The original Telefunken ELA M 251 tube-powered condenser mics were made for Telefunken by AKG in the early '60s – when Neumann had pulled their U 47 distribution from Telefunken – and were...
I try a different vocal microphone on just about every record I make. Some are technically great, but too sterile for my taste. Others – particularly tube large diaphragm condenser (LDC) mics...
If you’re reading Tape Op reviews and love recording with ribbon and dynamic mics as much as I do, then you’re probably already familiar with Cloudlifters. Also known as “mic...
Late last year, I received an awesome email from Takeo Yamamoto, who had stumbled across Tape Op #4 when he was living in NYC ages ago. He now owns the pro audio sales/distributor and development...
In 2019, I reviewed the Townsend Labs L22 Sphere mic [Tape Op #133] and raved about its versatility and innovation. Universal Audio acquired Townsend Labs in 2021 and has rebadged the L22 as the...
Lauten Audio recently released a revision to their LA-320 [Tape Op #117] tube microphone. I’m a big Lauten fan and own several of their mics, including the original LA-320 and the Clarion...
Ah, the AKG 414. There are so many iterations of this mic. Every studio worth its salt has at least one, and if they’re on their game, they own several. We see them often used as drum overheads,...
This is going to be shorter than my usual overly wordy review – not because the product doesn’t warrant the page space, but because the message is fairly simple. So, let me give the...
Avantone began making microphones close to 20 years ago, and has recently updated their BV-1 large-diaphragm tube condenser microphone to the BV-1 mkII. First off, this upgrade comes as a significant...
Clones of classic vintage tube microphones have become a common occurrence in pro audio. As a result, I have had the opportunity to hear and compare many different reproductions of famous mic designs...
Denmark’s DPA Microphones have a decades-long history of manufacturing precision, accurate condenser microphones. My first DPA encounter was in Denmark, recording Copenhagen’s excellent...
Introduced in the mid-1960s, the Neumann U 87 was a gift to engineers and producers because a separate power supply was no longer needed due to its tube-replacing FET (field effect transistor)...
