Dec. 1, 2025
We Test the Aston Element Mic, Here’s What Happened
This week the team dives into one of the strangest mics we’ve ever had on the show.
A client of George’s sent through a full placement test of the Aston Element, the active moving-coil oddball with its own made-up technology name, the Rydion capsule. Aston claims it blends the bottom end of a dynamic, the clarity of a condenser, and the smoothness of a ribbon. Big call.
We compare it directly against a 416 and a TLM103, and the reactions in the room say everything.
Does it punch above its weight?
Is it just a quirky USB-era gimmick?
Does it actually compete with entry-level VO mics?
And most importantly, would any of us actually buy one?
We also wander into proximity effect, capsule placement inside shotgun mics, and George literally dismantles an NTG4 on air. Good fun.
If you’re a mic nerd or you love oddball gear, you’ll enjoy this one.
Brought to you by Tri-Booth and Austrian Audio.
Tri-Booth discount code: TRIPAP200 for 200 bucks off.
Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
Episode recorded and produced by The Pro Audio Suite.
Listen, explore, connect at proaudiosuite.com
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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
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Get started.
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Welcome.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hello everyone.
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To the Pro Audio Suite.
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These guys are professional.
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They're motivated.
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With Tech the VO Stars.
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George Witten.
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Founder of Source Elements.
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Robert Marshall.
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International Audio Engineer.
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Darren Robbo Robertson.
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And Global Voice.
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Andrew Peters.
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Thanks to Triboo.
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Austrian Audio.
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Making passion heard.
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Source Elements.
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George the Tech Witten.
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And Robbo and AP's international demos.
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To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
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.com.
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And welcome to Number Pro Audio Suite.
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Thanks to Triboo.
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Don't forget the code.
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T-R-I-P-A-P 200.
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To get $200 off your Triboo.
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And Austrian Audio.
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Making passion heard.
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And on the subject of microphones.
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We're discussing one today.
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But a very bizarre one.
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Based on a file.
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That George has.
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From one of his clients.
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What's the story George?
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Are we going to listen to it now
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or later?
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I reckon later.
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Well let's set it up first.
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Yeah, set it up first.
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So people know what they're listening to.
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Because it is a little bit confusing.
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Because I listened to it and went.
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Why isn't such and such on there?
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And you went.
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Well actually it is.
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So maybe we should set that up.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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Well okay.
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So the whole back story here is.
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You know.
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How many microphones do we own between us.
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That we've heard over the years.
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It just never ends.
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Microphones are interesting to us.
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They're fun.
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And there are some innovative designs out there.
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So one company.
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Small company.
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That has gotten absorbed by a bigger company.
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Called Aston.
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A-S-T-O-N.
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They created a mic called the Element.
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A couple years.
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Maybe four years ago it was released.
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And it's unique trait.
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The manufacturer calls a Rydion capsule.
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Or Rydion.
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Trademarked.
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R-I-D-Y-O-N capsule.
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Which is an active moving coil design.
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Intended to combine the low end punch.
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And off axis rejection of a dynamic mic.
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With the sensitivity and clarity of a condenser
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mic.
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And the smoothness of a ribbon mic.
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Smooth.
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Yes.
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Smooth.
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So it's a side address cardioid mic.
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So it's relatively like a normal mic.
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It's industrial design is rather a acquired taste.
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It looks weird.
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I'm sorry.
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I don't think everybody will look at it
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and take it very seriously.
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It looks like my razor.
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Yeah, it does look like a classic old
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school razor.
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Not that I use it anymore.
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Yeah, and it's an unusual design.
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But whatever.
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What's it sound like?
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I remember this mic came up.
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And then I was like, you know what?
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I think I've heard this mic before.
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And so I typed in Gmail.
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Typed in Aston Element.
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Sure enough, one of my clients has one
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of these mics.
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And so I dug into my files, found
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these samples.
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And this particular client of mine, she did
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a very thorough test of the mic's placement.
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Where she moved it and probably provided to
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me 15 to 20 different placement samples.
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Very scientific.
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Here's the mic.
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Yeah, 9 inches away.
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Here's the mic, 12 inches away.
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Here it is, 2 inches to the right.
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It's on the left side.
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I'm in the mood to move myself to
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the left 3 feet.
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Absolutely.
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George, you know that reference?
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Yeah, I do.
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And so you'll get to hear that.
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And you'll get to hear her just recording
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on two other extremely common microphones.
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So you can really kind of hear how
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it sounds.
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You know, because everything is context, right?
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If you heard this mic completely in a
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vacuum, you wouldn't maybe think that much of
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it.
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Like, oh, it's got a pretty nice sound.
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Other than the inside of a vacuum sounds
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kind of funny.
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Yeah, yeah.
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That sucks.
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Robert's on vacation, by the way, and he's
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probably imbibing, I would guarantee, especially this time
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of night.
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But when you hear it in comparison to
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the other two, you really go, what?
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So, take a listen.
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This is a test with the Sennheiser 416.
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This is a test with the Sennheiser 416.
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Is that all you need?
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Sample 2.
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Testing Neumann 103, 7 inches away.
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Introduction.
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Welcome to our step-by-step guide on
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installing recessed lighting.
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The mic is now facing me 12 inches
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away.
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The mic is now facing me 8 inches
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away.
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The mic is now facing me 6 inches
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away.
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The mic is now facing me at 4
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inches.
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The mic is now facing me at 3
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inches.
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The mic is to the left, pointed at
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my mouth, 8 inches away.
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The mic is to the left, pointed at
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my mouth, 6 inches away.
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The mic is to my left, pointed at
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my mouth, 4 inches away.
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The mic is at the left, pointed at
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my mouth, 3 inches away.
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The mic is to the right, pointed at
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my mouth, 12 inches away.
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The mic is to the right, pointed at
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my mouth, 8 inches away.
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The mic is at the right, pointed at
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my mouth, 6 inches away.
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The mic is to the right, pointed at
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my mouth, 4 inches away.
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The mic is to the right, pointed at
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my mouth, 3 inches away.
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The mic is 4 inches to the right
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of center, 12 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches to the right
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of center, 8 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches to the right
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of center, 6 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches to the right
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of center, 4 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches to the right
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of center, 3 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches to the left
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of center, 12 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches to the left
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of center, 8 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches from the left
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of center, 6 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches from the left
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of center, 4 inches back.
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The mic is 4 inches from the left
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of center, 3 inches back.
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The mic is 2 inches to the right
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of center, 9 inches away.
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The mic is 2 inches from the right
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of center, 6 inches away.
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The mic is 2 inches from the right
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of center, 4 inches away.
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The mic is 2 inches from the right
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of center, 3 inches away.
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So you heard 3 microphones there.
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The first two were a 103 and a
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41-6, in that order, maybe.
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Other way around, yeah, it was the other
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way around, I think.
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Other way around, and then you heard the
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Aston Element, and I don't know, when you
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guys heard it, did you go, like I
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did, did you go, huh?
