Best seat in the house?

I came across this earlier today and had an eye-opening experience reading it. The terminology is so far out there is sounds made up, but it is a harsh reality to face. The musical landscape is changing, and I would not be the least bit surprised to find “Telepresencing” experiences on the very near horizon.

Excerpt:

“If I had settled for a telepresence ticket, I’d be watching this stream to my home theater in fully immersive audio and hi-res video, but my access would be limited to user feeds behind a virtual velvet rope. If I had sprung for VIP access, I would have reserved seating with bottle service, feeds from behind the band and backstage, and limited invites to medium-quality feeds for a few friends who couldn’t make it.”

Read all of Michael Garfield’s article here on http://hplusmagazine.com.

Related Links

• H+ Online Magazine’s Official Website
• Michael Garfields’s Blogspot
• Matthew Hendershot’s blog at ZIO Pro

I found this great collection of MiniMoog Voyager Samples for Kontakt 3/4 while reading the KVRAudio.com forums!  Great work Ozorg!
http://www.soundblocker.com/free-kontakt-samples.php

Related Links

• Soundsnap.com
• Frank Serafine’s Official Website
• Matthew Hendershot’s blog at ZIO Pro

I realize that it has been some time since I have published a gear review, but when I had the opportunity to demo the enCORE 100 and 200, two new live sound offerings from Blue Microphones, and share my thoughts with you all, I could not pass it up. Firstly because I love playing with new toys, and secondly, because I find these toys in particular very intriguing.

Since I first got into engineering, Blue has been a name among names for top quality recording microphones. However, a lion’s share of their recent releases have been targeted at a broader audience. I believe that the Ball, and subsequent Kick Ball and Eight Ball were the start, but they soon led to the more affordably priced Bottle Rocket models, the USB line of the Snowball, Icicle and now Yeti, and even the odd releases of the Mikey, Eyeball and Snowflake. All of these speak to the fact that Blue is trying to broaden it market share and reach out to a wider range of consumer. But by throwing their hat in the live sound ring historically dominated by the Shure SM58, are they destined sit on the sidelines like Sennheiser’s e835? Or could they possibly be the David to what is arguably one of the audio industries sturdiest of Goliaths?

The first thing I noticed unboxing the pair was the weight. They weren’t heavy by any means, and moreover it actually brought a smile to my face to feel like I was hefting something of importance instead of some cheap plastic toy.

Also immediately noticeable was Blue’s typical flair for eye-catching design. The body style looks like it was borrowed from the Beta57, but with vast innovative improvements. The barrel has a machined in grip texture and a beautiful logo inlay. The screens are obviously heavy duty, with a bulletproof thickness and a significant solid bar at the equator for extra impact resistance. The 100 series is a polished silver screen with a gun-metal gray barrel, again reminiscent of its targeted competitor, while the 200 has a charcoal black barrel with a polished bronze screen, a combination that can only be described as ’sexy’.

I have seen reviews of these mics that involved shooting them out in a studio, but I don’t see how that can help someone in the market to actually purchase a mic like this. So I enlisted the help of my good friend and Public Assembly technical director Jesus Figueroa in order to test the mics in a true live sound environment.

The monthly concert series Trashbat was as perfect an arena as could be asked for since the night was planned to swing the gamut of sounds from quieter singer-songstress to hard-riffing indie rock. Before doors opened we swept the mics across the newly rung out monitor setup. The dynamic capsule of the 100 gave us a great amount of gain and headroom and was completely silent when put to the monitors. The phantom-powered Active Dynamic capsule in the 200 was a lot louder (as to be expected) at lower gain, but also had a slight ringing that developed in the range around 4kHz. This high frequency bump was also evident when checking the mics against no background music in the empty room and is also supported by the frequency response chart. The highs on both models were really bright and crisp, almost to the point of being shrill, however, knowing the power of EQ and given the really wide open sounds space the mics produced, I was already starting to like what I was hearing.

According to Jesus, the real test for these bad boys was whether or not he could throw them down a flight of stairs and still cable them up for that night. I fully agreed, and after assuring him that I would not get upset, he gave the 100 a toss across the room and into the stage wall. It broke… the wall! We dusted drywall off the mic’s screen, plugged it back in and it sounded just as good as it did straight from the box. We banged it on the floor a few extra times to make sure, but all signs showed it truly was the tank it appeared to be.

We used both mics as the main vocals all night long. The Active Dynamic 200 model was the perfect performer for the quieter female act as it transferred all the nuance of her voice at top volumes and crystal clear clarity. The more aggressive vocals of the rock bands were a perfect match for the 100, and in the full mix of a performance, I had a decisive change of heart about the high frequency characteristics as they allowed the vocals to cut thru the mix with ease at more consistent volume levels.

By the end of the night I was convinced that these mics definitely have what it takes to be a top competitor in the live sound field and then some, and I wasn’t alone. Jesus was convinced too, and even tried to talk me out of my demo units. Sorry man, maybe next time.

The Blue enCORE Series Microphones are available now. The enCORE 100 retails for $99 MSRP and the 200 carries a pricetag of $149 MSRP. More information is availble at bluemic.com.

This blog post originally published on November 30th, 2009 at http://www.zoom-in.com. Read it here. Matthew Hendershot is an audio engineer, producer and DIY musician living in New York City and currently creating original content for Zoom In Online.