Category: Microphones

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Microphones

University Microphones circa 1963

Download the eleven-page University modular-microphones catalog circa 1963:

DOWNLOAD: University_Microphones_1963

Models covered, with text, specs, and photos, include University model 401, 402s, 501, 502s, 403L, 404L, Model 70, and Model 71 dynamic mics; and the associated Model SA10, PA10, SSP10, SP10, and CC10 microphone bases. By ‘Bases’ I refer to the lower-half of the microphone itself: the connector, stand-mount, and switch assembly.  Apparently the user could ‘mix-and match’ among the various University capsule/transformer mic bodies and whatever jack/mount/switch assembly the user preferred.  The catalog itself is formatted with a 1/3rd-page insert in order to facilitate comprehension of this ‘feature.’  Here’s an example:

I purchased a well-worn University handheld cardiod dynamic mic recently; it was a model 8100 I believe.  It was the first University microphone I can recall finding.   I picked it up with a nice older desktop stand and a big pile of useless old cabling for a few bucks.  It worked well, and once I constructed a proper cable for it was moved along.    University was a subsidiary of Ling electronics, as was Altec; that being said, there was no way to identify the 8100 as being possibly Altec in origin other than the fact that it used an uncommon XLR4 cable connector, as most 1960s Altec mics also do.  I don’t know if there is any significance to this.  The 8100 was sold to me with possibly the best microphone provenance I have heard in a long time; the junk dealer told me that it had been the announcer mic at the Wallingford Speedway, a (now defunct? Leveled?) Connecticut auto racetrack that I remember vaguely from my early childhood.

A similar model 8100 recently sold on eBay for the terrific  sum of $0.99; new in box, nonetheless; no stories of former racetrack glory accompanied that particular mic.  Dig the fantastic graphic design on the box.  Original eBay listing on-view here.

 

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Microphones Uncategorized

Shure Unisphere Microphone

Mick and Keith on a lone Unisphere

The Shure Unisphere was the predecessor to the ubiquitous SM-58.  It’s basically a dual-impedance SM-58 from what I can gather.  Check out these 40-year old adverts for the Unisphere and consider that despite all we’ve experienced in audio-technology in the past four decades, we’re all still basically using the same vocal mic on stage.  Pretty incredible…

Rod Stewart with the Shure Unisphere

The Fifth Dimension with Shure Unisphere

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Microphones

Broadcast Microphones of the early 1920s

Download a four-page article from the Summer 1987 issue of “The Antique Radio Gazette” which details the development of early broadcast microphones as made by the Westinghouse corporation for use in their own radio broadcast studios.  The article is written by microphone collector/expert Bob Paquette.

DOWNLOAD: Paquette_Microphones_of_the_1920s

In this early post on PS dot com, we looked at the early double-button carbon mic, so popular as a prop in music videos and other fashion-representation.   As primeval as the double-button carbon mic is, it was of course the offspring of even older technology.   Dig into Paquette’s article and go even deeper into the well; we are looking backwards, running through time into the past,  taking retro to its logical conclusion…

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Microphones

Bob Paquette’s Microphone Museum

From the Summer 1981 issue of “The Antique Radio Gazette” (TARG):  an early shout-out to Robert Paquette, microphone collector extraordinaire.  Anyone who has spent/wasted much time searching the web for information about old audio equipment has come across Paquette’s website.   Good lord what a collection.  I’ve never visited the museum, but finding these pics in TARG has reminded me that I should probably order a copy of Paquette’s book.

Follow down this page for the rest of the circa ’81 photos of Paquette’s collection from TARG.

 

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Microphones

The American R331 Ribbon Microphone of 1950

A corollary to the theory that “an infinite number of monkeys typing at an infinite number of typewriters will eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare” is my belief that you can eventually find any LP record you’d want to buy for $1.  (OK maybe $2).  So far this has worked in my favor, although it does require a lot of discipline to keep it in practice.

