Twenty years ago, Royer Labs unleashed the "now classic" Royer R–121 mic [Tape Op #19], and (along with AEA) helped point digital-weary engineers back towards the welcome old-school sound of...
Part of publishing Tape Op involves going to the NAMM show every January. It's nice to see our friends there, and there's always a lot of gear to look at, but honestly a lot of it is pretty much the...
If you read my previous review of the Cloudlifter Z Mic Activator [Tape Op #115], then you know I'm a big fan of the Cloudlifter series. The Cloudlifter Zi builds on the success of the CL-Z,...
As engineers and music producers, we have a special relationship with our microphones, as they are the lenses through which we hear the world. We desire a certain accurate sonic reproduction, but also...
3D audio was all the rage at the 2017 AES Show. The demand for immersive audio is being driven by the gaming and virtual reality markets. There are even 7-channel mics available now that look like...
Let me start off by saying that I love this mic! It is well-designed, with a number of standout features; and if you buy the stereo kit, it comes with everything you need to get rolling, including a...
Touted as "the world's first variable dual dynamic capsule microphone," this odd looking, half-cylindrical mic sports two phase-aligned dynamic mic elements, which are voiced differently, and a simple...
The boutique microphone landscape was very different 16 years ago, when I bought an original Soundelux Microphones U99 in 2001 — serial number 017. It was my first multipattern...
Audio-Technica has knocked it out of the park with this hypercardioid dynamic instrument mic. This is definitely my new go-to mic for toms and even kick drum. I tried out a three-pack of the ATM230 on...
In recent years, I’ve been tracking more bands “live” in the studio — sometimes with keeper vocals recorded at the same time as the instruments. And every now and then,...
Nearly all of the condenser microphones we know and love employ round capsules. Notable exceptions include rectangular-capsule Pearl and Milab mics (which, like the Ehrlund, are Swedish in origin),...
The Micparts S-25 is a side-address condenser mic available as a kit. All that’s required is solder, a soldering iron, and some basic hand tools. The JFET in the kit is even manually biased by...
You can talk about Neumanns and Sonys, but probably the number-one condenser mic in modern studios is the venerable AKG C 414. Every pro studio I know seems to have a pair for overheads and...
