Recording - December 2013 - 16
(cardioid, omni, and figure-8), with switches for an 80Hz highpass
filter and a -10 dB pad.
At 2.5" x 7.8" and 1.6 lbs, the mic is large, heavy and robust.
The body is unique and modern looking with the grille and capsule
protruding out from a light gold, almost silver body. The rolloff and
pad switches are on the front of the mic along with a very bright
orange LED light to let you know the mic is receiving phantom
power. The pattern switch is on the rear.
Internally the M3 uses a gold-painted 1" large-diaphragm active
mylar foil capsule and a class A, high output, low noise preamp. It
has a 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response, up to a -40 dBV/Pa
sensitivity, a max SPL of 147 dB, a 78 dB or less signal to noise
ratio and a 128 dB dynamic range. It comes with an aluminum
case and a hard mount. There is also an SM02 shock mount available separately for $44.99.
Out of the box I was quite impressed with the size, girth and
build of the M3, especially considering the price point and country of origin (i.e. Asian design and manufacture). I placed the pair
I was sent on a drum kit as overheads, both live and in the studio,
and also gave the M3 a whirl on vocals, acoustic guitar, room
miking, cajon, shaker and tambourine. I also compared it to similarly priced models: The MXL CR30 (reviewed March 2013), the
Kel Audio Song Sparrow (reviewed February 2012), and the
Shure KSM27 (now SM27, reviewed way back in April 2002).
Sonically the M3 was brighter and less mid-rich than the
KSM27, not as bright and with more midrange weight than the
CR30, and while closest in tone to the Song Sparrow it was a
tad punchier and less airy. In other words, it held its own nicely
amongst the cardioid-only bunch with its own sound, a sound I
would call solid and forward. It has good off-axis rejection, a
decent but not excessive proximity effect, and with the highpass
filter engaged it handles low-end plosives well.
At $219 Icon has more than delivered on its goal of a great
budget mic for the beginner and student. Sonically the M3 is
neutral and musical enough to make it a great starter mic for
any source.-PV
iZotope Insight
$449; www.izotope.com
Insight is a metering suite from iZotope.
In this case, "insight" could be said to have
two definitions: to provide a detailed understanding of the inner nature of your music,
and to literally place your music in sight!
Insight is available as a plug-in on its
own, or comes included as part of the
company's RX 3 Advanced audio repair
software or Ozone 5 Advanced mastering
software (reviewed April 2012). Its available formats for Mac and PC include
RTAS, AudioSuite, 64-bit AAX, VST, VST3,
Audio Unit, and DirectX; it can use either
an iLok USB key or challenge/response
authorization for copy protection.
A metering suite does not sound inherently exciting, since many DAWs and
waveform editors include their own collections of metering and analysis tools.
However, few if any are as extensive as
what is included in this package. In
Insight you get a complete set of five fully
customizable metering tools. You can
view all five at once in the plug-in window, or view them up close and personal
one at a time.
~ Spectrum Analyzer provides a real
time active view of your song's frequencies.
16
RECORDING December 2013
~ Sound Field highlights the weight, balance and phase characteristics of your mix,
both in the left/right stereo field with Stereo Vectorscope, or front, back and side to
side with Surround Scope.
~ Levels is, as the name implies, a full-featured level meter with True Peak and
Loudness metering. It is highly configurable and includes Peak, RMS, Bob Katz KSystem specifications, and more. Additionally a feature called Loudness Overflow
Tracking can be set to write automation in your DAW to capture loudness overflow alerts.
~ Spectrogram is an animated 2D or 3D topographical frequency map of your main mix, individual channels, or busses.
Thanks to a feature called Meter Taps, you can send feeds from
multiple channels or busses to the Spectrogram, each one set to
a different color, and see how each element in your mix relates
to one another.
~ Loudness History is a meter which takes a realtime loudness
snapshot of your song that can be saved and viewed after the fact.
Insight has an extensive preset library for starting points. It
has everything from style and type of analysis to a comprehensive library of loudness meters with specific settings for
European, USA, and Japanese broadcast specifications, video
games, podcasts, DTS, SMPTE, and more. Once you customize
your own favorite meters and settings, you can store those too.
If it seems like I am a bit too excited by a collection of audio meters... I am! And
here's why.
As a professional sound designer I often create and manipulate sounds with extreme
highs and lows that may sound surreal and amazing in the confines of my studio, but
in the real world may not translate well to handheld devices, video games, home theater systems... and other people's songs when they buy loop libraries I have created!
Sinc I have to play nice with so many formats and delivery systems, a good metering
suite is crucial as a first alert system for troublesome sonics. Also, while for mixing and
mastering we should always use our ears first, a good collection of audio analysis tools
will often point out little things we may aurally miss.
Insight's a great value as part of RX 3/Ozone 5 Advanced; on its own it may seem a
bit pricey for a plug-in that does not do anything to your sound, but at an average of $99
per meter, it's a great value when you consider what it does for your sound!-PV
http://www.izotope.com
Recording - December 2013
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - December 2013
Contents
Recording - December 2013 - Cover1
Recording - December 2013 - Cover2
Recording - December 2013 - 1
Recording - December 2013 - 2
Recording - December 2013 - 3
Recording - December 2013 - 4
Recording - December 2013 - 5
Recording - December 2013 - Contents
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Recording - December 2013 - Cover3
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