VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Dayo]

Just curious if anyone has tried the Telefunken AR-51 tube mic? Or even it's posh cousin the ELA M 250/1?

On paper the AR-51 looks like a good choice for v/o; excellent mid/high clarity, subtle shelving dip from 200 Hz down.

I like the AK47 quite a lot - wondered if you had any thoughts on this one?

[Mike Sommer]

If you like the AK47 you should like the AR51.

The high end on the AR51 is not hyped, so if you're looking for shimmery highs look elsewhere- though this lends itself to be played with in the 5 to 10K range with just a touch of eq. I would put this on a nice British preamp like the 1073 (GAP 73) this would be a classic matching like its older sister the ELAM 251 was back in the day.

The AR51 might be too much mic for most VO, I lean toward the Gefell MT71 s as a general announce microphone. But the AR51 would be a very nice flavor to add to the mic locker. You might have a bit of a challenge choosing between the AR51 and the AK47.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[todd ellis]

i prefer the stopping power of the 7.62mm ... oh, wait ... we're talking microphones ... never mind.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Dayo]

[Mike Sommer]

Too much mic, as in driving a Lamborghini to the market to get a dozen eggs.

Though the price does make it very affordable, and tempting.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Dayo]

[Gregory Best]

Todd, I personally prefer a 30mm with the Humvee shock mount. Adds a touch color and a higher db output. Tracers add even more color in low mood light for softer reads. You'll need a rugged pre for this special road kit. Ymmv.
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Gregory Best

greg@gregorybest.com

[Chris T]

I'd be careful of the Tele AR. If you read the fine print you will realize that they use quality controlled capsules from China. So basically they rebrand Chinese mics with some mods on the inside. They do sound pretty decent, but at this point, you are paying for the Tele badge.

[Mike Sommer]

Chris, that's an incorrect statement.

It might be good to understand that this Telefunken company is not the original Telefunken of Germany. This is TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, and has only been around since 2001, and located in South Windsor Connecticut in the good ol' US of A. They have exclusive rights to manufacture and sell replicas of the original Telefunken mics, to over 27 countries. Every mic is hand built in the USA, only the capsule and the power supply of the AR51 are made offshore .

Personally, I would not be worried about the Chinese capsule. Over the past few years the Chinese have become quite adept at making capsules. The capsules also receive 3 levels of quality control before they go into the mic.

With any mic, even a clone, we know that there are going to be some differences to the sound - we expect that. Every capsule is going to sound different, no matter where they come from, because there are many kinds of capsule, made in many different ways.

The art of microphone design, is to take a capsule, whether it cost $100 or $800, and make it sound the way you want it to. In this case they wanted to make an more affordable mic that sounded something like the $9,000 ELA M 251 E, and they achieved that goal.

They did this by using a less expensive capsule, tuning and mounting the electronics onto a PC board vs. "point to point" like in the ELA M251, and moving the pattern switching to the power supply, thus eliminating a very costly and complicated part.

Yeah, you cold get the German capsule version of the AR51, but in the end, it would cost you about $5000.00.

Here are some nice samples:
http://proaudiotoys.com/AudioTests/TubeMicsComparison_3-29-2010/
_________________
The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Chris T]

I think you and I are basically saying the same thing, you just said it much better than I did. I talked at length with the Tele guys at AES last year and they explained the same process. I should have been more specific. These mics do sound good, buyers just need to understand they are not getting that $9000 tele mic, they are getting a good sounding "lite" version of it that still sounds very good.

[Dayo]

So I got the AR-51 but had them mod it with the CK-12 capsule (same as the ELA-M 251) and a custom paint job. Finally I think I've got a tube mic I can live with. Nicely articulate, but not nearly so aggressive in the mids as the various U47 clones I've tried before. This is a very smoooooth mic that takes EQ very well.

Downside? It's a tad noisier than I'd like, but I'm waiting on a vintage GE 6072 five star tube which I'm told tests as quiet as it gets. I'll post some clips then.

Meantime here's a couple of pics...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65151558@N07/5933374969/

[Mike Sommer]

Wow! like, don't bogart the mic man, share some samples with us...

That hiss is part of the charm. It's the imperfections that make it perfect, the "Wabi Sabi" if you will. Beauty is in the imperfections.

Now I'll ask, what preamp are you using?
When you record what is your nominal and peak recording levels?
Do you normalize?
Do you use compression when you record?
What bit and sample rate to you record in?

Let's see if we can get you dial in.
_________________
The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Bruce]

Smokin' mic, dude.




B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Rob Ellis]

very nice paint job on that mic...just don't get pulled over with it
in your glovebox...at least not in Ohio....

[Steve Knight]

I just heard from Willie Nelson,...he wants to record his next album on that mic...