio for a creative arts institute in Norway. Working in an established office building and on a Spartan budget you’ll have to stretch your imagination. In this post I’ll let you in on the process, my decision-making and show you some images.

The size of the over-all space is ideal for a project-studio, song-writing suite, radio, multi-media or education-studio.

In the building where we set up the facility there were two rectangular offices available side by side. One of the ideas the building’s owner had was to use them as a live room and a control room. The idea was good enough but the long rectangular rooms would not have provided nice acoustics. Instead I chose to knock down the wall and opened up the space for two reasons: (1) to get more space around our ears when mixing, (2) and to easier accommodate a whole class for bigger projects. The separate entrance doors from the hallway to the offices proved to be sound-doors with -35 dB SPL even damping. We kept them and thus had separate entrances to the live and control rooms, but having to go through the hall outside.

After knocking down the wall we built a small live room for vocal-recording, acoustic guitars and the likes. It was constructed to be big enough to stand inside with a long scale bass guitar and still have some space between the walls. We were also looking at the idea of bringing in a vocal booth on wheels, but we didn’t have enough clearing under the roof. Another idea was to dampen down a corner of the room and use a screen around the microphones, but this obviously wouldn’t have been as effective as a separate room—albeit, it could be a good idea for a small project studio.

In the roof above the doors we had an incredibly noisy ventilation channel. To cope with the ventilation we created a small air-gap, used a thick layer of Rockwool and two layers of plaster. It was very effective in containing the noise. Since we didn’t have the space or the budget to build a room-within-the-room we insulated all the walls and covered them with plaster. The plaster that covered most of the surfaces is a perforated type. The perforations with the insulation behind helps do dampen the sound (quite similar to a Helmholtz resonator) while the plaster it self creates some reflections. This is exactly what I wanted as the room gets a nice natural sound with hardly any echoes or notable reverberation, but it doesn’t sound totally dry either. The perforated plasterboard is more costly than regular plasterboard and it had to be ordered from Denmark. But the extra cost was about the same as the extra soundproofing would have been if we were to build the walls from regular plasterboard. The sidewalls in the main studio were set up conically prevent any standing waves. They were closer together at the front than at the back, but visually it could hardly be seen. With clever design and really skilled carpenters (cred to them!) we ended up having very few parallel surfaces in the entire facility. The floors were covered with carpet tiles (on top of the existing concrete) and at the front of the studio I chose a wood floor, both to throw in some acoustic irregularity and for easier use of office chairs. Additional damping-foam was fitted only where our ears told us we needed it, which turned out to be an impressively modest sum total of 5 bass traps in the live room. The live-room walls were covered with 40 mm. tiles for suspended ceilings. We glued these on and they were acoustically very effective (and affordable). They dampen reflections but not fully as much as regular sound foam.

The doors in the original offices damped sound relatively flat at -35dB SPL. Our carpenters did three things to improve them. (1) They tightened up the locks, (2) they put in new draft-excluders and (3) they covered the inside of the door with 40 mm. tiles for suspended ceilings. The latter dampens the reflections back into the room from the door, but it did in fact help a little on the overall exclusion of sound from the hallway as well. 

In front of the workstation there were two large windows. It is off course a nice thing to get proper sunlight into the space, but I was sceptic to the prospect of having large studio monitors that close to the windows. My concern was mostly that the glass could start resonating at the low frequencies and give a false impression of bass levels in a mix. Subsequently I spent a lot of consideration whether to get monitors with front or rear bass-ports. Initially I wanted them at the front to avoid the windows, but after several rounds of good research and consultancy from the speaker distributor we ended up with a pair of speakers with rear bass-ports. The distributors monitor expert meant that since bass frequencies are not really directional, front or rear ports wouldn’t make a difference. As much as I generally agree on this I have experienced that bass ports can create “wind” quite far from the speaker cabinet at loud volumes. However, round bass ports create a sphere of air-pressure while long flat bass ports and other odd shapes spread the air-pressure out better. Since we were looking at Eve Audio’s SC 207 (flat rear ports) I was convinced enough to give it a try. Either way, the distributor said I could return the speakers if I wasn’t happy, a great offer that sealed the deal. After mounting and tuning the speakers I was more than happy with the outcome. The big windows turned out not to be a problem at all. (I have written more about the SC 207 and other Eve speakers at two other posts.)

