AT 4033a

[Jon Lumley]

I have recently purchased a new microphone. An Audio-Technica 4033a to be precise. It looks fantastic, however, that is all I can comment on as the damned little blighter doesn't want to work.
Being musical technicians, I was wondering if you could explain how one might get the said
equipment to work with the equipment I have. I am currently putting it through an Alesis MidiVerb 4 and then into my Tascam Mk8II.
With the microphone, I got a nice shockmount cradle which should have absolutely no bearing on the correct functioning of the mic and I have even got a nice Popper-Stopper. On my 8-track there is a 48v Phantom Power function which I may need to utilise for the mic but I know nothing about it. It may be that I need to buy some form of external amplification for it to work and maybe use my Alesis 3630 19" rack unit which I have also recently bought. This is a
compressor/limitor unit.
Also on the microphone are two dip switches enabling me to switch between a pad of -10dB and 0dB and the other to switch between the low-cut options of peak r.m.s and what looks like to graph of a charging capacitor. The latter could be likely as the mic incorporates capacitors.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is breaking my heart to have such an expensive ornament.

 

[loudnaybor]

You answered your own question. That mic requires phantom power. If you want to run through your processing equipment before going to your 8-track, you'll need an external power source. There's more than one way to do that, but I'd suggest an ART Tube MP.

 

[DaveO]

I got a 4033 not too long ago and it's helped me get a much better sound from vocals and acoustic guitar.

The mic *does* take 48v phantom power so just make sure it's turned on for whatever input you plug into on your 8-track, otherwise you'll get nothing out of the mic. I wasn't so lucky and also had to buy a phantom power source with mine. Loudnaybor is right about the ART Tube MP - or Dual MP if you need/want two preamps. I ended up buying one of each.

You can set the pad switch to -10 dB if you're micing a really loud source, like an amp. It lets you record sources with a higher sound pressure level before it starts to distort.

The other switch cuts off frequencies below 80Hz (I think that's the right frequency), so you can use it to get rid of rumble, 60 Hz hum, etc., depending on what you're trying to record. I usually just keep it on and that helps things come out a little less muddy for me.

Hope that helps.

[This message has been edited by DaveO (edited 03-13-2000).]