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ericthegreat « Quality Sound »
Published on 10/24/11 at 22:26The Electro Harmonix EH-R1 is a very good mic, at first glance I didn’t like the look of it. But after it sits around in your studio it wont look that bad. On vocals AT conveyed an airy, "breathy" and roomy sound with almost zero proximity effect recording a male basso profundo-type voice performing vocal arias from Bach. Despite the vocal's bass range, proximity was not at all apparent, it seems, due to the different radiation patterns of guitar vs voice.
Harmonix EH-R1 produced pretty much the same picture here as with guitar: sweet, overly mellow, non-edgy, a kind of 60's vacuum tube sound that might have done well for a jazz recording, but then again, this is not what I was recording. AT made the vocal just a tiny bit brighter than in reality due to the +3db presence peak at 10kHz, but remained essentially faithful to the original.
In conclusion, I was forced to make the conclusion that apparently AT is intended as an all-around mic, not coloring its sound input and reproducing very beautiful transients. By contrast, Harmonix EH-R1 came out as a strong "character mic" with its own personality which at times was not at all suitable for the kind of music I was recording. Other things notwithstanding, it did awful on flamenco guitar and hand claps but seemed more suited for classical guitar and certain vocals.
OVERALL OPINION
Can't miss with this one. There are better mics out there, but with the right mic pre, this mic sounds good enough to deliver professional results. I'm giving it a four. Could have a bit more character, but than again, that is something you can add later on in the mix. Price is mid range when it comes to mics. If it was a little less expensive I think more people would know about this mic.
Harmonix EH-R1 produced pretty much the same picture here as with guitar: sweet, overly mellow, non-edgy, a kind of 60's vacuum tube sound that might have done well for a jazz recording, but then again, this is not what I was recording. AT made the vocal just a tiny bit brighter than in reality due to the +3db presence peak at 10kHz, but remained essentially faithful to the original.
In conclusion, I was forced to make the conclusion that apparently AT is intended as an all-around mic, not coloring its sound input and reproducing very beautiful transients. By contrast, Harmonix EH-R1 came out as a strong "character mic" with its own personality which at times was not at all suitable for the kind of music I was recording. Other things notwithstanding, it did awful on flamenco guitar and hand claps but seemed more suited for classical guitar and certain vocals.
OVERALL OPINION
Can't miss with this one. There are better mics out there, but with the right mic pre, this mic sounds good enough to deliver professional results. I'm giving it a four. Could have a bit more character, but than again, that is something you can add later on in the mix. Price is mid range when it comes to mics. If it was a little less expensive I think more people would know about this mic.