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It sounds, it sounds definitely darker than the
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416, that's for sure.
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It's got more bottom to it or whatever.
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But it does have the top end that
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you don't lose from a lot of dynamic
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mics.
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Right, right.
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I think also it was, because it's got
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more bottom end, it sounded better, because it
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gets affected by proximity.
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The further away, like the one where she's
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like four inches to the left and a
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foot away from the mic, probably sounded the
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best to me.
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Interesting.
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It did seem to be pretty consistent as
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far as the off-axis, I mean, I'm
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not sure how, like, she says exactly, but
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she seems to be keeping pretty close, and
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it wasn't too bad.
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I would have been interested to hear her
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talk straight into the side of it.
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Oh, she didn't do that.
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Well, I just watched a video while we
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were setting up, I was watching a video,
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and there was a guy reviewing it, and
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he went 90 degrees off-axis.
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And it wasn't, it was thin and crusty
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and ugly, but so in terms of rejection,
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that's pretty good.
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There was still stuff there.
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Interestingly, when he went behind it, when he
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went 180 degrees, it went a lot more
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boomy and lost a little bit of the
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top end, but it was still a fairly,
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let's say, strong signal.
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That's pretty typical of the complete backside of
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a cardioid mic.
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Well, a hypercardioid, you're going to get a
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little bit more top end on the back
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of the mic.
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You will, yeah, you get that node.
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I mean, which of those three mics, if
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you didn't know what they were, what they
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cost, anything at all, just face value, which
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sample would you have preferred?
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I can always pick the 416.
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36 years of working with them, you can't
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unhear it once you know it.
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Well, it's a thing, you know that mic
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really, really well, yeah.
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It's not so much what it sounds like
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in the Hoover, and more of how it
270
00:08:37,260 --> 00:08:38,780
sits in the mix when you're done, and
271
00:08:38,780 --> 00:08:40,299
the reality is a lot of that low
272
00:08:40,299 --> 00:08:41,580
end is going to get in the way
273
00:08:41,580 --> 00:08:42,380
of other stuff.
274
00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:44,680
And will probably be chopped down anyway.
275
00:08:46,100 --> 00:08:47,820
And the other thing is with stuff like
276
00:08:47,820 --> 00:08:52,580
that, with more entry level gear, once you
277
00:08:52,580 --> 00:08:55,780
start compressing, all the shit comes floating to
278
00:08:55,780 --> 00:08:56,280
the surface.
279
00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,460
And unfortunately there wasn't a good room tone
280
00:09:00,460 --> 00:09:03,160
sample, so I didn't really get to hear
281
00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,320
how the mic picked up.
282
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,240
But it's spec is 4 dB a self
283
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,280
noise, which is really low for a dynamic
284
00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:13,380
mic.
285
00:09:13,380 --> 00:09:14,640
Especially dynamic, yeah.
286
00:09:15,380 --> 00:09:16,940
Is it officially a dynamic?
287
00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:18,720
It's a moving coil dynamic, right?
288
00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,520
It's an active moving coil diaphragm.
289
00:09:22,060 --> 00:09:23,360
In a plastic case.
290
00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,300
Well, it's the same as the CC5.
291
00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:26,700
The CC5?
292
00:09:27,420 --> 00:09:29,480
It's a dynamic that needs phantom.
293
00:09:30,140 --> 00:09:30,620
CC5.
294
00:09:30,740 --> 00:09:31,580
Oh, that's right.
295
00:09:31,700 --> 00:09:32,520
Oh, the OC5?
296
00:09:33,860 --> 00:09:34,340
OC5.
297
00:09:34,580 --> 00:09:35,060
Sorry, yes.
298
00:09:35,500 --> 00:09:36,480
That's an active dynamic.
299
00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:37,860
That's an active dynamic, yep.
300
00:09:38,220 --> 00:09:39,520
Yeah, I mean a lot of companies are
301
00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:40,420
doing active dynamics.
302
00:09:40,660 --> 00:09:43,940
Sure has the SM7B, DB, which is a
303
00:09:43,940 --> 00:09:47,040
really cheeky model number.
304
00:09:48,100 --> 00:09:49,540
But yeah, those are not that uncommon.
305
00:09:49,540 --> 00:09:52,980
But it still has a decently open sound,
306
00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,200
you know, like if you roll off the
307
00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:55,480
low end.
308
00:09:56,060 --> 00:09:57,780
I thought if you're trying to take a
309
00:09:57,780 --> 00:10:00,660
female voice and make it sound, you know,
310
00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:03,820
they're on the radio, that radio sound.
311
00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:05,220
I thought it did a pretty nice job
312
00:10:05,220 --> 00:10:05,660
of that.
313
00:10:05,780 --> 00:10:06,820
That's the sound I'm going for.
314
00:10:06,820 --> 00:10:08,780
I would say, what is it, like normally
315
00:10:08,780 --> 00:10:11,140
$160 and now on sale for $70?
316
00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,480
I'd say it's worth like every penny of
317
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:13,760
that.
318
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,080
Yeah, at the moment it's on some crazy,
319
00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:18,220
they're blowing them out on Amazon.
320
00:10:18,220 --> 00:10:20,640
I think the company that bought the company,
321
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:24,640
Aston, is just like making room for new
322
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,300
stuff in their catalog.
323
00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:29,060
It's made in China, so you know, they're
324
00:10:29,060 --> 00:10:31,320
probably knocking them out of the factory in
325
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:32,740
China for about $10 each.
326
00:10:32,940 --> 00:10:34,360
I was looking at it and it's like,
327
00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:36,700
just other things, it'd be a pretty easy
328
00:10:36,700 --> 00:10:38,440
mic to get in on Tom's.
329
00:10:38,460 --> 00:10:40,380
Yeah, well because of its design and shape.
330
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,820
Yeah, it looks pretty beat up.
331
00:10:42,820 --> 00:10:44,580
And you wouldn't worry about getting whacked with
332
00:10:44,580 --> 00:10:45,100
a drumstick.
333
00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:46,740
Yeah, it looks like it can take it.
334
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:48,540
It looks like it can take it anyways,
335
00:10:48,660 --> 00:10:49,080
I think.
336
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:50,920
Being made out of plastic, it might sound
337
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:52,100
like a cowbell or something.
338
00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:53,840
Well, can you imagine what that would sound
339
00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:54,760
like on a kick drum?
340
00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:56,300
It might sound great on a kick.
341
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,800
I mean, it looks like a pretty big
342
00:10:58,800 --> 00:10:59,260
diaphragm there.
343
00:10:59,260 --> 00:11:01,000
If it can handle the, well, it says
344
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:02,880
it can handle 132 decibel.
345
00:11:03,220 --> 00:11:04,740
Yeah, I think this is the last mic
346
00:11:04,740 --> 00:11:05,740
anybody needs at all.
347
00:11:06,140 --> 00:11:07,500
Like, fuck all the other mics.
