[mcp6453[_2_]]

Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I had with
one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably paid too much for
it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will be interesting to test it
out.

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I
had with one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably
paid too much for it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will
be interesting to test it out.

Congratulations! I know you will like the mic. My favorite evaluation
technique is A-B comparison (or, for loudspeakers, A-X-Y comparison). I
suggest that you double-track 'raw' the '55 with another mic you really
like, using a familiar voice.

In playback, route everything to a single monitor speaker. Flip-phase one
track and mix them to mono. Adjust the levels for the best null and
restore the phase. Then, using your 'standard' EQ settings on your
reference mic's track, use top and bottom shelving to get a similar
bass/treble balance on the RE55 track.

Flip the phase on one track and again seek the best null.

Now, after a long, ear-relaxing break, A-B the tracks. Let us know your
results.

Of course all you're going to use them for is drums ... ;-)

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 2/15/2012 8:14 PM, Roy W. Rising wrote:
mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I
had with one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably
paid too much for it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will
be interesting to test it out.

Congratulations! I know you will like the mic. My favorite evaluation
technique is A-B comparison (or, for loudspeakers, A-X-Y comparison). I
suggest that you double-track 'raw' the '55 with another mic you really
like, using a familiar voice.

In playback, route everything to a single monitor speaker. Flip-phase one
track and mix them to mono. Adjust the levels for the best null and
restore the phase. Then, using your 'standard' EQ settings on your
reference mic's track, use top and bottom shelving to get a similar
bass/treble balance on the RE55 track.

Flip the phase on one track and again seek the best null.

Now, after a long, ear-relaxing break, A-B the tracks. Let us know your
results.

Of course all you're going to use them for is drums ... ;-)


That's a great way to test, Roy. We'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, it will
be tested in my "studio" with my voice. Neither is very good.

Thirty years ago, I went into a radio station at which a friend was chief
engineer. The guy on the air had a great voice and was sounding great on the
air. In fact, the mic made his voice sound better than it really was. When I got
there, I checked it out, and it was an RE55. I've never forgotten it.

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I
had with one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably
paid too much for it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will
be interesting to test it out.

My comment about using the RE55 only on drums revived an important
recollection.

In the early '70s the music director on The Lawrence Show insisted on a
single RE55 for the drum kit. Placement was a few inches behind the top
edge of the kick drum, essentially in the center of the kit. It sounded
OK, but the player at that time did not give me a valid reference. I've
often wanted to record drums with a clip-on lapel mic to hear what the
player is hearing.

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Frank Stearns]

Roy W. Rising writes:

snips

In the early '70s the music director on The Lawrence Show insisted on a
single RE55 for the drum kit. Placement was a few inches behind the top
edge of the kick drum, essentially in the center of the kit. It sounded
OK, but the player at that time did not give me a valid reference. I've
often wanted to record drums with a clip-on lapel mic to hear what the
player is hearing.

Hi Roy -

Occasionally I'll stumble across an old LW from the 70s on PBS, and be intrigued at
the sound. It's clean and everything can be heard, and interesting that all or
nearly every mic on stage is an EV product.

I'm always curious:

- was LW audio all live? Was anything pre-recorded with the band just playing along
for the video?

- if it was live, was it live-mixed to the VTR, or was it multi-tracked and
mixed/sweetened later? (I could tell stories about trying to lock an MM1000-8 and
MM1200-16 to an AVR2, but that's a tale best told another time! w)

- were these done in a network studio, such as CBS Television City or NBC Burbank,
or was an independent facility used?

- what console(s) was being used? Much EQ or comp in use?

- anything ever done in stereo?

- recently caught a show from perhaps the late 70s that along with the EVs had what
looked like three U47s in use on brass, but they appeared just a hair too skinny for
47s, yet too fat and not long enough to be the large-diaphragm AKGs of that era.
Does that ring a bell? What was being used?

- I never hear any reverb on the LW shows; I assume that was intentional, or was
there limited access to live chambers or good spring reverb? (Quad-8 made a pretty
good spring unit in those days, if you didn't hit it too hard. At that time digital
reverb was rare (or didn't exist), sounded terrible, and cost the GDP of a small
country. Never saw many plates in TV studios.)

I love this audio history! Thanks for any enlightenment.

Frank Stearns
Mobile Audio
--

[Richard Webb[_3_]]

On Thu 2012-Feb-16 01:22, Frank Stearns writes:
In the early '70s the music director on The Lawrence Show insisted on a
single RE55 for the drum kit. Placement was a few inches behind the top
edge of the kick drum, essentially in the center of the kit. It sounded
OK, but the player at that time did not give me a valid reference. I've
often wanted to record drums with a clip-on lapel mic to hear what the
player is hearing.

Occasionally I'll stumble across an old LW from the 70s on PBS, and
be intrigued at
the sound. It's clean and everything can be heard, and interesting
that all or nearly every mic on stage is an EV product.

Never had noticed that, but I've noticed that the audio
holds up rather well, even if I don't care as much for
Lawrence's arrangements. IT still stands up, no matter what I'm listening on, cheap internal speaker in a tv set; tv
audio patched to stereo, etc.
I'd be curious about a lot of things over adn above the
questions Frank asked you Roy, such as monitoring in the
controlroom, etc.

Regards,
Richard
--
| Remove .my.foot for email
| via Waldo's Place USA Fidonet-Internet Gateway Site
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.

[Mike Rivers]

On 2/15/2012 8:26 PM, Roy W. Rising wrote:

I've
often wanted to record drums with a clip-on lapel mic to hear what the
player is hearing.