It’s kinda similar with microphones.  Based on the large numbers that they were produced in, the wide range of industries that they are used in, and coupled with the relative durability of these objects and the relative degree of respect that people treat them with,  if you keep digging long enough you can find pretty much any old mic for a song.  This has proven true for me for everything up to and including vintage Neumanns.  I have not found a $100 C12 yet, but I will.   NEways…  found the above-depicted American R331 for a few bucks yesterday in the last minutes of a yard-sale.  I didn’t know anything about it, and I was not optimistic that it would work.  Turns out that with a slight adjustment it worked fine, and it actually sounds pretty good IMO.  You can make your own assessment based on the recording that I’ve posted at the end of this piece.

The R331 dates from 1950.  It is a ribbon mic.  It was the cheapest of 3 identical-looking ribbon mics that American produced.   I feel like it’s survival can be at largely attributed to the fact that it shipped in the compact, attractive box seen above.  The physical design of this mic in general is really spectacular; the whole thing is machined from solid metal and it is very classy + timeless.  American was a division of the Elgin Watch Company so perhaps this has something to do with the very strong design presence of these mics.

The text on the outside of the box promises ‘Full-Vision.’  I was excited when I saw this, as I imagined that this indicated ‘full frequency response’ or some other relevant sonic characteristic.  As it turns out, this marketing-speak concerns the small physical size of the microphone.  As one commentator writes, “ It is a compact microphone, only about 6 inches long and 2 inches in diameter.  On this basis, American called it a “full vision” microphone, an allusion to the face-blocking size of some of their competitors’ products, such as the RCA 77 and the Altec 639.” (Source).

Above you can see the mounting-base of the mic (attached to the body of the mic by a solid-rubber grommet; no need for a shock mount!) and the unusual mic-clip that the R331 requires.  My yard-sale mic did not come with the clip; only through some miracle did I have one of these clips in a box of parts that I had around.  Weird.

When I plugged the mic in, it worked fine, but the output level was very low, even for a Ribbon.  I wrote S. Sank to inquire if he services these microphones; Sank has done an great job fixing some other 50s ribbons that I have.  His reply: “(American Ribbons) are generally pretty high output…. so you should try one thing ….which is to remove the label plate and change the jumper to a different impedance setting.  The plate should have a paper label on the back of it to show what’s what.  The only weakness of these mics is that sometimes an impedance tap will go bad.”

I tried this, and it turns out the only issue was that one of the jumpers was not secured.  Tightened one screw and done.  Thanks again S!

As far as specs, original paper material, etc: the always-helpful microphone database of Stan Coutant has a very detailed page on these microphones, so no need to re-tread those waters.  Let’s get on to the sound…

LISTEN: American_R331_amazing_grace

For an unrestored 60-year old ribbon mic with a stated response of only 50-8000 hz, I think the sound is pretty remarkable.  It’s a little hiss-y, but that’s somewhat due to the shitty mic preamps in the mBox.  I am confident that this mic could yield a good result with a proper studio mic pre.    BTW, you are hearing a solo finger-picked guitar performance; no EQ; the only processing is the digidesign ‘Maxim” taking off about 2dbs on the peaks.

Anyone out there using the American ribbon mics in their work?

Anyone have any experience with their high-end DR330 variant?

 

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Microphones

Radio Communications Mics of the 1940s part 2

The Electrovoice Cardax Crystal Cardiod Microphone

Today we’ll look at some more microphones on offer to Radio Hams in the pages of QST Magazine circa 1947.  The Electrovoice Cardax pictured above seems to have been a popular choice; this mic appears on photographs of numerous Ham radio shacks of the era.  It is odd then that I have never come across one of these in all my years of digging.  Are crystal mics less reliable than dynamics?

The Cardax again; also pictured is the 910, also a crystal, although presumably an omnidirectional.  Half the price.  Anyone using one of these?

