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Audio-Technica has revamped their entire Artist Series of stage and studio microphones by redesigning several previous products from the ground up, while adding some interesting new mics to the roster. I was sent all eight mikes in the new series for evaluation and review. This month we'll take a look at four of them, and hit the remaining four in a future review. (And by "hit," I don't mean setting them up too close to the snare drum.)
ATM650 Hypercardioid Dynamic Instrument Mic
Well, it looks like a snare mic, so I thought I'd try it there first. I positioned it in my usual starting point: on the side of the snare shell, about 3" from the wood. I find this technique usually gives me a good balance of attack and snare rattle, with a warm, balanced sound - provided the mic is up to the task. If you're going to try this technique, be careful you don't aim the mic at one of the snare's vent holes, or you'll get a nasty blast of air directly to the diaphragm every time the drummer whacks the snare.
So how did it sound? Nice. It was somewhat similar to the "old snare standard" mic. There's a presence peak centered at around 5kHz that really helps things to cut through. The attack transients are excellent for a dynamic microphone, and off-axis coloration was fairly minimal. Rejection off-axis is very good, which certainly helps. By pointing the mic at the snare, but angling it a bit so that the null point (135 degrees ) was aimed toward the hi-hat, I was able to reduce hat leakage into the snare mic by a significant amount - a lot more than would have been possible if I was using the old standby.
On guitar cabinets, it performed as I suspected it would after my snare drum experiences. If you want a mic to help a guitar cut through the mix, the presence peak on the ATM650 will definitely get you there. On the bottom, it rolls off about 6dB/octave below about 100Hz, and the low midrange comes across as fairly flat - both of which mean it may not be your best option if you're working with drop tunings or...