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Reani « Joe Meek JM37 - A perfect mic »
Published on 03/11/14 at 17:24The Joe Meek JM37 is a large-diaphragm condenser studio microphone.
It is manufactured by the PMI company (USA): http://www.joemeek.com/microphones.html
PMI bought (in 2003) the "Joe Meek" brand from Ted Fletcher, who named his audio equipment line in honor of Joe Meek, the controversial but highly appreciated British songwriter and sound engineer of the 1950's and the 1960's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Meek
The Joe Meek JM37 user manual is here: http://www.joemeek.com/pdf/jm37_manual.pdf
Audio samples here (switch to AAC 256kbps, and prefer "dry" samples): https://www.thomann.de/gb/joemeek_jm37.htm
OVERALL OPINION
I compared this microphone to many others, regardless of the price range - the sound itself does not care about the money involved. I found the JM37 surprisingly beautifully-sounding.
As a sound engineer, the most important things I look for in a microphone are fidelity and linearity. This microphone has a truly remarcable linear response - all the vowels, consonants, and sibillants are perfectly coherent. Many expensive mics do not boast enough of these qualities.
My previous choices for great vocal mics have been: AKG 4000B (no longer in production, replaced recently by the AKG4000, which is not as good-sounding as its predecessor), AKG C414XLS, and Brauner VM1 (probably the best sounding microphone ever made). The Joe Meek JM37 has the 'vocal coherence' of the Brauner, but without being so 'sparkly'. JM37 is a perfect studio microphone, it can be considered a 'reference microphone' due to its linearity.
Price is very good, ~200. (In comparison, C4000B is ~800, C414XLS is ~1500, VM1 is ~6000...)
The overall appearance is nice, it is a rather small microphone (like the Neumann TLM103). It does not come with a spider-mount, but can be used with a general-purpose spider. Like all condenser mics, it needs a pop-filter or a foam-filter, in order to protect the large diaphragm from damage.
I highly recommend this microphone for vocals, both male and female. It will not make a particular voice sound better (or worse!), but if you have a really skilled and/or beautiful voice, it will reproduce it perfectly. That is its greatest quality.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is about the Joe Meek JM37, and NOT about JM37DP.
They are not completely identical sound-wise, and although the DP version has, in addition, a switchable 'omni' pattern and a -10/-20dB pad, I personally do not recommend the DP for vocals (however, it can be used for choir, instruments, etc.).
I cannot make any statements about JM37's reliability, because I did not use it long enough, but it has been performing very well until now. I sincerely hope that the Joe Meek microphones' (high) quality will stay constant in the future.
Thank you for reading this review.
It is manufactured by the PMI company (USA): http://www.joemeek.com/microphones.html
PMI bought (in 2003) the "Joe Meek" brand from Ted Fletcher, who named his audio equipment line in honor of Joe Meek, the controversial but highly appreciated British songwriter and sound engineer of the 1950's and the 1960's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Meek
The Joe Meek JM37 user manual is here: http://www.joemeek.com/pdf/jm37_manual.pdf
Audio samples here (switch to AAC 256kbps, and prefer "dry" samples): https://www.thomann.de/gb/joemeek_jm37.htm
OVERALL OPINION
I compared this microphone to many others, regardless of the price range - the sound itself does not care about the money involved. I found the JM37 surprisingly beautifully-sounding.
As a sound engineer, the most important things I look for in a microphone are fidelity and linearity. This microphone has a truly remarcable linear response - all the vowels, consonants, and sibillants are perfectly coherent. Many expensive mics do not boast enough of these qualities.
My previous choices for great vocal mics have been: AKG 4000B (no longer in production, replaced recently by the AKG4000, which is not as good-sounding as its predecessor), AKG C414XLS, and Brauner VM1 (probably the best sounding microphone ever made). The Joe Meek JM37 has the 'vocal coherence' of the Brauner, but without being so 'sparkly'. JM37 is a perfect studio microphone, it can be considered a 'reference microphone' due to its linearity.
Price is very good, ~200. (In comparison, C4000B is ~800, C414XLS is ~1500, VM1 is ~6000...)
The overall appearance is nice, it is a rather small microphone (like the Neumann TLM103). It does not come with a spider-mount, but can be used with a general-purpose spider. Like all condenser mics, it needs a pop-filter or a foam-filter, in order to protect the large diaphragm from damage.
I highly recommend this microphone for vocals, both male and female. It will not make a particular voice sound better (or worse!), but if you have a really skilled and/or beautiful voice, it will reproduce it perfectly. That is its greatest quality.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is about the Joe Meek JM37, and NOT about JM37DP.
They are not completely identical sound-wise, and although the DP version has, in addition, a switchable 'omni' pattern and a -10/-20dB pad, I personally do not recommend the DP for vocals (however, it can be used for choir, instruments, etc.).
I cannot make any statements about JM37's reliability, because I did not use it long enough, but it has been performing very well until now. I sincerely hope that the Joe Meek microphones' (high) quality will stay constant in the future.
Thank you for reading this review.
