To most audio engineers, Manley Labs is best known for its rack gear. But Manley also makes mics. The Reference Cardioid and Reference Gold are hand-built tube mics suitable for critical recording...
Mics can make the ordinary extraordinary. Mics are the lenses through which we show the listener the picture of what and how we see the world. Along the years, there have been many different...
While Great Britain's legacy of recording gear manufacturing is rich, it's mostly been devoid of condenser microphones. Although many historic capacitor mics have roots in Germany or Austria, they've...
One of the last things I think about when hearing the term "broadcast mic" is actual broadcast application. I have never done a podcast or worked at a radio station. Broadcast mics are typically...
New ribbon mics are everywhere these days. They have always been part of every good studio's microphone locker, but in recent years, there have been several new ideas for what a ribbon mic can be....
The first ribbon microphone was co-invented by Walter H. Schottky and Erwin Gerlach in the 1920s, but the first "broadcast quality" ribbon mics were designed by Dr. Harry F. Olson for RCA. Prototypes...
The venerable AKG D12 is one of those mics I hear about a lot but don't see in person very often. I've borrowed a few from friends, and each one sounded very different. Plus, hilariously, each time I...
When RØDE asked Tape Op if we wanted to review the new NTR active ribbon mic, I briefly thought of doing the review myself. But I quickly decided that with nine ribbons already in my mic...
I received an email from Matt McGlynn of RecordingHacks.com, asking if I'd like to try the mic his new company was releasing. I am never going to say "No" to a new mic. A week or so later, a pair of...
One of the many things I love about owning a studio and making records is the bonding we do with our clients during the intense collaborations we call record-making. I've been extremely fortunate...
When I was in school at the University of Michigan, I did a lot of recital recording of ensembles and piano. Through this, I learned that all the orchestra recording was done with DPA mics (marketed...
The U 47 fet reissue from Neumann is a faithful recreation of the solid-state version of the U 47 manufactured from 1972 to 1986. It has a fixed cardioid polar pattern and employs a K 47 capsule and...
