capnreverb
New member
A lot of folks have been asking what is the best mic under a grand for this application or that application. In the end, it's all just subjective. Some sight say that the SM7 is the best for vocals, or maybe a good ribbon like the AES. Some might say that the AKG 414 is best for many applications. Some (not DJL of course) might say that the Studio Projects T3 or the Rode K2. Blue makes real good mics under a grand and so does the often overlooked Shure. Granted no mic is best for everything, but ............... there is the often overlooked Wollensak mic. Lets take a look at its mysterious pedigree.
Dieder Wollensak was the leader tech/engeneer at Neumann before the fall of Berlin. You may have heard of the Gefell split, which basically took the old designs and improved upon them. Wollensak was stuck in the Eastern Block but kicked out of Gefell due to some rumoured sexual impropriety, or political leanings depending on who's doing the history. So, Dieder W was stuck to his own devices and came up with the Wollensak mic around 1963 after about 15 years of hardcore tinkering. This may be the greatest unknown mic outside of the "know" circles. Unfortunatly, Wollensak commited suicide after the initial production of about 5000 mics, and the original schematics were burned before he hanged himself. He was distraught over the fact that his greatness was being marginalized and the 15 years of dire poverty did not help.
So, lets look at the mic. For starters, there is virtually no self noise. This is due to it's cadmium bromide resistors, FET triode reduced algorhythn transistors, and mercury sputtered diaphram. The mercury (his own breakthrough) sputtered diaphram gives the incoming sound source an almost liquid buyouncy. The fact that mercury is a liquid (made stable by Dieder's sputtering technique) makes all incoming energy (sound) elastic, therefore reproducing more accuratly the sound source. So, in a way, it is almost like a ribbon mic in the natural give and take of energy. The advanced resistors and transistors offer an exceptioanal electronic translation of the natural output of the mercural diaphram. While it is a cardoid mic, it's off axis response is like god had planned it that way. Imagine the fullness of a omni, but with the precision of a hypercardiod. Freakin' mindbending!!!!
A lot of mics sound good on one vocal style, but not another. This is never a problem with the Wollensak. Baritone opera to the highest note of the sopranina, from Tom Waits gravel to Rap exclamation this mic excells. Many of you may have struggled with the soprano sax in terms of the right mic. No problem for that horn. Upright bass? Ron Carter owns 2 of them! John Cage and Morton Feldmann would only use these for their recordings. They were especailly fond of how quiet these mics are. Steve Albini swears by them. John Lennon and Phil Spector used these mics exclusively for the Imagine LP. This was George Martins favorite mic. All of you folks have it wrong about Bono using the sm57/58 for his voice. According to Brian Eno who has worked on most of their albums, it's the Wollensak.
The funny think is that most folks have no idea about this mic, and it sells on ebay for like $300 bucks. Crazy!
Dieder Wollensak was the leader tech/engeneer at Neumann before the fall of Berlin. You may have heard of the Gefell split, which basically took the old designs and improved upon them. Wollensak was stuck in the Eastern Block but kicked out of Gefell due to some rumoured sexual impropriety, or political leanings depending on who's doing the history. So, Dieder W was stuck to his own devices and came up with the Wollensak mic around 1963 after about 15 years of hardcore tinkering. This may be the greatest unknown mic outside of the "know" circles. Unfortunatly, Wollensak commited suicide after the initial production of about 5000 mics, and the original schematics were burned before he hanged himself. He was distraught over the fact that his greatness was being marginalized and the 15 years of dire poverty did not help.
So, lets look at the mic. For starters, there is virtually no self noise. This is due to it's cadmium bromide resistors, FET triode reduced algorhythn transistors, and mercury sputtered diaphram. The mercury (his own breakthrough) sputtered diaphram gives the incoming sound source an almost liquid buyouncy. The fact that mercury is a liquid (made stable by Dieder's sputtering technique) makes all incoming energy (sound) elastic, therefore reproducing more accuratly the sound source. So, in a way, it is almost like a ribbon mic in the natural give and take of energy. The advanced resistors and transistors offer an exceptioanal electronic translation of the natural output of the mercural diaphram. While it is a cardoid mic, it's off axis response is like god had planned it that way. Imagine the fullness of a omni, but with the precision of a hypercardiod. Freakin' mindbending!!!!
A lot of mics sound good on one vocal style, but not another. This is never a problem with the Wollensak. Baritone opera to the highest note of the sopranina, from Tom Waits gravel to Rap exclamation this mic excells. Many of you may have struggled with the soprano sax in terms of the right mic. No problem for that horn. Upright bass? Ron Carter owns 2 of them! John Cage and Morton Feldmann would only use these for their recordings. They were especailly fond of how quiet these mics are. Steve Albini swears by them. John Lennon and Phil Spector used these mics exclusively for the Imagine LP. This was George Martins favorite mic. All of you folks have it wrong about Bono using the sm57/58 for his voice. According to Brian Eno who has worked on most of their albums, it's the Wollensak.
The funny think is that most folks have no idea about this mic, and it sells on ebay for like $300 bucks. Crazy!