For there was a fad to tape a PZM to the drummer's chest
(hopefully to a shirt) to record the drums as he or she
hears them. I guess it sort of worked, until people got into
"detail" and wanted to hear the tail end of the decay of the
bottom head on the toms.



--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

Mike Rivers wrote:
On 2/15/2012 8:26 PM, Roy W. Rising wrote:

I've
often wanted to record drums with a clip-on lapel mic to hear what the
player is hearing.

For there was a fad to tape a PZM to the drummer's chest
(hopefully to a shirt) to record the drums as he or she
hears them. I guess it sort of worked, until people got into
"detail" and wanted to hear the tail end of the decay of the
bottom head on the toms.

Tee hee! So many of the drum "classics" we celebrate were recorded so
differently from what some folks demand.

Solos aside, if we're listening to the details of the drums, we are missing
the program.

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Scott Dorsey]

mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I had with
one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably paid too much for
it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will be interesting to test it
out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 2/19/2012 1:25 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I had with
one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably paid too much for
it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will be interesting to test it
out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"
--scott


I haven't gotten it yet. It should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday.

[Steve King]

"mcp6453" wrote in message
...
On 2/19/2012 1:25 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I
had with
one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably paid too
much for
it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will be interesting to
test it
out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"
--scott


I haven't gotten it yet. It should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday.

As a child, well almost, I was working at a radio station in Great Bend, Ks.
A local C & W group wanted to record. We had a couple EV666's, several RCA
77DXs, and a whole bunch of 655s, which I assume were the predecessors of
the RE55. I ended up using the 655s on everything but vocals. There was
certainly no separation, but what the hey, we were recording to a monaural
Magnacord. It turned out way better than it had any right to.

Steve King

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

(Scott Dorsey) wrote:
mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I
had with one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably
paid too much for it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will
be interesting to test it out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"
--scott

EV Co-Founder Lou Burroughs always said "Start with an omni. If you hear
too much room, move it closer. Only when you can't move it close enough
should you *consider* a more directional mic." [Emphasis his.] Directional
mics have unpublished and unpredictable off-axis lobes that seem to hunger
for feedback.

I've told here before of setting up an omni EV 635A on a stand about eight
feet from a very accurate side fill monitor. I raised the mic's gain to
the point of feedback and backed it down 6 dB. When the singer arrived for
a sound check, he asked me to turn it down even more.

Omnis could be given better understanding and experimentation. Sometimes
we jump to a perceived problem solver before the problem is revealed. Are
we sometimes missing something?

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 2/19/2012 8:20 PM, Roy W. Rising wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) wrote:
mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I
had with one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably
paid too much for it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will
be interesting to test it out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"
--scott

EV Co-Founder Lou Burroughs always said "Start with an omni. If you hear
too much room, move it closer. Only when you can't move it close enough
should you *consider* a more directional mic." [Emphasis his.] Directional
mics have unpublished and unpredictable off-axis lobes that seem to hunger
for feedback.

I've told here before of setting up an omni EV 635A on a stand about eight
feet from a very accurate side fill monitor. I raised the mic's gain to
the point of feedback and backed it down 6 dB. When the singer arrived for
a sound check, he asked me to turn it down even more.

Omnis could be given better understanding and experimentation. Sometimes
we jump to a perceived problem solver before the problem is revealed. Are
we sometimes missing something?

I have NEVER had success using an omni mic, but then again, I don't have a
studio or environment with the right acoustics. When I get the RE55, I'm going
to do some experimentation.

For many years, I was of the opinion that dynamic mics were used only when a
condenser was not available. (Yes, I'm exaggerating - a little.) Since playing
with several dynamic mics, (RE20, PR40, M99, ATR2100) I've changed my opinion.

Roy, please look for the post with questions for you from Richard Webb about
Lawrence Welk. I'm anxious to hear your responses.

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

mcp6453 wrote:

Roy, please look for the post with questions for you from Richard Webb
about Lawrence Welk. I'm anxious to hear your responses.

I've searched on Richard's name but don't recognize the thread. Do you
recall it's subject?

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[[email protected]]

L#˜…**##„–„–q1

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 2/19/2012 1:25 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
mcp6453 wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I had with
one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably paid too much for
it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will be interesting to test it
out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"

Now that I have had a little time to play, I can report that the mic has a very
natural sound to it. I'm going to try a different preamp in the near future as
the one I used is not very good. Unfortunately, the acoustics of my studio are
not good. It's easy to tell it's an omni because of room reflections.
Nevertheless, I can already tell that in a proper studio environment, this mic
could be very useful.

[Les Cargill[_4_]]

mcp6453 wrote:
On 2/19/2012 1:25 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
wrote:
Based on the accolades by Roy W. Rising (and because of an experience I had with
one 30 years ago) I just bought an EV RE55. While I probably paid too much for
it, they aren't exactly making them any more. It will be interesting to test it
out.

And how is it?

I haven't used one for years, I just remember using one on a guitar on
stage and getting the cleanest sound, and with gain before feedback that
was better than an SM-57... and wondering "how the hell do they do that
with an omni?"

Now that I have had a little time to play, I can report that the mic has a very
natural sound to it. I'm going to try a different preamp in the near future as
the one I used is not very good. Unfortunately, the acoustics of my studio are
not good. It's easy to tell it's an omni because of room reflections.
Nevertheless, I can already tell that in a proper studio environment, this mic
could be very useful.



With an omni, you can get as close as you need to without any
proximity effect. This will have all the ugly that goes with getting
that close, but maybe that's better than room ugly.

--
Les Cargill