mshilarious
Banned
In reference to my crazy vocal thread last week, I bought a Green Bullet (coming soon!) and an AT3060. Hadn't planned on the AT3060, but there it was so I bought it. Just came today!!!
So I set up A/B against my trusty KSM27--but first, like any good homereccer, I opened the thing up. Thus was the mystery solved of how the tube can run on phantom power--it's teensy.
OK, back to the test. I love the KSM27 on many voices, but not mine. For my voice, I like an SM7. To my great surprise, the AT3060 worked! I had to stay pretty far back, like 18", which is weird for me as I need the proximity effect, but it was waaay too strong on the 3060. So I backed off and its was OK. My voice has a disgusting high-mid buzz that the KSM27 reproduces faithfully, but the AT3060 ignores. Different than the SM7, but interesting.
On to acoustic guitar. I don't use the KSM27 on acoustic, I use SM81s. Still, the KSM27 isn't horrible at it. The AT3060, though, was way overbaked for basic strumming. Although the brightness was nice, there were just too many tube overtones. It wasn't muddy, but just too busy.
Then I tried a classical piece, and the AT3060 improved with only a couple of notes to contend with at a time. When I plucked near the saddle, something magical happened--the brightness and overtones combined to produce a wonderful harpsichord-like tone. The KSM27 just doesn't do that, and certainly an SM81 wouldn't.
Next I tried violin. I have to say, the AT3060 might possibly be one of the worst violin mics ever. Now I like my violins screechy, but even I couldn't take the AT3060. I did note that the tube character kicked in nicely on the G string, so I bet the AT3060 on cello with a bit of high-end rolloff would be nice, and it might be perfect for solo viola, not that I ever expect to do that.
In conclusion, the AT3060 is like that special tool you need only once in a while, but it does things that other mics don't. It isn't a first or second or even third mic, but if you're in the market for mic #7, give it a try.
Technical details: all instruments recorded at 18-24", into Presonus MP20 with about +30dB of gain, monitored on Sony MDR-V600 headphones.
Next week: the Green Bullet.
So I set up A/B against my trusty KSM27--but first, like any good homereccer, I opened the thing up. Thus was the mystery solved of how the tube can run on phantom power--it's teensy.
OK, back to the test. I love the KSM27 on many voices, but not mine. For my voice, I like an SM7. To my great surprise, the AT3060 worked! I had to stay pretty far back, like 18", which is weird for me as I need the proximity effect, but it was waaay too strong on the 3060. So I backed off and its was OK. My voice has a disgusting high-mid buzz that the KSM27 reproduces faithfully, but the AT3060 ignores. Different than the SM7, but interesting.
On to acoustic guitar. I don't use the KSM27 on acoustic, I use SM81s. Still, the KSM27 isn't horrible at it. The AT3060, though, was way overbaked for basic strumming. Although the brightness was nice, there were just too many tube overtones. It wasn't muddy, but just too busy.
Then I tried a classical piece, and the AT3060 improved with only a couple of notes to contend with at a time. When I plucked near the saddle, something magical happened--the brightness and overtones combined to produce a wonderful harpsichord-like tone. The KSM27 just doesn't do that, and certainly an SM81 wouldn't.
Next I tried violin. I have to say, the AT3060 might possibly be one of the worst violin mics ever. Now I like my violins screechy, but even I couldn't take the AT3060. I did note that the tube character kicked in nicely on the G string, so I bet the AT3060 on cello with a bit of high-end rolloff would be nice, and it might be perfect for solo viola, not that I ever expect to do that.
In conclusion, the AT3060 is like that special tool you need only once in a while, but it does things that other mics don't. It isn't a first or second or even third mic, but if you're in the market for mic #7, give it a try.
Technical details: all instruments recorded at 18-24", into Presonus MP20 with about +30dB of gain, monitored on Sony MDR-V600 headphones.
Next week: the Green Bullet.