348
00:11:08,620 --> 00:11:10,000
Oh, it's the last mic you need?
349
00:11:10,620 --> 00:11:12,940
Is this a desert island microphone you're telling
350
00:11:12,940 --> 00:11:13,040
me?
351
00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:13,720
It's everything.
352
00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,140
Thanks very much, Austrian Audio, but we've got
353
00:11:16,140 --> 00:11:17,400
new sponsors for next season.
354
00:11:18,180 --> 00:11:21,420
$72 desert island mic, made in China.
355
00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:22,140
That's right.
356
00:11:23,260 --> 00:11:25,160
With a plastic case, yeah.
357
00:11:26,020 --> 00:11:26,400
Beautiful.
358
00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:26,940
Come on.
359
00:11:27,220 --> 00:11:28,980
My go-to, my daily driver.
360
00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:30,380
Actually, it's not made in China, it's made
361
00:11:30,380 --> 00:11:31,480
in the PRC.
362
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:32,380
Oh, that's right.
363
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:33,740
People's Republic.
364
00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:35,240
Ah, People's Republic.
365
00:11:35,340 --> 00:11:37,100
People's Republic of China, that's right.
366
00:11:38,460 --> 00:11:42,260
No, I mean, it sounds good for the
367
00:11:42,260 --> 00:11:44,020
price point, but I don't know.
368
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:45,580
There's a lot of mics.
369
00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:48,360
I think its competitor is probably like a
370
00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:49,480
Yeti or something, right?
371
00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:51,380
You know, that's who it's probably competing with.
372
00:11:51,700 --> 00:11:51,940
Yeah.
373
00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:53,000
Or the blue mics.
374
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:53,620
The blue, yeah.
375
00:11:53,940 --> 00:11:55,020
Yeah, the blue mics.
376
00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,140
If you're shopping in that price point.
377
00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,300
Like an NTG5, a USB NTG, not NTG5,
378
00:12:01,460 --> 00:12:03,700
but NTUSB kind of.
379
00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:04,740
NTUSB, yeah.
380
00:12:04,740 --> 00:12:05,740
Yeah, kind of in that price range.
381
00:12:05,740 --> 00:12:06,920
Or the, what's the other one?
382
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:07,960
The Rode Podcaster?
383
00:12:08,220 --> 00:12:09,080
Whatever that, what are they called?
384
00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:09,480
Rodecaster.
385
00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,680
Well, they have the PodMic, the Podcaster, the
386
00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:14,880
RodeCast, the ProCaster.
387
00:12:15,460 --> 00:12:16,460
I've got one in the cupboard.
388
00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:17,420
Yeah, yeah.
389
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:19,500
They have a lot of variations of that.
390
00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,520
But yeah, when I watched Bandrew from PodCastage
391
00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:25,180
doing it, you know, comparing, and he did
392
00:12:25,180 --> 00:12:27,420
a test to comparing it with an SM7
393
00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:30,900
and a Rode ProCaster, which is like their
394
00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:34,660
SM7B, you know, and those sounded thin in
395
00:12:34,660 --> 00:12:36,120
comparison with the L.
396
00:12:36,140 --> 00:12:36,980
To this thing, wow.
397
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,540
It does have a goodly amount of bottom
398
00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:40,700
end.
399
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:41,980
I mean, that's the first thing you hear
400
00:12:41,980 --> 00:12:43,300
is the difference, is that.
401
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:45,800
And it doesn't sound like the top end
402
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:46,960
goes away, it just sounds like the bottom
403
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,100
end is like still there, yeah.
404
00:12:49,340 --> 00:12:50,800
And it's weird, because if you look at
405
00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,340
the frequency response chart, it's clearly not honest.
406
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:56,720
It's got a dip at the top.
407
00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:58,800
It's got a dip around, what was that?
408
00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:00,920
Yeah, it has a mid, upper-mid dip.
409
00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:03,120
And then a little bit of an up,
410
00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:03,660
a rise.
411
00:13:03,660 --> 00:13:05,780
But at the low end, it's just flat,
412
00:13:05,940 --> 00:13:08,320
all the way down to maybe, I don't
413
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,780
know, 20, 30 hertz.
414
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,260
But it doesn't have a rise.
415
00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:14,820
And that's what I don't really understand.
416
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,240
But that's not what it sounds like.
417
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:17,540
I don't think that's right.
418
00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,280
It's because of how that coil responds to
419
00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:21,680
proximity effect, right?
420
00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,640
And then that was something that Ben from
421
00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,300
B's Knees was talking about with head basket
422
00:13:28,300 --> 00:13:30,540
design and how the head basket influences the
423
00:13:30,540 --> 00:13:32,160
proximity effect.
424
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:34,320
And if you look at the head basket
425
00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,180
of this thing, it's like...
426
00:13:36,180 --> 00:13:36,480
Right there.
427
00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:37,460
What?
428
00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:37,660
Yeah.
429
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:39,720
It doesn't even really make sense, because it's
430
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,280
like a flag right in front of it.
431
00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:41,700
It's like right in front of it.
432
00:13:41,900 --> 00:13:44,040
I mean, usually mics like that that have
433
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:46,520
such enclosure so close to the element.
434
00:13:47,540 --> 00:13:49,200
And I mean, it's kind of a weird
435
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,900
mic, because honestly, for a moving coil, it
436
00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:56,500
doesn't have much room for a coil.
437
00:13:57,380 --> 00:13:59,000
If you think about it, usually a moving
438
00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:00,740
coil is a lot thicker, and it's hard
439
00:14:00,740 --> 00:14:02,720
to make a side address moving coil mic.
440
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,260
Talking about proximity effect, and this is completely
441
00:14:05,260 --> 00:14:06,840
off topic, but you've just touched on something
442
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:08,340
that I was actually thinking about the other
443
00:14:08,340 --> 00:14:08,720
day.
444
00:14:08,860 --> 00:14:11,900
I actually was doing a video on proximity
445
00:14:11,900 --> 00:14:14,240
effect for my socials.
446
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,900
And we talk about proximity effect on...
447
00:14:16,900 --> 00:14:19,380
I was talking about it on a 416,
448
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,280
but if you think about the microphone that
449
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,040
Robert's on today, the NTG-4.
450
00:14:24,220 --> 00:14:25,180
Yes, the NTG-4.
451
00:14:25,300 --> 00:14:29,080
The capsule for that, it's a pencil microphone,
452
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:33,420
but the capsule for that is right at
453
00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:33,720
the front.
454
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,060
But on a 416, it's way down.
455
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:42,460
So proximity effect on a 416 is going
456
00:14:42,460 --> 00:14:44,120
to be different than a proximity effect.
457
00:14:44,180 --> 00:14:48,960
But the 416 does have a pronounced proximity
458
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:49,120
effect.
459
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:49,320
It does.
