 |
Welcome to nickspicks, a page for sport taping enthusiasts where you can read reviews on gear used in field recording and the enjoyment of Hi-Fidelity sound reproduction (stereo geek). | |
|
John Peluso's company, "Peluso Microphone Labs", is probably more noted in the industry for his hand built tube LD microphones than his limited condenser offerings. He's got a good ear for the classics, and knows how to engineer a microphone to get it to sound the way he wants it to. In choosing a condenser stereo mic to emulate in the design of his own product, he chose the Neumann SM69. Based off the classic u67 neumann capsule, the sm69 is a legendary piece that can be found in studios all over the world. It is still in production to this day (retailing over $5k) and has had several rebuilds and revisions over the years. And so the P Stereo microphone is born, and ready to put itself up against any stereo mic in production today. There isn't a lot of competition out there, and nothing outside if the neumann itself that can compete in this range of quality and sonic performance. Physically , the P stereo is a hefty microphone. Solidly constructed w/a nickle finished brass housing, accented with chrome plating. It almost appears "Harley-esque" at first. Certainly not a bad thing. Very nice looking microphone to say the least. While large, it is not "ridiculous" large like the Studio Projects LSD2 stereo microphone which shares the same features. In fact, it is about 2/3rds the size of one. As pictured below. It came delivered in a metal padded brief case (locking) with an outboard AC powered phantom supply (and signal splitter from the 5 pin stereo mic cable to two XLR 3 pin male outputs), a 20' handsomely designed cloth coated cable and a shock mount that has a nice retro old-school look to it. A very nice mount, I might add. Well built and solid. Locking thumb screws are available to really tighten down its grip the P stereo. Excellent for upside down positioning, when warranted. Con
trolls are laid out
intuitively, with A being the upper capsule and B being the fixed
lower. A 3 pattern selection switch is labeled for each and located
on the front of the microphone. Standard patters are omni - cardioid
- and figure of 8. This allows for XY, blumlein and Mid-Side stereo
recording. Between those three settings you are ready and able to
capture any sonic event and come up with decent results. A -10db pad
is located on the rear. As I mentioned, the bottom capsule (B) is
fixed in place. The upper capsule rotates in one direction, 90 degrees. With this simple twist, you are ready for all of your stereo recording options. Leaving the mic facing straight ahead would set you up for Mid Side recording. Twisting the mic in the shock mount so that the "A" pattern selector switch faces the sound source puts you perfectly on axis for XY or Blumlein. I'd like to note that the upper capsule, marked "A" is always going to be the right channel if you are recording Mid-Side. Be sure of that as all software, consoles or DAWs will want the raw channels presented in this manner, where Left = Mid info and Right = Side. In general practice, the upper will always be the right channel no matter what (unless upside down) as that's just the way it works out. I must admit that for the last two years I've been a believer in the SP LSD2 stereo microphone. Its cheap, its effective and it never ceased to surprise me by surpassing my expectations at nearly every use. I thought it was the best bang for the buck out there, and that went up the price range well beyond what it retails for. In reality, I was just used to the way it sounded. I say that because when I started to use the P stereo microphone in its place, I was jaw-droppingly surprised. I was nearly inspired ! So lush and sweet. So full bodied and robust sounding. So wet....so NEUMANN ! You could have told me I was listening to any vintage recording setup and I would have agreed w/o blinking. Ok, so the P stereo doesn't' do anything that the competition doesn't already do..., but what you get here is some serious sonic ear candy. This mic is fun because it sounds engaging (at least to me). Its not neutral or critically transparent. Much more on the warm and juicy end of the spectrum. I hope that makes sense. If you're a neumann fan, then you have probably come across those types of discriptions by now. I bet it would make for an outstanding vocal mic in omni mode. I know it sounds amazing as a room mic, a drum overhead and even from a distance you'd think a LD mic would be useless. In my trials with it running XY, I have found myself pulling rather good recordings out of venues and locations that are not normally conducive to "good". Listenable, yes..., but good in the sense that you can really get inside of the recording, I seldom achieve that in these usual haunts of mine. That right there is a step up from par. Off axis rejection is good and coloration is minimal in that respect, yet it has its flavor. A sum of its parts, I suppose one could say. On axis recording (via Mid-Side) is where this mic sings. Here it is...weeks before the holidays and I find myself scurrying to come up with the cash to pay for the review unit. No way is this leaving my mic closet! At least not until John comes up with something better to replace it with. I haven't been this giddy about a microphone since I last owned a Soundfield ST-250.
There are two things missing from the kit though that
I would like to point out. I suppose that if you are working
in a controlled environment, have access to AC electricity and no wind potential then
you have nothing to fear. Otherwise, the P stereo stays home.
The stereo cable's 5 pin termination doesn't allow for any other means of
use other than the proprietary power supply, which needs to be plugged
in. From there, you supply your own 3 pin XLR female >
whatever. No windscreen is supplied either. The P stereo condenser microphone
doesn't come cheap, mind you. But given its performance its
not bad. If you wanted to purchase a microphone like this, you have
very few choices for "brand names" that you'd recognize. AKG discontinued
the c426b, so that and any of the older relatives are eBay finds,
if you're lucky. Same goes for the Neumann SM/USM69 series, having
been in production for quite a while. Maybe one of those classics,
in fair condition, ....might be had for under two grand. eBay
though.... Technical
Data Sample recordings on Archive.org's Live
Music Archive (LMA)
|
||
