Recording - May 2012 - 22
Kel Audio HM-7U & HM-3C microphones
and a lowcut filter with a 6 dB/octave slope and 80 Hz corner frequency. On the rear of the mic there is a small blue LED to let you know when the mic is receiving phantom power, a handy feature that I wish more expensive microphones had. Sound Sonically this is the most “classic-sounding” microphone in the Kel universe; it does exhibit a similar character to other K47 type FET mics on the market while still retaining its own flavor. Kel calls this mic “rich, thick, clear and glossy”. The thick and rich part? Absolutely! The HM-7U exhibits big bottom end with a solid, even mid section. Being a transformerless design its low end is a bit more extended and bigger than a classic FET design, and it’s also a tad less dark and punchy in the top, which is where the clear and glossy part comes in. The clarity of this mic’s 10 kHz peak is nicely controlled by a top-end rolloff which keeps the HM-7U out of brittle or piercing territory. Overall it’s a successful blend of classic tone with a healthy hint of modern clarity. Uses This is a microphone that excels at vocals, and yet it’s very much the opposite of the Song Sparrow. Where the lush, airy graininess of the Sparrow is well suited to your crooners, folksy types and jazzers, the HM-7U is a bit more rock’n roll. It’s not a mic that will push the voice through a dense mix, à la your typical high-end presence peak, but rather it gives a nice density and weight to a vocal that allow it to hold its own in the mix. These qualities make it very well suited to voiceover work as well. On instruments, electric guitar is perhaps my favorite use of this microphone—thanks to the 6 dB pad it is equally at home right up in the cone, or at a distance of 2–3' away from the speaker. Again it’s a great balance of full, thick and yet modern. Even better, it blends nicely with your standard Shure SM57. With the 57 tackling the midrange bluntness, the HM-7U fills in the lows a tad along with the presence of the amp’s upper bite for a very huge sound. For other instruments it becomes a case-bycase scenario. On acoustic guitars it is well suited when they need to hold down a hard strummed rhythm part in a rock mix, but not so much if you are after natural or jangly acoustic sound. For drum overheads and as a room mic I found the HM-7U’s thickness too much for my tastes, where I preferred the Song Sparrow... and even more so the HM3C, which we will be looking at in a minute.
22
RECORDING MAY 2012
Oddly, while I didn’t find it to suit my taste for overhead work, its weighty sound was pretty cool on hi-hat. Now I know most of us don’t often put a large-diaphragm condenser mic on hi-hats, but this was one of those alternative-folky percussion setups of hi-hat, Cajon and snare drum where bleed was not an issue. It was also nice for thickening up and taming a tambourine during overdubs on the same song. This mic is also a good choice for any place you would normally throw up a FET47-style mic, such as bass cabinet or front of kick where it will give you a nice full bass response and a controlled but clear top end.
HM-3C
Sound Kel uses one word to describe the HM3C, “natural”, and that pretty much sums up this mic, but what do they mean? Many other mics get labeled as natural or clean and it can mean many different things. In my own collection, I find my Telefunken AR-51s on the airy, natural side. My Brauner Phantom captures sources in a real and natural a way—sometimes too real. Natural often implies brightness, openness or an uncolored sound, a slice of reality, and while the HM-3C has a very nice, slightly pushed upper range, this mic is neither airy and open like the AR51 (or Song Sparrow for that matter), nor clinical like the Phantom. Instead, to me the HM-3C seems to have a deceptively
At 7" by 11/2" the HM-3C is one of the smaller mics Kel offers. It is again a transformerless, FET design, and while still a side-address mic, unlike the HM-7U or Song Sparrow, the HM-3C is actually a small-diaphragm microphone. Its capsule is a 20 mm externally biased condenser with a cardioid pattern, and the capsule is built into a unique internal rubber shock mount. This is not the first use of this concept or capsule in a Kel mic; that honor goes to Kel’s very first mic, the original HM-1 (reviewed way back in June 2005), still available today in the upgraded HM-1x version. The manufacturer’s data for the HM-3C show that is has a 30 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response, –36 ±2 dB sensitivity, output impedance of 55 ohms, an 76 dB signal-to-noise ratio, 18 dB of self noise and a 130 dB max. SPL level. The HM-3C is virtually flat from about 60 Hz to 4 kHz. Below 60 Hz the mic rolls off down to 30 Hz. Most interesting is its top end, which features a 4 dB rise at 4 kHz that holds its place all the way to about 18 kHz. In other words, this is a natural and consistent high-end push vs. the typical spikes and valleys found in the upper range of many modern mics.