460
00:14:49,660 --> 00:14:52,240
And a voiceover artist that we've talked about
461
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:53,500
on the show before, an AP and I
462
00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:55,380
know well, a guy called Steve Britton, uses
463
00:14:55,380 --> 00:14:56,900
it to great effect.
464
00:14:56,900 --> 00:14:58,480
He's always swallowing the line.
465
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,600
And I think that proximity effect is actually
466
00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,280
more indicative of...
467
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,180
Figure 8s have a bigger proximity effect than
468
00:15:05,180 --> 00:15:05,860
cardioids.
469
00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:08,300
And omnis have no proximity effect.
470
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,520
Because it's all about the energy that gets
471
00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:15,340
lost and refocused, essentially, when you get closer.
472
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:18,800
It's not just the mic design.
473
00:15:19,020 --> 00:15:20,220
It's a lot to do with the polar
474
00:15:20,220 --> 00:15:21,460
pattern that it creates.
475
00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:24,240
So this mic is kind of a hypercardioid,
476
00:15:24,260 --> 00:15:24,440
right?
477
00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,200
I looked at the pattern and it looked
478
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:28,760
like a pretty standard hypercardioid.
479
00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:30,200
It's got a node in the back.
480
00:15:31,060 --> 00:15:32,160
With a flat node.
481
00:15:32,540 --> 00:15:33,500
It's like a flat tail.
482
00:15:33,780 --> 00:15:35,400
It's like a tail got chopped off.
483
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:37,860
But that would lead you to think, because
484
00:15:37,860 --> 00:15:39,780
it's got such tight sides, and it gets
485
00:15:39,780 --> 00:15:42,460
more figure 8-ish, that it's kind of
486
00:15:42,460 --> 00:15:44,240
going to have a big proximity effect.
487
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:47,220
I can see you, George.
488
00:15:47,300 --> 00:15:49,660
You're looking at an NTG4 to see where
489
00:15:49,660 --> 00:15:50,400
the capsule is.
490
00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,700
Yeah, I think the capsule's back here.
491
00:15:53,900 --> 00:15:54,640
Don't say that.
492
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,480
I think the capsule's near the back of
493
00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:57,240
the slots, dude.
494
00:15:57,300 --> 00:15:57,920
Not the front.
495
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,520
No, I understood it was closer to the
496
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:00,620
top.
497
00:16:00,620 --> 00:16:01,580
Do you think the capsule's way up near
498
00:16:01,580 --> 00:16:01,960
the front?
499
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,600
That was my understanding.
500
00:16:04,740 --> 00:16:05,700
I could be completely wrong.
501
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:07,040
I'm certainly not questioning you.
502
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:08,820
I think for a shotgun to work, it
503
00:16:08,820 --> 00:16:09,680
has to be back.
504
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,360
Because the early shotgun designs, they literally were
505
00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,060
a bunch of tubes of different lengths that
506
00:16:16,060 --> 00:16:17,880
led to the capsule in the back.
507
00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:18,760
That's how they worked.
508
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:20,220
It's a series of tubes!
509
00:16:21,860 --> 00:16:23,420
Okay, I took the grill off.
510
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,840
George is pulling his microphones apart.
511
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:28,640
Underneath the grill is a little metal mesh.
512
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,220
I guess it's probably hydrophobic.
513
00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:32,520
Then you can put your weed in there.
514
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,520
There's a foam pop filter in the top.
515
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:38,400
Look at that.
516
00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:40,320
You really are pulling it apart now, aren't
517
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:40,420
you?
518
00:16:42,500 --> 00:16:44,000
And then there's the interference tube.
519
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:46,900
It's a fair way down, isn't it?
520
00:16:46,940 --> 00:16:47,360
Look at that.
521
00:16:47,380 --> 00:16:48,420
That's what they call it.
522
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:51,360
Let's do the pencil drop.
523
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:54,760
Oh wow, it is a long way down.
524
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:55,960
I will stand corrected.
525
00:16:58,560 --> 00:16:59,820
That's a good couple of inches.
526
00:16:59,980 --> 00:17:01,100
Three inches or so, isn't it?
527
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:03,640
Line it up next to the microphone when
528
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:04,240
you've marked it.
529
00:17:04,460 --> 00:17:04,839
There you go.
530
00:17:05,060 --> 00:17:06,160
So we can see where it is on
531
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:07,119
the actual body of the mic.
532
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:08,220
Pretty much down to the bottom.
533
00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:09,079
Right down to the bottom.
534
00:17:09,420 --> 00:17:09,839
There you go.
535
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,180
George, can you push it to make sure
536
00:17:12,180 --> 00:17:13,319
that you really did find the bottom?
537
00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:16,160
It's like a musket.
538
00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:18,760
Yeah, that's right.
539
00:17:21,140 --> 00:17:21,800
Fire in the hole.
540
00:17:21,859 --> 00:17:22,740
That's how it sounds now.
541
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,200
I know the 416, the capsule is most
542
00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,460
of the way down, but not all the
543
00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:33,860
way down.
544
00:17:34,540 --> 00:17:35,920
No, it's not all the way down, but
545
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:36,900
it's a good way down.
546
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:39,180
Well, there you go.
547
00:17:39,540 --> 00:17:41,560
My theory was just blown completely out of
548
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:41,880
the water.
549
00:17:42,180 --> 00:17:42,940
Scrap what I said.
550
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:43,540
There you go.
551
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:45,060
The fire was in the hole.
552
00:17:45,060 --> 00:17:47,200
I love proving my cohost, man.
553
00:17:51,450 --> 00:17:52,610
Well, that was fun.
554
00:17:52,690 --> 00:17:53,070
Is it over?
555
00:18:16,630 --> 00:18:19,530
AudioSuite.com
00:00:00,220 --> 00:00:00,900
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
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Get started.
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Welcome.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hello everyone.
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00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:06,500
To the Pro Audio Suite.
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00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:07,720
These guys are professional.
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00:00:08,040 --> 00:00:08,660
They're motivated.
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00:00:08,820 --> 00:00:10,240
With Tech the VO Stars.
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00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:11,040
George Witten.
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Founder of Source Elements.
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Robert Marshall.
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International Audio Engineer.
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Darren Robbo Robertson.
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And Global Voice.
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Andrew Peters.
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Thanks to Triboo.
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00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:19,180
Austrian Audio.
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Making passion heard.
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Source Elements.
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George the Tech Witten.
24
00:00:22,940 --> 00:00:25,320
And Robbo and AP's international demos.
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00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:27,740
To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
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00:00:27,740 --> 00:00:28,400
.com.
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00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,640
And welcome to Number Pro Audio Suite.
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00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,260
Thanks to Triboo.
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Don't forget the code.
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T-R-I-P-A-P 200.
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To get $200 off your Triboo.
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And Austrian Audio.
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Making passion heard.
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And on the subject of microphones.
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We're discussing one today.
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But a very bizarre one.
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Based on a file.
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That George has.
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From one of his clients.
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What's the story George?
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00:00:55,580 --> 00:00:56,440
Are we going to listen to it now
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or later?
