– PRESS RELEASE –
AEA R44C and R44CX
February 2001
By Chris Stone
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(454Kb) Besides my two brand new AEA 44-C microphones, I have multiple pairs of ribbon mics, including RCA 77, Royer R-121, and Coles 4038. I also have multiple pairs of vintage Neumann M-50, M-49, KM-56, KM-256, KM-88, KM-53, KM-54, and AKG C-12. I tried my AEA 44's out on just about everything that generates music, and there are some things my 44's can simply do better that any other mic in my collection.
For example, I love my 44's on Sax of all types, because of the way they give roundness and warmth to the instruments, while providing excellent 4K-range presence. I think that my condenser mics sound thin on Sax because they heighten the edgy peaks of the instrument too much. It sounds as though condenser mics amplify transients logarithmically. So instruments with frequency dependant high output seem to exaggerate peek ranges with condenser mics, while dropping frequency bands around the peeks. Ever try recording a harmonica with a condenser mic? Whoa! Of course, I didn't realize how bad condenser mics were at this sort of thing until I owned my first pair of 44's.
My AEA R44s sound as though they take sharp transients and acoustically compress them linearly; the higher the frequency, the higher the apparent ratio. This may not be what's going on technically, but this is how it sounds to my ears. Plus, with the AEA 44-C's there's this rich bass that none of my other ribbon mics share. My 44's couple ribbon mid-range clarity with low-end depth. My rule of thumb is, anything sounding excessively mid-rangy in the room, I'll try a 44 on first. I also love my 44's on all other reed instruments, such as Harmonica, and especially Banjo type string instruments, such as Middle Eastern Saz, Sitar, and Bazuki.
I also own an extensive collection of vintage guitars. My Gibson Super 400, named so by Gibson because in 1945 it cost $400, is the largest guitar Gibson has ever made. With its 'F' hole hollow body design, it projects mid-range so well that it is used to support a big band as a stand alone rhythm section without snare or high hat. It's a one-man rhythm section, because when strummed on each downbeat in the style of Allan Greene, the strings and pick really sound like a snare and high hat played in the distance. Often on old big band recordings, listeners think they are hearing amplified guitar with pick-ups, but in fact, they are more likely listening to an acoustically recorded Super 400. As far as I am concerned, there is no other mic to record this instrument with. Every other mic makes this instrument sound too thin and out of context. Perhaps Gibson inadvertently designed the Super 400 around the RCA-44 since it was the standard of the industry at the time.
Because of what 44's do for capturing the balls of these instruments while maintaining solid mid-range presence, I like my 44's on tenor Trombone, bass Trombone set two to three feet away from the bell, and French horns six feet away from the bell facing behind the player. With my other mics I get one or the other, balls or presence, the 44 gives me both. I especially like my 44's on floor Toms placed at a forty-five degree angle to the heads, and parallel with the drummer's right shoulder, for that extra fat drum kit sound. Tympani, double Bass, and acoustic bass Guitar, get that real,"feel good," low end vibe with my 44's, yet mid-range is always right there.
We have all heard the statement that others have made about 44's; they sound the way musical instrument sound in the room. When I use my 44's in stereo pairs, the stereo image is very "organic" sounding – warm and forgiving. Not the widest stereo image I've ever heard, but natural nonetheless. You can be one foot away from the 44's, or ten feet away, and the sound dimension changes very little. One day, this is what I experienced first hand in this department: I was sitting in my control room with two other, experienced, engineers listening to a playback of my pair of AEA 44-C's room mic test. Suddenly the phone rings, and I get up to answer it. The phone's dead, and everyone is puzzled for a second until someone remembers that the phone, in fact, went off in the studio during the recording! The stereo perspective and sound color is so natural, that it literally sounded as though the phone in the control room was ringing from three separate sets of qualified ears, and more importantly, from three separate listening vantage points.
My next experiment is to try using my 44's again as room mics, only this time in coincidence with B&K Omni directional mics. I will use an electronic crossover after the mic-pre, and try crossing over between the two mic types in the 8K range. I suspect this will give "air" to the room that the 44's lack on their own. Of course I can still just put up my M-50's, but this is more fun, and some times the M-50's are just too strong dynamically for small rooms. This setup might provide a cost-effective alternative for small room overheads but with similar M-50 character.
Just so that you don't think AEA is paying me to write this, I must admit that I'm not crazy about my 44's on cymbals, orchestra bells, or xylophone. And, I do prefer my Royers on trumpet, for extra attack in the upper mid range. That said, I find that certain tracks need to get rid of high-end peaks. Claves for instance, which are hard wood dowels with a sharp attack are one of those instruments that never seem to mix into the track at the right volume when recorded with any other type mic. When recorded with 44's, however, this is not the case. Because of their natural apparent compression in the top end, the 44's record Claves, Tambourine, and Finger Cymbal, so that they just sit in the mix effortlessly. A little soft-edged perhaps, but full and natural sounding musically. If you try EQ or compression on those unwanted transients with condenser mics, it usually winds up sounding dull and characterless. For this reason, even cymbals and orchestra bells will share space with my 44's on the types of scores where handheld percussion plays a subordinate roll in the orchestration.
When I need that up front and present "air" sound, I prefer my M-49's for traps overheads mixed with my 44's on the toms for depth. Although for TV, I find that too much high end "air" in the overall music mix, even on drum kits, can wind up sounding like tire noise on a wet highway, when heard against dialogue and effects – this is what tracking with 44's helps eliminate. As an added bonus, low frequencies don't seem to drop of the face of the earth, if you back away from the mic, the way condenser mics tend to do. This minimal proximity effect makes a great tool for combating musicians that squirm around as they play. Yet, side rejection from the 44's remains excellent against adjacent music instruments. Also, when using 44's the clacking of keys, valves, and pedals, disappear from those instruments, which produce extraneous noise. Oh yes, one last bonus. It you find that one of your 44's is out of phase with another mic, simply turn the 44 around and work from the other side. These mics are completely symmetrical and work in both directions, so technically, there is no front or back, just wiring convention.
What astonishes me the most about these mics, is how germane this design is to today's modern recording context, both sonically and aesthetically. The solid, professional construction of the AEA 44-C is a testament of Audio Engineering's commitment to resurrect the polished craftsmanship of our American microphone heritage. I was pleasantly surprised to find both mics delivered to me in a single elegant padded case for two. Since these mics are made in small numbers, it costs AEA extra to manufacture two types of cases, both single and double. This detail is uncommonly gracious in today's "rap-it-up-n-sell-it" audio environment. It's as though they are saying, "We don't care what it costs us to make them, we just want people to have these mikes and enjoy the best." Not to mention the client "Gee-whiz" factor, you can really tell that AEA makes these mikes with, forgive the cliche, love, in order to bring back some of the civility, and pride of ownership that one associates with the great recordings. When I see my AEA 44-C's mounted on their stands through my control room window, I can visualize a recording artist from a more gentle era dressed in evening attire, and standing proudly next to them saying, "you see, this is how it's supposed to be."
Pro Audio Review – "AEA's Wes Dooley is at the forefront of ribbon microphone expertise." Read other product reviews.
