Recording - January 2014 - 36

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Telefunken
M82 Dynamic Kick Mic and DD5 Drum Mic Kit
These dynamic mics excel in sound quality and kit-miking flexibility
With this month's focus on drum recording
we bring you some reviews of new products
from Telefunken Elektroakustik that should
aid you nicely in the task.
Telefunken is a classic name that reminds
us of the golden age of microphones, and
US-based Telefunken Elektroakustik keeps
the dream alive with spot-on recreations.
The company also offers more affordable
variants in its R-F-T line. While those are all
tube-based large-diaphragm condensers,
Telefunken's Dynamic series consists of moving-coil dynamic mics.
We looked at the M80 and M81 back in
our July 2012 issue. You could oversimplify
and view the M80 as "the vocal mic" and the
M81 as "the more universal instrument
model", but both mics can and do defy those
categories, depending on the source. We'll
take a look at the newly designed SH versions
of both as part of Telefunken's Drum Mic
Kits-in a moment. But first let me introduce
the newest member of the family, the M82.
The M82
The M82, like its siblings M80 and M81,
is a moving-coil dynamic mic and is billed
as both a kick-drum mic and a broadcast
vocal microphone.
While the M80 and M81 are hand-held
mics, the M82 looks more like a sawed-off U47.
Despite the look of its double-mesh grille and head basket, the M82 is an end-address mic rather than sideaddress, as further indicated by the words "END
ADDRESS" stenciled on the mic, including an arrow on both
sides of the head basket. It also has a Telefunken diamond
badge on its front, and on the back are a pair of eq switches, one a mid-cut labeled Kick EQ, the other a High Boost.
The matte black 6.15" x 2.5" mic has a post at the bottom with the XLR socket and a thread for the included
adjustable mic mount.
Specs
The M82 comes with a factory-stated frequency
response of 25 Hz-18 kHz, a cardioid polar pattern, a
-54.6 dBV ±1 dB (1.85mV/Pa) sensitivity, a <300 ohm
impedance and a >150 dB maximum SPL.
The M82 looks like it is a fairly even mic from 40 Hz to
10 kHz in its natural state, with a slight rolloff from 40 Hz
36

RECORDING January 2014

down, and narrow presence peaks in the 6
and 9 kHz range followed by a swift highend rolloff.
Set flat, the M82 is fairly unlike most kick
drum mics on the market, being both fullrange and neutral. This gives it a very thick,
smooth tone, but one that is not necessarily
tailored for use on a kick drum or bass cabinet, like much of the competition. So how
do you turn a mic like this into a suitable kick
mic?
Four tones in one, from kick to broadcast
booth
This is where the pair of EQ switches
come into play. Engaging the Kick EQ
switch scoops out the 100 Hz and 1 kHz
range with a 7-8 dB dip centered around
350 Hz. This of course makes the M82
more like a typical kick drum mic, by carving out much of the boxy mid frequencies
most of us trim out when tweaking a kick
drum in our mixes. The High Boost starts at
2 kHz and goes up to almost 10 dB at 10
kHz, helping to emphazise beater clicks.
It is easy to hear why Telefunken bills the
M82 as a broadcast mic as well as a kick
drum mic, since it is much more stylistically
similar to a Shure SM7 or an Electro-Voice RE
series mic than a kick-focused model like an
AKG D112 or the like. I am not implying it
sounds like an SM7 or RE, but only that it
shares those mics' broad range of uses from
bass drums to broadcast booths. The M82 is
one of the more tonally interesting kick drum mics; its "unhyped neutrality" (sans EQ) gives the M82 more of a
broad range of uses mic than many "kick and bass" mics.
On the kick
Over a month's time I used the M82 on various kicks,
from 20" to 22", on stage and in the studio, and its
sound is instantly punchy and striking... pun intended.
In the sound hole I preferred the bass-cut engaged,
to kill the dull cardboard box-like sound of the kick. This
was the optimum position with the high switch
engaged, and the best setting for getting a good balance of boom along with the beater click. If you only
have a single channel to devote to kick drum, this is
how I suggest using the M82.

Recording - January 2014

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