I came up with about a 42% match on favorites. But still, if you did that well or better it’s probably significant. Now, get the booklet and check the key. Were those mics on your wish list? You’ll probably find that most were not simply because they are beyond your price range. (This is the frustrating part.) But if some affordable models were not on your list, you might want to add them and see if they survive round II to follow.

Lawson’s L-251: A Strong “Wanna-be” Contender

It didn’t really surprise me that most of my favorites for female and male were not the same. However, if you do come up with mics that made the cut on both rounds for both male and female, you’ll definitely want to consider them. I had only two that hit all four times: the GT Electronics AM-62 and the Lawson L-251. However, though the Lawson held up well in subsequent A-B track comparisons, the GT fell back in the pack—though doing well against comparably priced models.I won’t mention any others--because this is ALL highly subjective—other than to note that the prized Telefunken ELA M251 was picked on three rounds (missing only on the male/headphone round) though the still-pricey 251 “re-creations” also fared quite well on subsequent A-B comparisons. This could be promising, or a precaution that things here may not be all that they seem.

Telefunken’s coveted ELA M151

Getting the Numbers Down Let’s assume that, before you started this procedure, you had a wish list of, say, a half dozen vocal mics—preferences based on reviews, personal experience at other studios, testimonials, sale prices, or whatever. You’re likely to add three or four candidates after listening to this CD. Now you want to start A-B’ing the tracks for all these mics (though some from your original list likely won’t be here) to get your total number down.You may find this an exercise in futility: they may sound too much the same, our you may find (as I often did) that you have tradeoffs, like more detail but with more pronounced sibilance.

On the other hand, you may find that a few of your candidates just don’t pass muster when facing the competition. So, ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, you may want to drop these mics to get a more manageable final list.

Because the only way to make the best final judgment is with those mics in front of you, preferably in your own studio. And that ain’t easy, if you have no convenient source for borrowing. Many big music stores do not allow returns on mics, supposedly for “health reasons,” so you have to audition them there in the store under limited and trying circumstances. (Also, the mic from the stockroom may not sound exactly the same as the mic in the demo room, which means you either take a chance or accept a ‘used’ demo mic.) Some mail order outfits do allow returns, but then you have to face return hassles and eat shipping charges both ways. Nevertheless (as those retailers cringe), this is a tactic worth considering. Order a couple here, a couple there, take your 30 or 40 days while exercising great care not to scratch or ding, make your choices, and then eat the $60 or so to send the losers back.

In the final analysis, leisurely in-studio trials are the only way to know that you’re getting exactly what you want. Still, the 3D Audio CD can assist in helping you decide which mics to audition, and in preparing your ears for detecting the subtle variations that could spell the difference between only getting close to the mark and truly satisfying your vocal mic desires.

Two final notes: If you’re really serious about this, and intend to make it a factor in making preliminary choices, you should shuffle the tracks on at least one round of blind listening.

3D’s Lynn Fuston with Rupert Neve, both in uniform of the day. (Courtesy of 3D Audio web site.)

Why? Because a good mic following a mediocre mic will sound better than it really is (relatively), while a better mic following a great mic will sound not so good. This became painfully obvious in my later A-B comparisons. As for the vocal selections, Marabeth Jordon sings a verse of the Celtic hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” while Chris Rodriguez repeats a snippet from the Latin-derived “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

(If you prefer no spiritual content in your musical diet whatsoever, sorry.) Both are eminently listenable—which is important!--but lack any forceful, rock-like peaks. So if you specialize in high-dB shouters, this CD is of lesser value. Otherwise, good choices for range and dynamics.

As for Fuston’s preamp comparison CD, that’s a horse of a different color and I’ll tackle that one later—maybe.

Final Added Note

I discussed this CD with Klaus Heyne, and though we differed on some points, we agreed that the CD as a whole suffers from a problem with the high frequencies, something which apparently happened in the recording/mastering/duplication process. The purity of the signal chain, without compression or limiting, may have been the culprit: digital can be nasty on strident highs when pushed near peak level. So the “hot” high frequencies take on a harsh glassiness and grit, on sibilants in particular. And it’s nakedly exposed here because there’s nothing behind to mask it. You’ll hear it on at least half of the mics, to varying degrees. I found it very annoying at first (on headphones especially) but gradually learned to “listen through it” and still come up with meaningful comparisons.