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I reckon later.
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Well let's set it up first.
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Yeah, set it up first.
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So people know what they're listening to.
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Because it is a little bit confusing.
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Because I listened to it and went.
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Why isn't such and such on there?
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And you went.
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Well actually it is.
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So maybe we should set that up.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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Well okay.
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So the whole back story here is.
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You know.
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How many microphones do we own between us.
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That we've heard over the years.
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It just never ends.
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Microphones are interesting to us.
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They're fun.
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And there are some innovative designs out there.
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So one company.
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Small company.
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That has gotten absorbed by a bigger company.
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Called Aston.
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A-S-T-O-N.
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They created a mic called the Element.
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A couple years.
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Maybe four years ago it was released.
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And it's unique trait.
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The manufacturer calls a Rydion capsule.
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Or Rydion.
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Trademarked.
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R-I-D-Y-O-N capsule.
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Which is an active moving coil design.
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Intended to combine the low end punch.
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And off axis rejection of a dynamic mic.
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With the sensitivity and clarity of a condenser
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mic.
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And the smoothness of a ribbon mic.
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Smooth.
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Yes.
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Smooth.
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So it's a side address cardioid mic.
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So it's relatively like a normal mic.
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It's industrial design is rather a acquired taste.
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It looks weird.
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I'm sorry.
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I don't think everybody will look at it
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and take it very seriously.
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It looks like my razor.
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Yeah, it does look like a classic old
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school razor.
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Not that I use it anymore.
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Yeah, and it's an unusual design.
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But whatever.
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What's it sound like?
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I remember this mic came up.
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And then I was like, you know what?
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I think I've heard this mic before.
103
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And so I typed in Gmail.
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Typed in Aston Element.
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Sure enough, one of my clients has one
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of these mics.
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And so I dug into my files, found
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these samples.
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And this particular client of mine, she did
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a very thorough test of the mic's placement.
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Where she moved it and probably provided to
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me 15 to 20 different placement samples.
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Very scientific.
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Here's the mic.
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Yeah, 9 inches away.
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Here's the mic, 12 inches away.
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Here it is, 2 inches to the right.
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It's on the left side.
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I'm in the mood to move myself to
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the left 3 feet.
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Absolutely.
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George, you know that reference?
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Yeah, I do.
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And so you'll get to hear that.
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And you'll get to hear her just recording
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on two other extremely common microphones.
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So you can really kind of hear how
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it sounds.
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You know, because everything is context, right?
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If you heard this mic completely in a
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vacuum, you wouldn't maybe think that much of
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it.
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Like, oh, it's got a pretty nice sound.
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Other than the inside of a vacuum sounds
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kind of funny.
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Yeah, yeah.
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That sucks.
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Robert's on vacation, by the way, and he's
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probably imbibing, I would guarantee, especially this time
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of night.
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But when you hear it in comparison to
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the other two, you really go, what?
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So, take a listen.
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This is a test with the Sennheiser 416.
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This is a test with the Sennheiser 416.
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Is that all you need?
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Sample 2.
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Testing Neumann 103, 7 inches away.
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Introduction.
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Welcome to our step-by-step guide on
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00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:23,900
installing recessed lighting.
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The mic is now facing me 12 inches
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away.
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00:04:27,580 --> 00:04:29,940
The mic is now facing me 8 inches
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away.
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00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,320
The mic is now facing me 6 inches
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away.
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The mic is now facing me at 4
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inches.
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00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,020
The mic is now facing me at 3
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inches.
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The mic is to the left, pointed at
163
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my mouth, 8 inches away.
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00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,340
The mic is to the left, pointed at
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my mouth, 6 inches away.
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The mic is to my left, pointed at
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00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,320
my mouth, 4 inches away.
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00:04:52,780 --> 00:04:54,820
The mic is at the left, pointed at
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my mouth, 3 inches away.
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The mic is to the right, pointed at
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00:04:59,340 --> 00:05:01,100
my mouth, 12 inches away.
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00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:03,740
The mic is to the right, pointed at
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00:05:03,740 --> 00:05:05,280
my mouth, 8 inches away.
174
00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:07,840
The mic is at the right, pointed at
175
00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:09,920
my mouth, 6 inches away.
176
00:05:10,300 --> 00:05:12,380
The mic is to the right, pointed at
177
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my mouth, 4 inches away.
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00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,460
The mic is to the right, pointed at
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00:05:16,460 --> 00:05:18,260
my mouth, 3 inches away.
180
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,060
The mic is 4 inches to the right
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00:05:21,060 --> 00:05:23,100
of center, 12 inches back.
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00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,240
The mic is 4 inches to the right
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00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,120
of center, 8 inches back.
184
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,580
The mic is 4 inches to the right
185
00:05:29,580 --> 00:05:31,600
of center, 6 inches back.
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00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,040
The mic is 4 inches to the right
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00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,060
of center, 4 inches back.
188
00:05:36,260 --> 00:05:38,600
The mic is 4 inches to the right
189
00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,500
of center, 3 inches back.
190
00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,320
The mic is 4 inches to the left
191
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,460
of center, 12 inches back.
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00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,320
The mic is 4 inches to the left
193
00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,020
of center, 8 inches back.
194
00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,560
The mic is 4 inches from the left
195
00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,860
of center, 6 inches back.
196
00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,440
The mic is 4 inches from the left
197
00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,480
of center, 4 inches back.
198
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,060
The mic is 4 inches from the left
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00:06:02,060 --> 00:06:04,080
of center, 3 inches back.
200
00:06:04,860 --> 00:06:06,740
The mic is 2 inches to the right
201
00:06:06,740 --> 00:06:08,440
of center, 9 inches away.
202
00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:10,820
The mic is 2 inches from the right
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00:06:10,820 --> 00:06:12,840
of center, 6 inches away.
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00:06:13,220 --> 00:06:15,100
The mic is 2 inches from the right
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00:06:15,100 --> 00:06:17,060
of center, 4 inches away.
206
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,460
The mic is 2 inches from the right
207
00:06:19,460 --> 00:06:21,540
of center, 3 inches away.
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00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,060
So you heard 3 microphones there.
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00:06:24,060 --> 00:06:26,440
The first two were a 103 and a
210
00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,220
41-6, in that order, maybe.
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00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:31,580
Other way around, yeah, it was the other
212
00:06:31,580 --> 00:06:32,200
way around, I think.
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00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:34,620
Other way around, and then you heard the
214
00:06:34,620 --> 00:06:38,300
Aston Element, and I don't know, when you
215
00:06:38,300 --> 00:06:41,060
guys heard it, did you go, like I
216
00:06:41,060 --> 00:06:42,080
did, did you go, huh?
217
00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,420
It sounds, it sounds definitely darker than the
218
00:06:45,420 --> 00:06:47,040
416, that's for sure.
219
00:06:47,140 --> 00:06:49,480
It's got more bottom to it or whatever.
