I am interested in ADK

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beezoboy
  • Start date Start date
Larry Villella said:
It's true that some of our mics are assembled at Feilo, but the fact is they are - as are all of our microphones - custom made for ADK, and not "factory stock" microphones.
Click to expand...
This isn't a slam but simply an observation....

Why is it every manufacturer of "budget" LDCs insists that their mics are all "custom jobs" and not "factory stock", if everyone's using "custom jobs", who's left to use the "factory stock"??!?!?!?

Just an idle question....!
 
Thanks to one and all for the kind words!

The SC-1 has a simple clip. We intend to add a suspension mount in the near future, but right now we are busy with five new products that are in various stages of development.

The clip is well made, but lacks the isolation of a 'basket mount'.

As for the Type III and Type V. The III is more German sounding, while the V is a blend of the classic Austrian and classic German curves. I hesitate to give you the actual names of the mics that we used in our frequency modelling, for fear of continued reprisal.

As some of you may remember four years ago we got a cease and desist letter from a very big German Microphone company.


I think it would be ok to point out that it was not ADK, but Burt Bacharach's Music Director who first made the comment in EM "... I was reminded of a U-67."We certainly have freely quoted this magazine review, but we never made this claim! (Since then many other's have made similar statements).

A little on the "Series" history.

Series I never made it out of Beta.

Series II was very German (OK - I used U-67 Serial # 0144 for the modeling curve - I admit it!! But I Rob Shrock figured it out for himself and stated this in his 1999 Electronic Musician Review).

Series III added the all important Toshiba F.E.T. for lower noise.

Series IV was sold simultaneously with the III. The reason was that while everyone in Nashville loved the III, the guys in LA and NY told us it was too dark. So the IV has the Classic Austrian curve. This led to a sort of "what if we could do both" question.

Series V was our first attempt at "blending" two curves, and everyone from NY to LA to Nashville seems to like the "color".

It might surprise you: it is our Beta Testers - The "Golden Quadrangle" - literally run this company. These are first call
engineers in four cities that do all our final beta. There are now 11 in the beta group, and if we don't get all thumbs up, we don't release a product. With the abundance of marketing companies that have entered the microphone industry, we stand apart as being Total End-Users. If our artists and engineers are happy, them we've succeeded. (Thank goodness my wife works!!)

I am sure that I have made this reply too long!


Cheers!

Larry Villella, ADK
 
Larry....

Now I'm curious....... any Canadian dealers - particularly in the Ontario region?
 
How do I know what type I am getting and are your mics really geared towards classical recording?? As in stereo pair recording for say an orchestra or string quartet. I am interested in a matched pair of "Silver Bullets."

Thanks
Beezoboy
 
I don't want to abuse this forum and make it a solicitation or some kind of advertisment! But if you go to the catalog page at
www.adkmic.com you will see that we have developed a mic specifically for Orchestral Recording. The model TL (A-51TL)
is specifically designed for such an application. The LE are 6 micron vocal mics with High SPL capacity. Great for drums, electric guitars, and vocals. The TL is a 3 micron design for choir and orchestra. We recorded the Livermore Symphony, Tampa Symphony, and a half dozen other major Pops Orchestras and Philharmonic Orchestras with the TL. In fact, Jaci Velasquez took them on the road for her Christmas tour for Sound Reinforcement of her string section!
 
OK Larry, I'll bite. I've got a pair of TLs in a case (and the really nice basket mounts that won't fit in the case) and an orchestra to record next week. I usually use a pair of M149s for my spaced pair of 'outriders' (with a Royer SF12 in the middle) but come next monday I'll try the TLs in place of the Neumanns. I don't do MP3s, but I'd be happy to put a couple of excerpts on CDs for a few people who are really interested in the results.

Scott
 
HEY welcome Larry!
My partner got a 51 from you and was quite pleased with the service, so much that I guess he spoke to you and ended up getting a pair!

I have used these on Cymbals, rides, hi hats, and snare bottoms. I tried them a few times on vocals, but no luck, may have just been the wrong voices for them. For the drum chores tho, they handled GREAT, and at the price it beats the hell out of buying a mess of AKG 451's!
 
pipe... all the mics are called 51.. might wanna be a bit more specific... :o ;)
 
ok its A-51's type III

the capsule sounds and behaves like a kinda thick one, between 6 and 10 microns
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
This isn't a slam but simply an observation....

Why is it every manufacturer of "budget" LDCs insists that their mics are all "custom jobs" and not "factory stock", if everyone's using "custom jobs", who's left to use the "factory stock"??!?!?!?

Just an idle question....!
Click to expand...

Hey Bear...And welcome Larry.

