THE TONIGHT SHOW PUTS A NEUMANN TLM 103 IN THE ANNOUNCER'S BOOTH WITH EDD HALL

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Edd Hall, Announcer for The Tonight Show, with the Neumann TLM 103 Studio Condenser.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Edd Hall, announcer and sidekick for NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, recently replaced his old announce microphone with a Neumann TLM 103 studio condenser. The switch was inspired by and was partially a result of the show's overhauled set late in July, which forced Hall to move from the back of the stage to a dedicated announce booth.

Hall used to announce from right behind the set, but the overhaul moved the set right up against the back fire aisle, squeezing him out in effect. After a bit of brainstorming and a little digging around, an old announce booth was rediscovered. It had been used for storage but, save for a little bit of must and dust, was in perfect condition. The staff cleaned out the five-by-five, acoustically optimized booth and got Hall up and running.

Now in an acoustically superior space and in the spirit of all the other change taking place, Hall asked to reconsider their microphone selection. While the old microphone had never been "bad", he felt there might be room for improvement. "Ideally, we wanted something that would capture Edd's voice as naturally as possible while still cutting through the live band and screaming crowd at the beginning of each show," recalled Pat Lucatorto, The Tonight Show's sound mixer. "It had to be full and rich in the low end and yet detailed and robust in the upper mids."

Thus began a two-week trial of every microphone they could get their hands on. Shedding preconceptions, they tried everything from dynamics to studio condensers to vintage ribbon microphones. Hall brought in his own Neumann TLM 103 from home, and when the dust settled, it was clear that the TLM 103 fit the bill to a tee. "It's remarkable and rare to find such a flattering combination of high end and low end," commented Lucatorto. "The TLM 103 has the right timbre and the right cut. Moreover, it can handle Edd's formidable SPLs. He's but two inches from the microphone and announcing at full volume. Only a popper-stopper mitigates his pressure."

With an improved signal from the start, Lucatorto is able to pull back on processing as well. Hall receives only a hint of compression and equalization from The Tonight Show's Euphonix 3000 console. The clear improvement in Hall's delivery complements the set change wonderfully, and the Neumann TLM 103 is destined to become a fixture on The Tonight Show as aurally conspicuous as the host's famous profile.

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