Recording - November 2017 - 32

Townsend Labs
Sphere L22 Modeling
Microphone
Hardware and software combine to make a
mic that can be, well, anything...
REVIEW BY PAUL VNUK JR.

T

wo years ago at the Winter
NAMM Show, Editor Mike
Metlay and I were ushered offsite
to a hotel suite, sworn to secrecy, and then
shown a microphone from a new company
named Townsend Labs. The mic was the
Sphere L22 and it represents a new
direction in microphone modeling. Two
years later, it's shipping, and I had the
privilege of spending a few months
putting it to use in my studio.
Mic modeling via software is not a
new idea and Townsend Labs isn't the first
to do it. Antares had (now-discontinued)
mic modeling hardware over 15 years
ago, and recently we reviewed Slate
Digital's take on the concept.
Like Slate, Townsend starts with a
physical mic as a known platform,
and uses software plug-in modeling to
achieve its results. Unlike Slate, which
uses its own physical mic preamp plus
preamp models in their Virtual Mix
Rack, Townsend allows users to make
use of any microphone preamp of their
choosing. The only condition is that the
preamp must be a pair of matching
channels, matched in sound and level.
We will see why below, but first let's
meet the Sphere L22 mic.

32

RECORDING November 2017

The Sphere L22

The Sphere L22 is a large-diaphragm
condenser mic measuring 8.9" x 2.5"
and dressed in black with a chrome headbasket. It has a classic look and is very
solidly built, with a high quality of fit and
finish. Inside is an all-analog solid state
circuit path with a modern, surface mount
design. It comes in a simple kit with an
aluminum flight case, XLR breakout cable,
shockmount, hard mount, and dust bag.
Some specs: Equivalent Noise Level of
7 dBA, maximum SPL (0.5% THD) of 120
dB (140 dB with pad fully engaged), sensitivity of 22 mV/Pa, output impedance
of 200Ω, recommended load impedance:
>1000Ω.
On its own, with no modeling, the
Sphere L22's sound is present, clean, and
clear. That makes sense, since it's built to
stay out of its own way. All controls such
as polar pattern selection and lowcut
filtering are handled in the software.
The L22 can be set to any polar pattern
from omni through cardioid to figure-8
and all stops in between. This is
accomplished via the mic's dual-channel
output, sent to the preamp on two XLR outputs from a breakout cable. There's also
a two-position pad with settings of 10 or
20 dB.
Similar to a few other mics on the
market, such as the Lewitt LCT 640 TS
(reviewed January 2017), Pearl ELM-A,
and Ehrlund EHR-S, this dual output takes
a tap off of the front and rear capsules
of the mic individually. You then record
both channels in your DAW, hence the
necessity of two matched input channels.
These are then combined inside the plugin, letting you choose your polar pattern
not only when tracking, but after the fact.

Sphere DSP

The Sphere DSP Plug-in is where this
happens. It's available natively in VST2,
VST3, AAX Native, Audio Units (Mac
only), and for the Universal Audio UAD
system, which is what I used. It is available for both Windows 7+ and Mac OS
X 10.8.5+. If used with a UA Apollo or
UAD-2 device you also get the option
of RTAS, and you can run it live in UA's
Apollo mixer when tracking.
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