ullanta
05-07-2009, 02:05 AM
Well, this mic, A-T's new high-end professional stereo mic (http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/5bbed15003fe56a2/index.html/) looked interesting; I found a great price, found no reviews yet, thought I'd try it. *I was just hoping for a decent small stereo backup mic to keep around in my kit more or less for contingencies.
...so I've been testing the thing as an extra mic at a number of gigs, and I have to say it seems to be the absolute worst sounding mic I've ever used... and I don't say that lightly. *I can't imagine what the intended use for this thing would be... the only situation in which I can*imagine*it might be vaguely useful would be in recording a rock band in a small club....
The high end is ridiculously hyped and brittle, the lows are thin, the pickup pattern is sorta bizarre (everything on-axis sounds... off-axis; things to the sides (sorta on-axis to the individual capsules) are dominant and the only things that don't seem to be suffering from drastic off-axis frequency response. *I guess in practice it seems to operate kinda like a bidirectional mic with more off-axis coloration - which one might expect looking at the capsule design, but I thought A-T had worked something better out. *I mean, there have been plenty of mics in the past that have been unsuited for my needs, but I could usually understand what they would be useful for... this thing I can't imagine ever using in any professional situation.
Just in case the intended axis isn't what I thought it was (or what was marked), I've tried after the first few disappointing experiences every possible orientation and placement that I could...
So I'm hoping perhaps my unit is defective?
Anyway, I'd like to know if anyone else here has actually tried on of these, and if so, what thoughts they may have...
Cheers,
Barry
...so I've been testing the thing as an extra mic at a number of gigs, and I have to say it seems to be the absolute worst sounding mic I've ever used... and I don't say that lightly. *I can't imagine what the intended use for this thing would be... the only situation in which I can*imagine*it might be vaguely useful would be in recording a rock band in a small club....
The high end is ridiculously hyped and brittle, the lows are thin, the pickup pattern is sorta bizarre (everything on-axis sounds... off-axis; things to the sides (sorta on-axis to the individual capsules) are dominant and the only things that don't seem to be suffering from drastic off-axis frequency response. *I guess in practice it seems to operate kinda like a bidirectional mic with more off-axis coloration - which one might expect looking at the capsule design, but I thought A-T had worked something better out. *I mean, there have been plenty of mics in the past that have been unsuited for my needs, but I could usually understand what they would be useful for... this thing I can't imagine ever using in any professional situation.
Just in case the intended axis isn't what I thought it was (or what was marked), I've tried after the first few disappointing experiences every possible orientation and placement that I could...
So I'm hoping perhaps my unit is defective?
Anyway, I'd like to know if anyone else here has actually tried on of these, and if so, what thoughts they may have...
Cheers,
Barry