sE RN17 Wins Drum Overhead Mic Shootout
Thursday 27th October 2011
Grab a coffee, take a 10 minute break and enjoy the "Prairie Sun Drum Overhead Mic Shootout" from one of the world's leading microphone blogs Recording Hacks. This robust drum overhead microphone shootout includes audio samples. Matt McGlynn of Recording Hacks comments:
"We have no affiliation with Milab, Nevaton, Earthworks, Mojave Audio, sE Rupert Neve, Oktava, AKG, Schoeps, or Neumann, and received no compensation for this review."
Unsurpringly, sE Rupert Neve are delighted with the feedback received with reference to the sE Rupert Neve RN17 Stereo Matched Pair.
"The sE RN17 has it all. Every positive adjective I can use for any of these other mics, they all apply to this one. Smooth, balanced, warm, present, articulate… it’s like somebody went through these tracks and EQ’d away every bit of high-end hash and low-frequency wooliness and left behind just the stuff I want to hear. The bottom is tight, like the C460B, but the sE RN17 hears farther into the room than the AKGs do. The top is ever so slightly sweeter than “natural,” but not hyped. I would use the hell out of these mics. My compliments to Mr. Neve and Mr. Zou!"
Read the full microphone shoot out (including audio samples) here and compare the Mojave Audio MA-101 FET, Nevaton MC49-C, Earthworks Audio SR40, sE Rupert Neve RN17, Milab DC-96C and DC-96B, Neumann KM 85, Neumann KM 54, Schoeps M 221 B, Oktava MK-012 and AKG Acoustics C 460 B.
If you have only a few minutes, here's the introduction providing a context for this shootout to encourage you to bookmark this review of small diaphragm condensers to digest later!
"Prairie Sun is one of Northern California’s coolest recording studios. It’s not just the funky rural setting, with the studio spread out across a half-dozen outbuildings that could easily be mistaken for just-another farm… nor the collection of vintage gear that has to be seen to be believed… nor the client list, which runs the spectrum from Paul McCartney to Primus… Rather, it is all of those things together, plus the studio’s 30-year history in one location under the direction of one guy, namely Mark Rennick — known to everyone as Mooka.Mooka and I had only recently met when he mentioned that he might be interested in checking out some new drum overhead mics. I admit it, I get the shakes when someone says drum overhead shootout. I can’t help but immediately start thinking of all the microphones I’d love to put above a drum kit — old favorites and new contenders too.The story, as I understand it, is that the studio wants to retire some of its vintage microphones. The Neumann KM54s, Schoeps M221Bs, the AKG C61s, and so on, all sound great on drums, but there is a high expense to keeping these things sounding as good as they do. I think Mooka wanted to know if something contemporary would suffice — with the added benefit of not being impossible to replace if one inadvertently hits the ground. With such formidable competition, I knew I would need to bring in some big guns. So I put together a $12,000 collection of the finest small-diaphragm condensers on the market today"
Find out more about Prairie Sun Recording Studios here. Recording Hacks' Prairie Sun Drum Overhead Mic Shootout complete with audio samples can be enjoyed in it's entirety here.
If you wish to evaluate the sE Rupert Neve RN17 Stereo Matched Pair in your own recording environment, please do not hesitate to contact sE directly, your local distributor (if you are outside the UK) or your local sE dealer, and ask about our FREE Loan Service.