And the Cardax yet again.  Here we learn that the Cardax has a presence-boost switch that adds a 7db peak at 4000 hz to add intelligibility to speech.   Sennheiser notably offers this feature (well, similar enough) in their 441 cardioid dynamic.  Good for use underneath a snare drum. (the 441, that is)


Astatic (seemingly) made microphones exclusively for the ‘communications’ (as opposed to recording or live-sound-reinforcement) market.  The Astatic D-104 is the most iconic of Ham radio mics.  The D-104 consists of a removable ‘head’ that attaches to a transistorized base with a push-to-talk bar.  Above are a few of the ‘heads’ that mate with the D-104 base.  Now that I think about it…  what were these heads used with in the 1940s, prior to the introduction of the transistor?

Above is my D104 base with the working heads that I have accumulated.  I’ve bought plenty of non-working ones as well.  The ‘bullet’ shaped heads are dynamic and the round ones are crystal element.

Here you can see the head removed from the base.  As i said earlier, the base consists of a 9V battery-powered preamp and a large ‘push-to-talk’ bar.  You will usually find these units with a 4 (or more) pin output connector designed to mate with some certain Ham radio transmitter.  I modified this one to have a standard XLR-M output jack. It seems to work fine into any mic preamp.  So…  what can you do if you want to use these heads without the noisy, bulky base?

At some point I came across the 3-pin-Amphenol barrel-adaptor in the center above.  Add a short length of wire and an XLR-M and voila.  Seems to work fine into the mic preamps in my little Mackie test-mixer.  Which I imagine has fairly high input impedance, likely 1500 ohms or more.  Honestly not sure if the performance would be the same into a 150ohm or 600 ohm mic input but…  point is, if you find some of these heads, yes they can be used easily without the base unit.

Alright back into it.  Above is the Astatic Synabar.  Never seen one of these.  Seems to be identical to the EV cardax: same feature set, pricing, etc.

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Above: an advert for the Shure ‘Versatex,’ a plastic-bodied crystal mic.  Great design.  And very rare AFAICT.  To the right we have the venerable Shure “556” broadcast-dynamic mic, one of the better -quality microphones made in the 1940s.  The best modern comparison would probably be the SM-7.    Anyhow, the fire-damaged  556 is depicted here not to sell 556s, but as “a living testimonial to the ruggedness and dependability of all Shure Microphones.”  Presumably this does not include plastic microphones such as the Versatex, which could not fare well in a firey inferno.  The advert goes on add: “For Ham use, we recommend the 708A Stratoliner and the 707A Cyrstal Microhones.”

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And there you have it.  The 707 may look like the famous Shure ‘Green Bullet,’ but the element, and the sound, is completely different.  The Green bullet uses a dynamic element with a property that Shure calls ‘Controlled Reluctance,’ which basically indicates a dynamic mic element that does not require an output transformer to mate with the input transformer of a mic preamp. The 707, on the other hand, is a crystal mic.

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Microphones

Turner Ham Microphones of the 1940s

The Turner Model BD Microphone

Today we’ll look at several Turner microphones of the 1940s which were marketed to Radio Hams in the pages of QST.  The development and marketing of recording-studio microphones is generally oriented towards full frequency response, low self-noise, and the ability to handle large sound-pressure levels without distortion.  The development and marketing of live-sound, I.E., PA-system microphones places a definite emphasis on these points as well, but with an equally strong emphasis on durability and feedback rejection.  Ham, or ‘communications’ mics, on the other hand, have the unique distinction of being designed to emphasize the frequency range most necessary to intelligible human speech: approx 500hz to 5000hz.  This is done to ensure that the broadcast will only issue forth the necessary sonic information: the communication value of the words themselves.  Fidelity to the actual tone and timbre of the speaker, and/or the sonic representation of the speaker’s environment (IE the room he/she is in) are irrelevant for this activity.  So when you think about that ‘old mic’ sound, yeah, it is somewhat the result of primitive technology.  But it is also in-part an intentional, engineered condition.

The Turner Model 20X Microphone

The Turner Model 22 Microphone

The Turner Model 33 Microphone

The Turner Model VT73 Microphone.  This model of microphone was also manufactured with a built-in control knob to operate a wire recorder.  Not so different from the USB ‘podcasting’ mics of the 2010’s: combining the acoustic-pickup device with certain elements of the actual recording apparatus (I.E., the d/a convertor and mic preamp) into a single unit.

