quote:

Studio Projects B Series steal the show

I'm as suprised as anyone that I'm sitting here typing this. I spent the day at Sea Note Recording today for some mic pre-amp testing. We tracked to RADAR. There were about ten of us, all experienced engineers, techs and musicians. The premise of the day was to listen to some pres. We had:

Great River MP-4
Great River MP-1NV
Phoenix Audio DRS-2
API 3124
API 528C
John Hardy M1
Speck MicPre 5.0
Oram somethingerother
Demeter 2 ch
Mackie VLZ
MCI JH 536 36
MCI JH 600 Transformerless

You're getting the idea that this is fairly "heavy" I hope. : )

OK, so we have a guitarist and a couple of female singers there as well. So, we start off the day with female vox and she can really belt. We started testing mics to see which one would be the best to help us listen to all these pres. We auditioned:

AKG Solid Tube
Audio Technica 4047
AKG 3000
AKG 2000
SE Electronics Z5600

We went through all these and weren't really happy with any of them. I happened to have a B1 and B3 in the car – not even meaning to test them – so I said, "Well, let's give 'em a shot".

Long story short – the B1 was chosen by everyone unanimously as the "test mic".

Later, we started acoustic gtr tracks. The mics were:

Beyer 160 ribbon
AKG 451E
Red5 Audio RV4
SE Electronics SE1
Blue Blueberry
Studio Projects B1

We tested all kinds of combinations of mics and pres. The 160 was great but was missing top-end. the 451 was great but missing bottom-end. The Blueberry was hands-down everyone's favorite. But the surprise to everyone was how great the B1 sounded. The funny thing was the Blueberry didn't really sound that much better than the B1.

The other female vocalist tested through all the mics – and guess what. Bingo. B1. I actually think she'd even sound better on a C1 but I didn't have one with me.

At the end of the day, everyone was wanting to know where to get these mics. Before I knew it – 'cause I'm a nice guy – a tech who'd brought in a rack of API 528C's left with my B1 review mic, and a musician who'd brought the API 3124 left with my B3 review mic.

None of these guys had ever heard a Studio Projects mic, and while I had used the B1 and B3 for live sound application I had never done any critical listening and A/B comparison with them in a studio environment. I also have the TB-1 here, but I didn't have it with me today.

All of us were blown away by the B1 and B3. This wasn't just me, but a whole room full of pros. Everyone was cracking up that a $79 mic pretty much floored everything else we tested.

Oh, and if you're wondering how the mic pre-amp listening session went, I'll save that for another day. We're making a CD and I'll post an MP3 of the whole thing when I have it. I will say that for what we tested, the John Hardy M1 was the clear winner of the day and won everyone over.

If you do not have a B1 or a B3 in your studio, you need to get one. These mikes are not "cheap alternatives" and they are not a lesser version of the C series. The B series are serious mics with a neutral sound, and I think as a workhorse mic they far exceed the C series. I never heard a C1 sound as good on acoustic as the B1. We're doing more tests next week and will be doing drums, amps and bass stuff. I'll keep you posted.

quote:

We played around in the studio the other day. We wanted to hear a bunch of mics on drum OH's. We ran an AKG D12 through a Manley SLAM! on kick and ran 15 or so mics through a Millennia HV-3D mic pre.

We only used a single mic on the OH positioned about 6' off the ground over the drummer's right foot. The conclusion of the session was that large condenser mics do such a better job of bringing out the entire kit.

The winners in order of preference where:

AKG 414 B-ULS picked this over the 414 TLII
Red5 Audio RV8 - very open and airy
Oktava MK-319 - excellent OH mic. Highly recommended. I think they're $99 now.
AT 4040 - another winner

Another mic I've heard on OH's that are great are Studio Projects B1

The AKG 451's we used made a good "cymbal" mic, but didn't pick up much detail from the kit and made the toms sound like paper.

The idea here is that most people in these forums are micing kits with less mics - which I actually recommend. Kick mic, snare mic and a pair of OH's are all you need in the way of mics for a great drum sound - as long as the kit and room sounds good and the drummer can play.

We later switched out the D12E kick drum mic with a Red5 Audio RVD1 - and everyone liked the RVD1 better.

Bottom line: If you're looking for OH mics, get a pair of large condensers. they pick up the entire kit much better than most small condensers. Of course, this is a generalization, but just don't assume that you need to get small condensers for OH's.

IMO, the clear hands down winner for a budget OH mic is the Oktava MK-319 and the Studio Projects B1 - both of which will run you less than $200 for a pair.

I'll be posting some sound clips of the drum OH sessions at some point.

quote:

I think the Studio Projects B1 is now the most essential mic for home studios - even surpassing the SM57.

Here's my rating on studio applications, based on a scale of 1-10:

SM57
amps - 9
toms - 4
kick -2
snare - 9
OH - 3
acoustic - 3
percussion - 2
vocals - anywhere from 1-10

SP B1
amps - 9
toms - 10
kick - not tested
snare - 9
OH - 9
acoustic - 9
percussion - 8
vocals - anywhere from 5-8

quote:

Is a B3 essentially a B1+patterns? Or to ask it another way, do the B1 and B3 (using the cardioid pattern) sound identical?

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew Plumb:
Hi Dan,

Is a B3 essentially a B1+patterns? Or to ask it another way, do the B1 and B3 (using the cardioid pattern) sound identical?

quote:

I think the Studio Projects B1 is now the most essential mic for home studios - even surpassing the SM57.

Here's my rating on studio applications, based on a scale of 1-10:

SM57
amps - 9
toms - 4
kick -2
snare - 9
OH - 3
acoustic - 3
percussion - 2
vocals - anywhere from 1-10

SP B1
amps - 9
toms - 10
kick - not tested
snare - 9
OH - 9
acoustic - 9
percussion - 8
vocals - anywhere from 5-8