Fact or Fiction?
I almost didn't write this review. Not out of
laziness, procrastination (really), Armageddon, or any other 'acts of nature'
that might ordinarily plague a writer of technical things as they pertain to
the world of studio recording, etc.
No,
no gentle readers, the reason for this brief lapse of informational
dissemination was a far more insidious beast. Shining the sun-like beacon of
full disclosure down into the deep, dark chasm of my reluctance reveals a
singular self-serving motive: I just simply didn't want anyone else to have one
except me.
Perhaps
I should explain.
By
now, frequent readers of this column should be fairly aware that I am committed
not only to the art of recording but am also an outspoken advocate of leveling
the playing field that is shared by home recordists, project studios, and
top-tier professional facilities.
There
are three main areas to consider in this effort: Knowledge, Experience, and
Tools.
As
I'm sure they said at least a few times on the old '70s TV show Kung Fu, there
are many paths to Knowledge. There are educational curricula directed toward
the aspiring recording engineer on college campuses all across the country as
well as dedicated recording academies and my personal favorite: The University
of Barnes & Noble. Maybe even reading this column helps. Maybe.
Experience
is somewhat more fluid, yet still fairly simple to acquire. You basically just
record all the time. Record anything, everything, and in every conceivable (and
sometimes inconceivable) way. I mean, you don't get better at playing the
guitar by not playing it, right? And just for the record, that preceding
sentence would have come in quite handy earlier in my career - but I'm digressing
even further.
It's
tools that eventually become the obsession for many of us. Maybe because it's
something tangible, concrete. We can (almost) touch it. Yet it's often kept
beyond our reach due to its prohibitive price. The price/performance ratio is
most often illustrated by a time-honored equation: The more expensive it is, the
better it's built and the better it sounds.
It
was largely due to my own financial frustrations (or maybe just plain,
old-fashioned rock 'n' roll rebellion) that I became obsessed with proving that
great sounds can come from minimized investment, so imagine my excitement at
the prospect that I might be able to turn folks onto an excellent studio
microphone with a retail price of just $399!
The
mic I'm referring to is the Avantone CV-12 Tube Microphone.
In
normal fashion, I petitioned the manufacturer for a review unit, anxious to get
my coffee-stained, mouse-curved hands on it ASAP, as I had projects coming up
that I knew would put it through its paces. As is sometimes the case, they
didn't get back to me within my relatively narrow time window, so I decided to
put my very own money where my mouth is - and buy the thing sight unseen. After
some searching I finally located one at Professional Sound & Music
(www.prosound.com) and gingerly sped back home with the thing.
The
CV-12 comes in a sturdy, attractive aluminum travel case (not a cardboard box,
like one might rightly expect at this low a price point). Inside, there is a
secondary, velvet-lined wooden box that holds the actual microphone. Very
classy. Also packed in the padded travel case are the dedicated power supply,
cables, and the 'Custom Retro Shockmount' for attaching the mic to a stand. As
if that weren't enough of a bargain, Avantone also includes two additional
tubes besides the one installed in the microphone for those adventurous
recordists that may want to explore other sonic possibilities. Care should be
taken with regard to swapping out the tubes, and my advice is to leave this
thing as is, because the best matched tube for the mic (a hand-selected Russian
6072) is already inside it. AND...They've even included a couple of replacement
elastics for the shock mount. Anyone with mics that use these probably already
knows the agony of trying to replace them, so the inclusion of them here
elevates Avantone's gesture from thoughtfulness to flat out altruism.
Then
there's the whole 'how does it sound?' thing.
I'm
going to preface this with a brief anecdote: A couple years ago, I had a client
who rented a microphone for the two months it took to record their project.
That mic was the Telefunken ELAM 251, a rare thing that is considered by many
to be the singular benchmark by which all mics compared to it stand (or mostly)
fall. At a price upwards of $20, 000 it's a holy grail microphone if ever there
was one. I exhaustively studied that mic's tone on everything I could think of
to put in front of it in an effort to tattoo that information into my brain.
The
design of the CV-12 is based upon another venerable classic microphone: the AKG
C12. That microphone is closely related to the previously mentioned Telefunken
(although I believe it's the model 250 that it's more closely related to), so
you can see that these guys are shooting for the stars with this one.
Powering
up the mic (and let's please remember to allow it to warm up for about a half
hour prior to use) and placing it in front of a soft-voiced female vocalist
yielded a deja vu like I'd never expected. I mean, my hopes were high already
and what with the extras and obvious care that went into the packaging - well, I
never imagined I'd be thinking 'I just saved myself $19,600!!'
You
see the word 'silky' (over)used a lot in mic reviews, but it wasn't until I had
worked with that Telefunken mic that I truly understood that term. It's all in
the sibilance; the 's' and 'ch' and 't' sounds that can have us reaching for
the de-esser quite often. Lower-priced mics often have a slightly 'hyped' top
end that brings these out even further, in a generally unflattering way. One of
the most distinctive features of the other mics I mentioned is their ability to
capture all of that 'gloss' and 'airiness' without the unwanted artifacts, and
it's one of the things that makes them most desirable. The CV-12 has this in
spades.
Proximity
effect was a bit more pronounced with this mic, but careful positioning (okay,
asking the vocalist to step back a bit) as well as engaging the 80hz rolloff
switch worked great for this, and the tone was still very present and forward
sounding. There's also a -10db pad switch on the mic, which is useful when
miking amps or louder vocalists. The CV-12's pronounced proximity effect came
up again with a different vocalist, and this time the solution was to alter the
mic's pickup pattern slightly. I say slightly, because while the mic can be set
to cardioid, omni, and figure 8 modes, there are also several 'in between'
settings available via the switch on the power supply. A couple of clicks
toward figure 8 and we were golden.
Using
the mic in omni mode as a an overhead for drums (yay, Ringo!) as a room mic and
in figure 8 mode on electric and acoustic guitars yielded uniformly excellent
results, and it's hands down the new go-to mic in my already formidable mic
closet. Oh, and did I mention that it's RED? That makes it one of the most
attractive ones you'll have too.
Look,
you can get out your slide rule and show me all sorts of charts and graphs
discounting claims that this mic compares well with rare vintage models, but I
say use your ears. At a street price of under four hundred dollars, the
Avantone CV-12 is hands down the most singularly important contribution to
affordable recording since the ADAT.