simple and even sound, neither harsh nor clinical, with an open and smooth top end. The best analogy I can think of is that a digital photograph may be more visually “real”, but a great print from a good film negative may seem more natural to the eyes. This is my impression of the HM-3C. In use This is a microphone that is tailor-made for my world as I do lots of folk, Celtic, ethnic and Americana music, and lately a fair share of bluegrass as well. So what does this mic do that makes it so suited to those music forms and instruments? Simple: it stays out of the way and takes a good, simple sonic photograph of the source. It is well suited to banjo, mandolin, and acoustic guitar, not clinical or too detailed... the word “charming” comes to mind. On drum overheads, especially in a Glyn Johns-style setup, it’s again quite natural and with no harsh bite. By accident I found out what a nice room mic and violin mic it can be both at the same time. I was auditioning mics for a violin session and I had the HM-3C sitting idle on a stand, left over from a previous drum session. While checking out what I thought was a different mic on the
Recording - May 2012
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2012
Recording - May 2012
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Lynne Arriale’s Solo—A Piano Solo Recording Of Note
Kel Audio HM-7U amd HM-3C Microphones
Fanny Franklin’s Get Wet—A Conversation With Producer/Engineer Jason Gutierrez
AKG Perception 120 USB Microphone
Miking Instruments: The Lost Art
Earthworks SR20 Microphone
SXSW 2012
Radial Engineering MC3 Passive Monitor Switcher
Readers’ Tapes
Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 5: Introduction To Microphones—Part Two (Directionality).
Miking A Symphony Orchestra For A Commercial
Audio-Technica AT4050ST Stereo Microphone
Alclair Reference In-Ear Monitors
RME Fireface UCX
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - May 2012 - Recording - May 2012
Recording - May 2012 - Cover2
Recording - May 2012 - 1
Recording - May 2012 - 2
Recording - May 2012 - 3
Recording - May 2012 - Fade In
Recording - May 2012 - 5
Recording - May 2012 - Contents
Recording - May 2012 - 7
Recording - May 2012 - Talkback
Recording - May 2012 - 9
Recording - May 2012 - Fast Forward
Recording - May 2012 - 11
Recording - May 2012 - Lynne Arriale’s Solo—A Piano Solo Recording Of Note
Recording - May 2012 - 13
Recording - May 2012 - 14
Recording - May 2012 - 15
Recording - May 2012 - 16
Recording - May 2012 - 17
Recording - May 2012 - 18
Recording - May 2012 - 19
Recording - May 2012 - 20
Recording - May 2012 - 21
Recording - May 2012 - Kel Audio HM-7U amd HM-3C Microphones
Recording - May 2012 - 23
Recording - May 2012 - Fanny Franklin’s Get Wet—A Conversation With Producer/Engineer Jason Gutierrez
Recording - May 2012 - 25
Recording - May 2012 - 26
Recording - May 2012 - 27
Recording - May 2012 - 28
Recording - May 2012 - 29
Recording - May 2012 - 30
Recording - May 2012 - 31
Recording - May 2012 - 32
Recording - May 2012 - 33
Recording - May 2012 - AKG Perception 120 USB Microphone
Recording - May 2012 - 35
Recording - May 2012 - Miking Instruments: The Lost Art
Recording - May 2012 - 37
Recording - May 2012 - Earthworks SR20 Microphone
Recording - May 2012 - 39
Recording - May 2012 - SXSW 2012
Recording - May 2012 - 41
Recording - May 2012 - Radial Engineering MC3 Passive Monitor Switcher
Recording - May 2012 - 43
Recording - May 2012 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - May 2012 - 45
Recording - May 2012 - Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 5: Introduction To Microphones—Part Two (Directionality).
Recording - May 2012 - 47
Recording - May 2012 - 48
Recording - May 2012 - 49
Recording - May 2012 - 50
Recording - May 2012 - 51
Recording - May 2012 - 52
Recording - May 2012 - 53
Recording - May 2012 - 54
Recording - May 2012 - 55
Recording - May 2012 - Miking A Symphony Orchestra For A Commercial
Recording - May 2012 - 57
Recording - May 2012 - Audio-Technica AT4050ST Stereo Microphone
Recording - May 2012 - 59
Recording - May 2012 - Alclair Reference In-Ear Monitors
Recording - May 2012 - 61
Recording - May 2012 - RME Fireface UCX
Recording - May 2012 - 63
Recording - May 2012 - 64
Recording - May 2012 - Advertiser Index
Recording - May 2012 - 66
Recording - May 2012 - 67
Recording - May 2012 - 68
Recording - May 2012 - 69
Recording - May 2012 - 70
Recording - May 2012 - 71
Recording - May 2012 - Fade Out
Recording - May 2012 - Cover3
Recording - May 2012 - Cover4
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