220
00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,680
But it does have the top end that
221
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,440
you don't lose from a lot of dynamic
222
00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:55,900
mics.
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00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:56,960
Right, right.
224
00:06:57,980 --> 00:07:00,440
I think also it was, because it's got
225
00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,740
more bottom end, it sounded better, because it
226
00:07:02,740 --> 00:07:03,920
gets affected by proximity.
227
00:07:04,140 --> 00:07:07,060
The further away, like the one where she's
228
00:07:07,060 --> 00:07:09,280
like four inches to the left and a
229
00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:12,660
foot away from the mic, probably sounded the
230
00:07:12,660 --> 00:07:14,220
best to me.
231
00:07:14,740 --> 00:07:14,840
Interesting.
232
00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,000
It did seem to be pretty consistent as
233
00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,120
far as the off-axis, I mean, I'm
234
00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,780
not sure how, like, she says exactly, but
235
00:07:22,780 --> 00:07:24,800
she seems to be keeping pretty close, and
236
00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,140
it wasn't too bad.
237
00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:29,440
I would have been interested to hear her
238
00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,100
talk straight into the side of it.
239
00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:33,100
Oh, she didn't do that.
240
00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,660
Well, I just watched a video while we
241
00:07:35,660 --> 00:07:37,120
were setting up, I was watching a video,
242
00:07:37,260 --> 00:07:38,740
and there was a guy reviewing it, and
243
00:07:38,740 --> 00:07:40,500
he went 90 degrees off-axis.
244
00:07:40,500 --> 00:07:44,020
And it wasn't, it was thin and crusty
245
00:07:44,020 --> 00:07:46,340
and ugly, but so in terms of rejection,
246
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:48,660
that's pretty good.
247
00:07:49,020 --> 00:07:50,120
There was still stuff there.
248
00:07:50,380 --> 00:07:52,840
Interestingly, when he went behind it, when he
249
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,640
went 180 degrees, it went a lot more
250
00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,240
boomy and lost a little bit of the
251
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,260
top end, but it was still a fairly,
252
00:08:00,620 --> 00:08:02,220
let's say, strong signal.
253
00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:04,640
That's pretty typical of the complete backside of
254
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:05,520
a cardioid mic.
255
00:08:06,940 --> 00:08:08,640
Well, a hypercardioid, you're going to get a
256
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,140
little bit more top end on the back
257
00:08:10,140 --> 00:08:10,520
of the mic.
258
00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:11,660
You will, yeah, you get that node.
259
00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:13,360
I mean, which of those three mics, if
260
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:14,660
you didn't know what they were, what they
261
00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:18,620
cost, anything at all, just face value, which
262
00:08:18,620 --> 00:08:20,280
sample would you have preferred?
263
00:08:20,380 --> 00:08:22,040
I can always pick the 416.
264
00:08:22,900 --> 00:08:25,500
36 years of working with them, you can't
265
00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:26,720
unhear it once you know it.
266
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:28,040
Well, it's a thing, you know that mic
267
00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:29,120
really, really well, yeah.
268
00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:32,340
It's not so much what it sounds like
269
00:08:32,340 --> 00:08:37,260
in the Hoover, and more of how it
270
00:08:37,260 --> 00:08:38,780
sits in the mix when you're done, and
271
00:08:38,780 --> 00:08:40,299
the reality is a lot of that low
272
00:08:40,299 --> 00:08:41,580
end is going to get in the way
273
00:08:41,580 --> 00:08:42,380
of other stuff.
274
00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:44,680
And will probably be chopped down anyway.
275
00:08:46,100 --> 00:08:47,820
And the other thing is with stuff like
276
00:08:47,820 --> 00:08:52,580
that, with more entry level gear, once you
277
00:08:52,580 --> 00:08:55,780
start compressing, all the shit comes floating to
278
00:08:55,780 --> 00:08:56,280
the surface.
279
00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,460
And unfortunately there wasn't a good room tone
280
00:09:00,460 --> 00:09:03,160
sample, so I didn't really get to hear
281
00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,320
how the mic picked up.
282
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,240
But it's spec is 4 dB a self
283
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,280
noise, which is really low for a dynamic
284
00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:13,380
mic.
285
00:09:13,380 --> 00:09:14,640
Especially dynamic, yeah.
286
00:09:15,380 --> 00:09:16,940
Is it officially a dynamic?
287
00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:18,720
It's a moving coil dynamic, right?
288
00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,520
It's an active moving coil diaphragm.
289
00:09:22,060 --> 00:09:23,360
In a plastic case.
290
00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,300
Well, it's the same as the CC5.
291
00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:26,700
The CC5?
292
00:09:27,420 --> 00:09:29,480
It's a dynamic that needs phantom.
293
00:09:30,140 --> 00:09:30,620
CC5.
294
00:09:30,740 --> 00:09:31,580
Oh, that's right.
295
00:09:31,700 --> 00:09:32,520
Oh, the OC5?
296
00:09:33,860 --> 00:09:34,340
OC5.
297
00:09:34,580 --> 00:09:35,060
Sorry, yes.
298
00:09:35,500 --> 00:09:36,480
That's an active dynamic.
299
00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:37,860
That's an active dynamic, yep.
300
00:09:38,220 --> 00:09:39,520
Yeah, I mean a lot of companies are
301
00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:40,420
doing active dynamics.
302
00:09:40,660 --> 00:09:43,940
Sure has the SM7B, DB, which is a
303
00:09:43,940 --> 00:09:47,040
really cheeky model number.
304
00:09:48,100 --> 00:09:49,540
But yeah, those are not that uncommon.
305
00:09:49,540 --> 00:09:52,980
But it still has a decently open sound,
306
00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,200
you know, like if you roll off the
307
00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:55,480
low end.
308
00:09:56,060 --> 00:09:57,780
I thought if you're trying to take a
309
00:09:57,780 --> 00:10:00,660
female voice and make it sound, you know,
310
00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:03,820
they're on the radio, that radio sound.
311
00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:05,220
I thought it did a pretty nice job
312
00:10:05,220 --> 00:10:05,660
of that.
313
00:10:05,780 --> 00:10:06,820
That's the sound I'm going for.
314
00:10:06,820 --> 00:10:08,780
I would say, what is it, like normally
315
00:10:08,780 --> 00:10:11,140
$160 and now on sale for $70?
316
00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,480
I'd say it's worth like every penny of
317
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:13,760
that.
318
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,080
Yeah, at the moment it's on some crazy,
319
00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:18,220
they're blowing them out on Amazon.
320
00:10:18,220 --> 00:10:20,640
I think the company that bought the company,
321
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:24,640
Aston, is just like making room for new
322
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,300
stuff in their catalog.
323
00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:29,060
It's made in China, so you know, they're
324
00:10:29,060 --> 00:10:31,320
probably knocking them out of the factory in
325
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:32,740
China for about $10 each.