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Microphones

Studio Microphones of 1955

The Altec 639, 633, 670A, 660, 671A, 632C, M-20, and M-11 microphones

From the pages of AUDIO magazine in 1954/55: new and new-ish studio microphones at the dawn of the transistor age.  Check em out…

The Shure 530.  This was Shure’s mid-range ‘pencil’ mic in the 1950s.  At the top end was the 525; lower in the line was the 535.  See this link for some audio tests including the 535.

Reslo and Bang & Olufsen ribbon microphones were marketed and distributed in the USA under the ‘Fentone’ banner in the 1950s.  Fentone continued as a brand-name for microphone marketing into the 1960s, but later Fentone product was not of this quality.

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Above is the two-page advertising spread that introduced the Electrovoice 666 to the world.  The 666 is the grandfather of the much-beloved Electrovoice Re20, which has been a favorite of recording and live-sound engineers for decades.  Like the Sennhesier 421, the RE-20 is somewhat proof that dynamic microphone technology hasn’t really advanced much in the past three decades.

 

 

 

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Above, a 1955 advert for the 666 along with a review of the 666 from AUDIO magazine.

Above is a 1955 ad for the Electrovoice 664.  The 664 was the ‘public address’ aka ‘cheaper’ version of the 666; the 664 was immensely popular and thousands remain today.  If you come across one of these, there is a good chance it will still work fine.  In terms of visual recognition,  I would argue the 664 has an iconic appeal exceeded only by the Shure 55 series and the RCA 77 and 44 series.  The 664 is not a terrible sounding microphone, although i don’t recommend actually using it in a modern high-decibel PA system.

Wrapping up, here’s an ad for all the microphones that Electrovoice considered its ‘professional quality’ in 1955: the 666, lesser-variant 665, 655, its lesser variant 654, 646 lavalier, 650 and 535.    Hear my pair of ancient 655s in-action here…

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Microphones Pro Audio Archive

Studio Microphones of 1954

AKG D36 advert from 1954

Continuing our survey of AUDIO magazine’s early years: over the next couple of weeks we will look at some of the more relevant content from the first two years that this venerable publication ran under the title ‘Audio,’ the prior title having been ‘Audio Engineering.’ (full backstory here and here).  We’ll start today with the crop of studio microphones on the market in 1954.  One thing becomes pretty clear: the Austrians were really ahead of their time.AKG C-12 advert 1954

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Telefunken U-47 and 201-M adverts 1954

Capps CM 2001, 2030, 2250, and DM 2050 microphones c. 1954.

Anyone have any experience with these mics?  Look interesting.  Let us know…

The Reeves S-T Condenser Microphone; another early American Condenser mic. Very rare.

The Shure 333 ribbon mic.  This was their cardiod ribbon.  I’ve never used one of these, but i would love to get my hands on one.  Stephen Sank recently re-ribboned my circa 1954 Shure 300 (the 300 was Shure’s high-end figure-8 ribbon of the same period) and wow did he do a great job.  It sounds incredible now.    I had thought it was a P.O.S. until he re-did it.  If you own a vintage Shure ribbon mic and you are underwhelmed by it. give Sank a call and see what he can do for you.

…and here is some period analysis of the then-new Shure 333.

Follow the link below to READ-ON….  more studio mics of ’54 follow….

Continue reading “Studio Microphones of 1954”

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Microphones

American Microphones of the 1940s: Audio Engineering Magazine Pt 3.

The Amperite Velocity Microphone

Continuing our review of Audio Engineering Magazine, today we will look at some of new offerings in microphones available to audio engineers in the late 1940s.

The Electrovoice 635

The Electrovoice 650 and 645.  I really would like a nice 650… the ‘Jac Holzman Mic’

An Electrovoice line-up circa ’47The Electrovoice Cardyne and Cardax

The Electrovoice Century

The Electrovoice V1 ribbon mic.

Many more images follow.  Click the link below to Read-On…

Continue reading “American Microphones of the 1940s: Audio Engineering Magazine Pt 3.”