Category: Microphone Reviews

Quality is a funny thing these days. Some established players in this (and other industries) seem to coast upon their reputations, counting upon brand loyalty to take the place of objective value and integrity of manufacture. Other companies seem wholly unconcerned about quality, selling their wares based upon price alone, often incorporating a physical resemblance to a venerable product. Alternately,… Read more →

It’s no secret that top live sound and studio engineers regularly use two microphones (almost always a dynamic and a condenser) on sources like kick drums and guitar/bass cabinets. Usually this involves quite a bit of trial and error, finding optimal placement for both microphones and then mitigating the inevitable phase problems. Audio-Technica has recently come up with a better… Read more →

When you look at the Violet Design Amethyst Vintage microphone for the first time, chances are you’re going to experience a mild case of déjà vu. Actually it’s not déjà vu, without getting into the long and sordid story complete with international lawsuits, suffice it to say Violet Design was the actual manufacturer for a successful vendor of very stylish… Read more →

The first thing that came into my mind when I unzipped the AKG microphone case that contained the C5 (condenser) and D5 (dynamic) microphones was the phrase “two peas in a pod.” Why? Simply put, the C5 and D5 microphones share the same zinc-alloy body and appear to be completely identical. One has to look closely to notice that the… Read more →