Well, this is a very good question you pose Bear. I also have an issue with this, so we have an open invitation for anyone who wishes to come to our facility and see our R&D department. We have nothing to hide and our doors are open.

We built the entire new C4 and new LSD-2 by hand in our facility. Then we transfer all files to Gerber files after the PC board is laid out, prepare the BOM and send it off to have production prototypes made. All of our CAD programs are there on line to see.

I am sure Larry would open his doors as we do to back up his products. We both know that having products built in China opens the door for questions just like yours. So, if you really don't know who is telling the truth, make a visit to the place that sells them, and I don't mean the stores.

I am sure that Cascade Mics from Bayview Pro Audio, PPA from Pacific Pro Audio, Samson Mics, Apex mics, Marshall, Nady, Carvin, Galaxy, and quite a few others would not be able to show you anything other than the catalog they picked the mic out from.

If I am wrong, then Show Me The Money... I am happy to have Larry down to our facility as well as any other mic manufacturer, as long as they let me come and see their facility.

In the end, this may matter to a few, but to most, I don't think it matters. If you like the sound of any mic, then that mic is good!
 
Larry Villella said:
In fact, Jaci Velasquez took them on the road for her Christmas tour for Sound Reinforcement of her string section!
Click to expand...

Awesome. Jaci is one of my favorites in all the world.

I would LOVE to know what her most used vocal mic and chain is, as she has the vocal sound that I one day long to achieve.

H2H
 
alanhyatt said:
If you like the sound of any mic, then that mic is good!
Click to expand...
I agree 100%............. even a Radio Shack may be the "right mic" for a given application!

;)


BTW, good answers to my question, both of you (Larry and Alan)!
 
OK. Now I have a question. Marshall never designed any of their mics? I was under a different impression but I really have no idea. Just curious. Didn't Brent Casey design some things for them?
 
Welcome, Larry!

I just bought a set of A-51sLE's, and used one tonight to record a solo jazz guitarist for a demo.... through a Mackie 1202vlz mixer into a ZOOM hard disk recorder. His rig was a custom Gibson hollowbody through a small Fender transistor amp. I miked him about 12" from the grille, slightly off-center with the mic pointing slightly downward. The amp volume was appropriately low for the style of music he wanted to record for this demo.

We tried running it through a Joemeek VC1Qs, but it was too noisy for this light, clean sound of the small amp.

Instead, we ran it into an RNC compressor (in really nice mode, of course) with a very slight high and low EQ boost. When we played it back through the Mackie 624 monitors, the guitarist was amazed.

"That's my sound! That sounds just like what I played! I don't know why engineers never seem to get my sound right, but that's it!"

Since he's been playing for over 40 years, I took this as a high compliment, both to my luck (just back from a 13 year hiatus from recording anything... this was my second session back) and, of course, the microphone.

It's not a Neumann, sure.

But for the price of the Neumann, you buy a few of these... and everyone could use another mic or two!

As soon as I get a chance, I'll post a sample of what we recorded (pre-mastered) so you can hear a little of what this mic can do.

My next acquisition will be the NTK... :D :D :D
 
My akd 51st (which Larry himself recommended to me) just arrived today.
Apparently it's alot like the 51s soundwise in cardioid, but with the choice of three patterns (omni, card, fig8).
Im going over to my dad to pick it up in a couple of hours. I'll keep you posted (I'll prob post some clips later on, but right now im heavily burdened by school). This baby will replace my akg c3000. I sure hope it's worth it, since im selling the c3000 to my dad in exchange for the adk.
I can always borrow the c3000 later if I need a harsh sounding mic i guess ;)
/Jonas
 
Last edited:
crawdad said:
OK. Now I have a question. Marshall never designed any of their mics? I was under a different impression but I really have no idea. Just curious. Didn't Brent Casey design some things for them?
Click to expand...

No, Brent tried to fix the problems with the Marshall Mics. Marshall still uses all the Chinese engineered designs from Fielo. I say this because while they are not built at Fielo anymore, they might as well be. Marshall snatched several Fielo employees and engineers and moved them to a faciltiy that Marshall says they own, but it is still the old Fielo engineers and employees. I know Fielo was not to happy about that. Oh well, maybe they are getting American wages now :eek:

I am also told that MXL China does not make capsules, so like many other companies in China, that makes them assemblers. not manufacturers in my book.
 
Thanks for that clarification Alan. Its interesting to me because long before I ever heard of any of the inexpensive Chinese mics, I looked at the 747 (I think thats right) web site where they have these exact knockoffs--in looks anyway--of Sennheiser and Neumann mics. My understanding then was that they could not be imported into the USA because they infringed on the trademarks of those mics. So, the workaround must have been to just make different looking bodies and put the same parts inside that the knockoffs had. is this basically correct?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top