New Audio Technica LDC

[paddyponchero]

It seems several of AT's "LDC's" are electrets, the 4033 and 3035 coming to mind. They are not forthcoming about the size of the diaphragms either (which is why it surprised me to see the 2020's listed), and it would not surprise me either if these used the same or very similar capsule as the 2020.

Electret was always a kind of a dirty word for me until I picked up an AT853 on ebay, then I got an AT831b, a pair of AT3035's. I don't think it's the technology thats given electrets a bad name just the proliferation of awful implementations by so many manufacturers.

Even the new artist elite condensers are electret (bar the AE5400)

 

[tkingen]

Look at the frequency response graph, it appears to be less sensitive in the lower frequencies. That might be a plus to those of us who record in small rooms and wrestle with those low frequency room nodes & modes.

 

[chessrock]

Look at the frequency response graph, it appears to be less sensitive in the lower frequencies. That might be a plus to those of us who record in small rooms and wrestle with those low frequency room nodes & modes.

Yea, it looks like it's already got one of it's own.

What really looks interesting to me is it's lack of peakiness in the upper mids (around 5-6K). Just about every other AT mic has that 6K peak, while this one looks relatively flat in comparison -- or at least it's not nearly as drastic.

Looks like this one may be breaking from the pack and going for a more neutral sound (?), which could make it useful.

 

[mattamatta]

I personally dont care too much about mic self-noise. I cant get the room quiet enough to bring up the mic noise above the ambient noise anyway. =D

 

[alanhyatt]

Not that it matters, but AT and other companies are sourcing these new electret capsules out of China. We have been offered mics using them but we just do not like the designs, so we have stayed away and continued our development of the large diaphragm mics.

Its funny to see these companies now all of a sudden wanting to pay attention to the lower cost market, yet using smaller capsules to do so. On the other hand, we are going up market as you just can't do much better with LD mics for under $100.00. Just my 2 cents and MHO....

 

[paddyponchero]

Not that it matters, but AT and other companies are sourcing these new electret capsules out of China. We have been offered mics using them but we just do not like the designs, so we have stayed away and continued our development of the large diaphragm mics.

Its funny to see these companies now all of a sudden wanting to pay attention to the lower cost market, yet using smaller capsules to do so. On the other hand, we are going up market as you just can't do much better with LD mics for under $100.00. Just my 2 cents and MHO....

All these side address condensers ... Any chance of a "B1 in a stick" mic? Something like the AE5400 or AE5100 only a *lot* cheaper?

 

[alanhyatt]

All these side address condensers ... Any chance of a "B1 in a stick" mic? Something like the AE5400 or AE5100 only a *lot* cheaper?

Sorry paddy...We are moving up. Next stop is the CS Series, and the new Ribbon Mics....

Alan

 

[paddyponchero]

Sorry paddy...We are moving up. Next stop is the CS Series, and the new Ribbon Mics....

Alan

Guess it was getting a bit crowded in the low end, best of luck with the new mics!

 

[OneRoomStudios]

Ribbon mics!?!?


Man, I can't wait for those....

 

[Bowisc]

I would love to see a black version of the Studio Projects B Series.

 

[Flatpicker]

...and the new Ribbon Mics...

(Homer Simpson voice) Mmmmmmm... Rib-bon mics...

 

[bgavin]

I hope you keep the B-series alive.

I'd still like to own a pair of B3.

 

[audioboffin]

Audio Technica 2020's: a live perspective.

Exaclty what I was thinking when I saw it, and if that's the case, then the 2020 could be a very handy little mic, especially for under $100!

.....

You guys are a bunch of negative ninnies. I'm personally going to wait for a review and hopefully try it before I come to a conclusion. Audio Technica is a dependible company and I doubt they would make a piece of crap mic.

Sorry to dig up an old thread.. but for anyone interested, I use four of these AT 2020's live, a pair as drum overheads (bright without harshness, I find them more usable than AKG 451's with CK1 capsules (and that's the older 'prettier' version of the 451..), the second pair I use for guitars in conjunction with Sennheisers (either 609's or 441's). With 2 guitar bands I hard pan the 2020's to give spread and definition, and position the dynamics to the middle. I generally have the 2020's right over the cap on the speaker, and the dynamics pointed to the edge of the cone.

In the guitar role the 2020's give great definition without nastiness. The overall "flavour" tends to be bright, but personally I find it a good brightness, and not gnarly like a lot of the lower priced AKG's for example. Very good bang for the buck. I also like the 2021 SDC which is often bundled with the 2020.

I have recently used a pair of 2020's underneath cymbals for a TV show, and was pleasantly surprised with how they sounded in that position (check the phase against the toms and snare in particular!!)

BTW, I just did a tom mic shootout against the usual "S" brands' suspects, and still can't better the ATM 25's in that role. A real shame that they are now discontinued.