Several folks have asked for user reports on the newly delivered L22 mic system. I'm in the UK and was fortunate to receive mine last week after going the Indiegogo route last year.
I've had a head cold but decided to try out a vocal track on a song that I had already recorded the main vocal, knowing I'd have to re-record it once my sinuses cleared.
It's difficult to go into much in the way of tech stuff that hasn't already been covered very well by others, particularly James Ivey's video from Pro Tools Expert, linked to from the Townsend site but here's my quick overview.
The mic came via UPS exactly when they said it would after resolving some vat issues with Townsend. As agreed, last year, they picked up the import duty. Nice touch Townsend. There was a box within the shipping box that contained the camera style flight-case containing the mic. Nicely protected.
Inside the mic box was a note regarding the tightness of the cutout for the cradle and some advice on how to carefully remove the cradle without damaging it. Apparently, this tightness has been addressed at manufacture and will be fine on later models. I'm Serial No. 9. They were right it was extremely tight but came out of the case fine with a little patient coaxing.
So straight to the studio where I set it up on the stand previously home to my Sontronics Aria Pro valve mic. Another excellent mic. My first thought was that the double connector lead that plugs into the base of the mic, terminating in two normal 3-pin xlr male plugs carrying the signal from the dual diaphragms was a bit short. Still, a pair of xlr mic leads as extensions soon sorted that out. plugged through to a couple of channels on my Apollo 8 and once phantom power was engaged we were good to go.
I'd already set the Townsend Sphere UAD plugin to demo mode and began wondering what would happen after the 14-day period had finished but a quick email to UA support last Friday brought a response on Monday to say they had authorised it from their end for me so we were good to go in perpetuity.
I'd forgotten that the mic has four little lights within the grille that light up when power is applied and it makes the mic look very special while letting you know that it's on. The software reminds you to link a pair of channels in Console to use with the mic if you haven't already done that. So I loaded a song into Pro Tools HD where I use three Apollos as outboard including all the Unison goodness to an Avid 8x8x8 running from a TB HD native box.
I did two passes of the lead vocal track one while recording the mic going through the 87 mic model and a second pass without recording the mic model. I have access to a real U87 and all I can say is that it sounded the same to me. The mic definitely recorded the fact that I had a cold! But boy was it a classy cold.
After I'd spluttered my way through these two recordings, I had a play with the different mic models using the 2nd recorded pass and decided that for my voice the C12 model would be great on this song but I was also impressed with the Coles 4038 ribbon model, especially when the cardioid pattern was tweaked to figure 8 just like the real thing. The software gives you all kinds of creative possibilities post recording to get things just right. It all works seamlessly and is very easy to pick up what is happening. Really good software design in my view.
That night, I read the manual, which is clear and underlined some of the important differentiating elements of the L22 and other mics. They also, helpfully included some suggested ways to use the mic with different instruments and recording scenarios.
Once this cold has cleared I'll spend some serious quality time with this baby. The build quality is great. The sound quality superb. The way that Townsend conducted themselves throughout the campaign was exemplary, especially in keeping investors up to date with progress and now they have delivered. What more can I say.
You are going to love this mic when you get yours if you have one coming. If you don't yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
John
I've had a head cold but decided to try out a vocal track on a song that I had already recorded the main vocal, knowing I'd have to re-record it once my sinuses cleared.
It's difficult to go into much in the way of tech stuff that hasn't already been covered very well by others, particularly James Ivey's video from Pro Tools Expert, linked to from the Townsend site but here's my quick overview.
The mic came via UPS exactly when they said it would after resolving some vat issues with Townsend. As agreed, last year, they picked up the import duty. Nice touch Townsend. There was a box within the shipping box that contained the camera style flight-case containing the mic. Nicely protected.
Inside the mic box was a note regarding the tightness of the cutout for the cradle and some advice on how to carefully remove the cradle without damaging it. Apparently, this tightness has been addressed at manufacture and will be fine on later models. I'm Serial No. 9. They were right it was extremely tight but came out of the case fine with a little patient coaxing.
So straight to the studio where I set it up on the stand previously home to my Sontronics Aria Pro valve mic. Another excellent mic. My first thought was that the double connector lead that plugs into the base of the mic, terminating in two normal 3-pin xlr male plugs carrying the signal from the dual diaphragms was a bit short. Still, a pair of xlr mic leads as extensions soon sorted that out. plugged through to a couple of channels on my Apollo 8 and once phantom power was engaged we were good to go.
I'd already set the Townsend Sphere UAD plugin to demo mode and began wondering what would happen after the 14-day period had finished but a quick email to UA support last Friday brought a response on Monday to say they had authorised it from their end for me so we were good to go in perpetuity.
I'd forgotten that the mic has four little lights within the grille that light up when power is applied and it makes the mic look very special while letting you know that it's on. The software reminds you to link a pair of channels in Console to use with the mic if you haven't already done that. So I loaded a song into Pro Tools HD where I use three Apollos as outboard including all the Unison goodness to an Avid 8x8x8 running from a TB HD native box.
I did two passes of the lead vocal track one while recording the mic going through the 87 mic model and a second pass without recording the mic model. I have access to a real U87 and all I can say is that it sounded the same to me. The mic definitely recorded the fact that I had a cold! But boy was it a classy cold.
After I'd spluttered my way through these two recordings, I had a play with the different mic models using the 2nd recorded pass and decided that for my voice the C12 model would be great on this song but I was also impressed with the Coles 4038 ribbon model, especially when the cardioid pattern was tweaked to figure 8 just like the real thing. The software gives you all kinds of creative possibilities post recording to get things just right. It all works seamlessly and is very easy to pick up what is happening. Really good software design in my view.
That night, I read the manual, which is clear and underlined some of the important differentiating elements of the L22 and other mics. They also, helpfully included some suggested ways to use the mic with different instruments and recording scenarios.
Once this cold has cleared I'll spend some serious quality time with this baby. The build quality is great. The sound quality superb. The way that Townsend conducted themselves throughout the campaign was exemplary, especially in keeping investors up to date with progress and now they have delivered. What more can I say.
You are going to love this mic when you get yours if you have one coming. If you don't yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
John