Products

Updated! New Videos Join Barry Rudolph’s Top Recording Products At The 2010 Winter NAMM Show

The new microphones, software, personal mixing, multi-track mixers, hardware, and more that debuted in Anaheim

NEW!
Check out more than 40 videos detailing new products making their debut at the show.

“Enthusiastic” was the overarching feeling at the show as most manufacturers experienced good to great traffic flow at their booths from super-interested buyers and others.

If sales were off in 2009 you couldn’t tell it by the company-packed Halls A through C. Only Halls D and E had noticeably more empty floor space than last year.

Some companies were conspicuous by their absence. Notably MIA were Apple, Native Instruments, and East-West Samples.

The enhanced door security policy where, upon every hall entrance you had to proffer a valid picture ID that matched your badge, worked well to cut down the number of non-industry people clogging the aisles.

Microphones, Microphones, Microphones!

I might be dreaming, but even not counting the bazillion “knock-offs,” there were even more new microphones introduced at this show than at the last AES and NAMM shows. Most of the major microphone manufacturers had at least one new model or variant of an existing model to show off at this show.

Andf you haven’t noticed, microphones now come in all shapes, sizes and colors—some don’t look like mics at all.

The JZ Vintage V47 condenser mic looks more like a whiskey hip flask with its wide flatten oval shape. It looks like it could easily slip into my jeans’ back pocket.

JZ Vintage V47 (click to enlarge)

It’s from Latvia-based JZ Microphones and features a large, double-diaphragm 25-mm capsule, super low noise (6 dBA), integral head shock mounting and a cool, swivel ball-joint mount.

The pop filter mounts to the mic’s body and the mic comes in a wood box like an expensive bottle of Scotch. More about the V47 here.

Wanna use a condenser on a kick drum? Why not with MXL Microphone’s Drum Cube?

MXL Microphone Drum Cube (click to enlarge)

This odd-looking little guy is cardioid only and has a six-micron gold-sputtered diaphragm, FET electronics and will withstand 132 dB SPL.

It works with MXL’s optional USM-002 shock mount but comes with the MXL V6-H clip. It sells for $149.95. More about the Drum Cube here.

More conventional-looking are the new entrants to beyerdynamic’s MC 900 series of stick condensers.

beyerdynamic MC 900 (click to enlarge)

Just like the MC 930 with the same ruggedness, high sensitivity, and signal to noise ratio specs, the MC 910 has an omnidirectional pattern while the MC 950 has a supercardioid pattern.

As a set, they both compliment the MC 930’s cardioid pattern.

All three have -15 dB capsule pad and low frequency roll-off switches recessed on the side of the mic’s body—a clean, handy approach. They are available immediately, and the MC 930 is now available in matched stereo pairs.

On the live side, Blue Microphones, which already introduced the Encore 100 and 200 live microphones at previous shows, brought the Encore 300.

Blue Microphones Encore 300 (click to enlarge)

This handheld live vocal mic has a custom-tuned condenser capsule mounted on a rubber suspension system and is coupled with a matched, phantom-powered preamp circuit. More about the Encore here.

The Encore 100i is a live instrument microphone with a wider and flatter frequency response and a tighter polar pattern to reduce off-axis sounds.

Built around Blue’s proprietary Encore 100 dynamic capsule with custom-designed diaphragm and coil windings, custom-built transformer and high-pass filter to reduce stage rumble, the Encore100i eats up loud sound and asks for more.