326
00:10:32,940 --> 00:10:34,360
I was looking at it and it's like,
327
00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:36,700
just other things, it'd be a pretty easy
328
00:10:36,700 --> 00:10:38,440
mic to get in on Tom's.
329
00:10:38,460 --> 00:10:40,380
Yeah, well because of its design and shape.
330
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,820
Yeah, it looks pretty beat up.
331
00:10:42,820 --> 00:10:44,580
And you wouldn't worry about getting whacked with
332
00:10:44,580 --> 00:10:45,100
a drumstick.
333
00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:46,740
Yeah, it looks like it can take it.
334
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:48,540
It looks like it can take it anyways,
335
00:10:48,660 --> 00:10:49,080
I think.
336
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:50,920
Being made out of plastic, it might sound
337
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:52,100
like a cowbell or something.
338
00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:53,840
Well, can you imagine what that would sound
339
00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:54,760
like on a kick drum?
340
00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:56,300
It might sound great on a kick.
341
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,800
I mean, it looks like a pretty big
342
00:10:58,800 --> 00:10:59,260
diaphragm there.
343
00:10:59,260 --> 00:11:01,000
If it can handle the, well, it says
344
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:02,880
it can handle 132 decibel.
345
00:11:03,220 --> 00:11:04,740
Yeah, I think this is the last mic
346
00:11:04,740 --> 00:11:05,740
anybody needs at all.
347
00:11:06,140 --> 00:11:07,500
Like, fuck all the other mics.
348
00:11:08,620 --> 00:11:10,000
Oh, it's the last mic you need?
349
00:11:10,620 --> 00:11:12,940
Is this a desert island microphone you're telling
350
00:11:12,940 --> 00:11:13,040
me?
351
00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:13,720
It's everything.
352
00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,140
Thanks very much, Austrian Audio, but we've got
353
00:11:16,140 --> 00:11:17,400
new sponsors for next season.
354
00:11:18,180 --> 00:11:21,420
$72 desert island mic, made in China.
355
00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:22,140
That's right.
356
00:11:23,260 --> 00:11:25,160
With a plastic case, yeah.
357
00:11:26,020 --> 00:11:26,400
Beautiful.
358
00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:26,940
Come on.
359
00:11:27,220 --> 00:11:28,980
My go-to, my daily driver.
360
00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:30,380
Actually, it's not made in China, it's made
361
00:11:30,380 --> 00:11:31,480
in the PRC.
362
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:32,380
Oh, that's right.
363
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:33,740
People's Republic.
364
00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:35,240
Ah, People's Republic.
365
00:11:35,340 --> 00:11:37,100
People's Republic of China, that's right.
366
00:11:38,460 --> 00:11:42,260
No, I mean, it sounds good for the
367
00:11:42,260 --> 00:11:44,020
price point, but I don't know.
368
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:45,580
There's a lot of mics.
369
00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:48,360
I think its competitor is probably like a
370
00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:49,480
Yeti or something, right?
371
00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:51,380
You know, that's who it's probably competing with.
372
00:11:51,700 --> 00:11:51,940
Yeah.
373
00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:53,000
Or the blue mics.
374
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:53,620
The blue, yeah.
375
00:11:53,940 --> 00:11:55,020
Yeah, the blue mics.
376
00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,140
If you're shopping in that price point.
377
00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,300
Like an NTG5, a USB NTG, not NTG5,
378
00:12:01,460 --> 00:12:03,700
but NTUSB kind of.
379
00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:04,740
NTUSB, yeah.
380
00:12:04,740 --> 00:12:05,740
Yeah, kind of in that price range.
381
00:12:05,740 --> 00:12:06,920
Or the, what's the other one?
382
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:07,960
The Rode Podcaster?
383
00:12:08,220 --> 00:12:09,080
Whatever that, what are they called?
384
00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:09,480
Rodecaster.
385
00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,680
Well, they have the PodMic, the Podcaster, the
386
00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:14,880
RodeCast, the ProCaster.
387
00:12:15,460 --> 00:12:16,460
I've got one in the cupboard.
388
00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:17,420
Yeah, yeah.
389
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:19,500
They have a lot of variations of that.
390
00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,520
But yeah, when I watched Bandrew from PodCastage
391
00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:25,180
doing it, you know, comparing, and he did
392
00:12:25,180 --> 00:12:27,420
a test to comparing it with an SM7
393
00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:30,900
and a Rode ProCaster, which is like their
394
00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:34,660
SM7B, you know, and those sounded thin in
395
00:12:34,660 --> 00:12:36,120
comparison with the L.
396
00:12:36,140 --> 00:12:36,980
To this thing, wow.
397
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,540
It does have a goodly amount of bottom
398
00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:40,700
end.
399
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:41,980
I mean, that's the first thing you hear
400
00:12:41,980 --> 00:12:43,300
is the difference, is that.
401
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:45,800
And it doesn't sound like the top end
402
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:46,960
goes away, it just sounds like the bottom
403
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,100
end is like still there, yeah.
404
00:12:49,340 --> 00:12:50,800
And it's weird, because if you look at
405
00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,340
the frequency response chart, it's clearly not honest.
406
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:56,720
It's got a dip at the top.
407
00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:58,800
It's got a dip around, what was that?
408
00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:00,920
Yeah, it has a mid, upper-mid dip.
409
00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:03,120
And then a little bit of an up,
410
00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:03,660
a rise.
411
00:13:03,660 --> 00:13:05,780
But at the low end, it's just flat,
412
00:13:05,940 --> 00:13:08,320
all the way down to maybe, I don't
413
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,780
know, 20, 30 hertz.
414
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,260
But it doesn't have a rise.
415
00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:14,820
And that's what I don't really understand.
416
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,240
But that's not what it sounds like.
417
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:17,540
I don't think that's right.
418
00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,280
It's because of how that coil responds to
419
00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:21,680
proximity effect, right?
420
00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,640
And then that was something that Ben from
421
00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,300
B's Knees was talking about with head basket
422
00:13:28,300 --> 00:13:30,540
design and how the head basket influences the
423
00:13:30,540 --> 00:13:32,160
proximity effect.
424
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:34,320
And if you look at the head basket
425
00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,180
of this thing, it's like...
426
00:13:36,180 --> 00:13:36,480
Right there.
427
00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:37,460
What?
428
00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:37,660
Yeah.
429
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:39,720
It doesn't even really make sense, because it's
430
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,280
like a flag right in front of it.
431
00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:41,700
It's like right in front of it.
432
00:13:41,900 --> 00:13:44,040
I mean, usually mics like that that have
433
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:46,520
such enclosure so close to the element.
434
00:13:47,540 --> 00:13:49,200
And I mean, it's kind of a weird
435
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,900
mic, because honestly, for a moving coil, it
436
00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:56,500
doesn't have much room for a coil.
437
00:13:57,380 --> 00:13:59,000
If you think about it, usually a moving
438
00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:00,740
coil is a lot thicker, and it's hard
439
00:14:00,740 --> 00:14:02,720
to make a side address moving coil mic.