The workstation

A normal configuration for a studio this size is often a live-end-dead-end design. In a live-end-dead-end studio it is common to have the lowest roof height and most damping at the same end of the room as where the speakers are. The studio I designed is the opposite of this for several reasons. For one I wanted the work-position to be close to the windows to get the natural lighting to flow through and we had already lowered the roof at the other end of the room due to the ventilation channel. The other reason is that I like to have some space around my ears when I mix and at the front of the room (read: where the speakers are) was really the only place left where we could have it. Due to this it was important to avoid any sharp angles at the back of the room. Where there was a difference in roof height we made a slope between the surfaces instead of a 90-degree angle (see picture below). Still, in the perforated plasterboard with Rockwool behind this didn’t really provide any undesired reflections. This way we kept the acoustics of the space very natural. The ‘strawberry on top of the cake’ was a big sofa behind the workstation. The world’s most used bass-trap! ;)
 

Odd angles and perforated plaster board.

The window to the vocal booth consists of one 6mm and one 8mm glass plate set at apart at an angle. Two different thicknesses makes it more sound-proof. The same principle goes with double walls.

If you want artists to thrive in a studio-environment you have to think about the look and feel of the space. Gear won’t be enough to make musicians feel at home. Light became a huge consideration, especially as this studio also were to double as a classroom. We had three light-sources: two big windows, two large low profile lamps in the roof above the workstation (approx. 50*50 cm.) and LED downlights at the back of the room and in the live room. For the electricians that worked on the project I had four requirements for any lights installed: (1) Lamps would have to have no acoustic noise from transformers or similar (transformers were to be placed outside the room if there were any); (2) lamps, transformers or dimmers would have to make no electronic interference (we skipped dimmers all together); (3) lamps would have to be tightly closed so no rattling noises would occur at loud bass-volumes; and (4) lamps in the tiny live-room would have to be LEDs to not fry our singers.

The entrance. The door is treated with additional 40 mm tiles for suspended ceilings. Since the shadow from the sunlight fall into the entrance space we chose to liven it up with some colour. Initially we intended photo-canvases depicting the tropics on the walls and the blue against the oak details would echo the sea and sky against sand, wood and ropework—in case you're into interior design :)

Around the workstation I had several electric circuits installed. Two of these consisted of a series of sockets with individual switches. This way the speakers could be shut down separately from other equipment. This is useful to avoid damaging speakers but it is also a pedagogical measure to teach students to avoid sending unwanted transients to the speakers. Having all the equipment powered through two switched circuits also makes it quick and easy to power up and down the studio.

Switched and separate circuits makes it easy to power up and down the studio.

Interior of the vocal booth.

Inventory list

Work Station:
iMac w extra screen
Cubase & Native Instruments Komplete
Novation Impulse 25

Steinberg MR816

(Since we built this studio the UR824 has arrived on the marked along with similar USB models for Focusrite et al.)

PreSonus Blue Tube DP V2 (set up with one channel for mic- and one for line-recording)

PreSonus Central Station PLUS
SM Pro Audio Q-Amp Headphones Amplifier

CGM Table

Monitoring:
Eve Audio SC 207
Sony Sms-1p (To provide a home stereo contrast to the SC 207s)
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro

Instruments:

M-Audio ProKeys 88
Fender Mexican Stratocaster
Yamaha BB425X
Seagull Acoustic Guitar

A selection of microphones from AKG, Røde and Shure—covering large and small membrane condensers and dynamic microphones.

Shouts

ProLyd in Norway has been my supplier of equipment throughout the building process (which also included another studio and a class-room). I’d like to send a big shout to Cristhopher Briggs and the staff there for excellent help and advice.

I’d also like to send a shout to the guys at the contractor Primahus who actually had built a recording studio before (what are the chances!), and a shout to Rosenborg Malerteam who provided paint, flooring, colour samples and really good assistance with the look of the room. Both of these contractors went above and beyond!

A shout also goes to Audun Røstad at Ambolt Audio for letting me bounce my acoustic design ideas off of him.

Sparkling wine (non-alcoholic) for the students and staff at the official opening.