440
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,260
Talking about proximity effect, and this is completely
441
00:14:05,260 --> 00:14:06,840
off topic, but you've just touched on something
442
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:08,340
that I was actually thinking about the other
443
00:14:08,340 --> 00:14:08,720
day.
444
00:14:08,860 --> 00:14:11,900
I actually was doing a video on proximity
445
00:14:11,900 --> 00:14:14,240
effect for my socials.
446
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,900
And we talk about proximity effect on...
447
00:14:16,900 --> 00:14:19,380
I was talking about it on a 416,
448
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,280
but if you think about the microphone that
449
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,040
Robert's on today, the NTG-4.
450
00:14:24,220 --> 00:14:25,180
Yes, the NTG-4.
451
00:14:25,300 --> 00:14:29,080
The capsule for that, it's a pencil microphone,
452
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:33,420
but the capsule for that is right at
453
00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:33,720
the front.
454
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,060
But on a 416, it's way down.
455
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:42,460
So proximity effect on a 416 is going
456
00:14:42,460 --> 00:14:44,120
to be different than a proximity effect.
457
00:14:44,180 --> 00:14:48,960
But the 416 does have a pronounced proximity
458
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:49,120
effect.
459
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:49,320
It does.
460
00:14:49,660 --> 00:14:52,240
And a voiceover artist that we've talked about
461
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:53,500
on the show before, an AP and I
462
00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:55,380
know well, a guy called Steve Britton, uses
463
00:14:55,380 --> 00:14:56,900
it to great effect.
464
00:14:56,900 --> 00:14:58,480
He's always swallowing the line.
465
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,600
And I think that proximity effect is actually
466
00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,280
more indicative of...
467
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,180
Figure 8s have a bigger proximity effect than
468
00:15:05,180 --> 00:15:05,860
cardioids.
469
00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:08,300
And omnis have no proximity effect.
470
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,520
Because it's all about the energy that gets
471
00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:15,340
lost and refocused, essentially, when you get closer.
472
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:18,800
It's not just the mic design.
473
00:15:19,020 --> 00:15:20,220
It's a lot to do with the polar
474
00:15:20,220 --> 00:15:21,460
pattern that it creates.
475
00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:24,240
So this mic is kind of a hypercardioid,
476
00:15:24,260 --> 00:15:24,440
right?
477
00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,200
I looked at the pattern and it looked
478
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:28,760
like a pretty standard hypercardioid.
479
00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:30,200
It's got a node in the back.
480
00:15:31,060 --> 00:15:32,160
With a flat node.
481
00:15:32,540 --> 00:15:33,500
It's like a flat tail.
482
00:15:33,780 --> 00:15:35,400
It's like a tail got chopped off.
483
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:37,860
But that would lead you to think, because
484
00:15:37,860 --> 00:15:39,780
it's got such tight sides, and it gets
485
00:15:39,780 --> 00:15:42,460
more figure 8-ish, that it's kind of
486
00:15:42,460 --> 00:15:44,240
going to have a big proximity effect.
487
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:47,220
I can see you, George.
488
00:15:47,300 --> 00:15:49,660
You're looking at an NTG4 to see where
489
00:15:49,660 --> 00:15:50,400
the capsule is.
490
00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,700
Yeah, I think the capsule's back here.
491
00:15:53,900 --> 00:15:54,640
Don't say that.
492
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,480
I think the capsule's near the back of
493
00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:57,240
the slots, dude.
494
00:15:57,300 --> 00:15:57,920
Not the front.
495
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,520
No, I understood it was closer to the
496
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:00,620
top.
497
00:16:00,620 --> 00:16:01,580
Do you think the capsule's way up near
498
00:16:01,580 --> 00:16:01,960
the front?
499
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,600
That was my understanding.
500
00:16:04,740 --> 00:16:05,700
I could be completely wrong.
501
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:07,040
I'm certainly not questioning you.
502
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:08,820
I think for a shotgun to work, it
503
00:16:08,820 --> 00:16:09,680
has to be back.
504
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,360
Because the early shotgun designs, they literally were
505
00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,060
a bunch of tubes of different lengths that
506
00:16:16,060 --> 00:16:17,880
led to the capsule in the back.
507
00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:18,760
That's how they worked.
508
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:20,220
It's a series of tubes!
509
00:16:21,860 --> 00:16:23,420
Okay, I took the grill off.
510
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,840
George is pulling his microphones apart.
511
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:28,640
Underneath the grill is a little metal mesh.
512
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,220
I guess it's probably hydrophobic.
513
00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:32,520
Then you can put your weed in there.
514
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,520
There's a foam pop filter in the top.
515
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:38,400
Look at that.
516
00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:40,320
You really are pulling it apart now, aren't
517
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:40,420
you?
518
00:16:42,500 --> 00:16:44,000
And then there's the interference tube.
519
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:46,900
It's a fair way down, isn't it?
520
00:16:46,940 --> 00:16:47,360
Look at that.
521
00:16:47,380 --> 00:16:48,420
That's what they call it.
522
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:51,360
Let's do the pencil drop.
523
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:54,760
Oh wow, it is a long way down.
524
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:55,960
I will stand corrected.
525
00:16:58,560 --> 00:16:59,820
That's a good couple of inches.
526
00:16:59,980 --> 00:17:01,100
Three inches or so, isn't it?
527
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:03,640
Line it up next to the microphone when
528
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:04,240
you've marked it.
529
00:17:04,460 --> 00:17:04,839
There you go.
530
00:17:05,060 --> 00:17:06,160
So we can see where it is on
531
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:07,119
the actual body of the mic.
532
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:08,220
Pretty much down to the bottom.
533
00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:09,079
Right down to the bottom.
534
00:17:09,420 --> 00:17:09,839
There you go.
535
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,180
George, can you push it to make sure
536
00:17:12,180 --> 00:17:13,319
that you really did find the bottom?
537
00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:16,160
It's like a musket.
538
00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:18,760
Yeah, that's right.
539
00:17:21,140 --> 00:17:21,800
Fire in the hole.
540
00:17:21,859 --> 00:17:22,740
That's how it sounds now.
541
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,200
I know the 416, the capsule is most
542
00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,460
of the way down, but not all the
543
00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:33,860
way down.
544
00:17:34,540 --> 00:17:35,920
No, it's not all the way down, but
545
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:36,900
it's a good way down.
546
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:39,180
Well, there you go.
547
00:17:39,540 --> 00:17:41,560
My theory was just blown completely out of
548
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:41,880
the water.
549
00:17:42,180 --> 00:17:42,940
Scrap what I said.
550
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:43,540
There you go.
551
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:45,060
The fire was in the hole.
552
00:17:45,060 --> 00:17:47,200
I love proving my cohost, man.
553
00:17:51,450 --> 00:17:52,610
Well, that was fun.
554
00:17:52,690 --> 00:17:53,070
Is it over?
555
00:18:16,630 --> 00:18:19,530
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