Audio-Technica BP40 Large Diameter Dynamic Mic

Audio-Technica BP40 Dynamic Microphone

When I first saw the new Audio-Technica BP40 dynamic mic, I thought, "Hmm, looks like the love child of a Shure SM7 and an Electro-Voice RE20. A little longer than an SM7, but with a grille more like an RE20 or RE27N/D.

Large diaphragm (1.47") , hypercardioid pattern, humbucking coil, 6 dB/octave 100 Hz low frequency cut, integral pop filter, relatively high sensitivity - –48dB (3.9mV) re1V at 1 Pa, 450 Ohm impedance, 50-16,000 Hz frequency response, less than 1.5 pounds.

BP40 Capsule

Got it;
- diaphragm bigger than most LD condenser mics
- tight pattern

Looks like an on-air mic with kick drum possibilities. $349 on the street, which is about $100 less than an RE20.

On-air microphones have to handle close talking announcers, so stopping pops is essential. The BP40 has a 3/4" thick, replaceable foam pop stopper seen in the photo below. I unscrewed the headgrille and shot the below photo aimed back up towards the back of the foam.

Inside the BP40 Headgrille

Having a replaceable foam pop stopper is very useful and healthy, especially in radio stations where a cold can be quickly passed from person to person as they nuzzle the mic and change shifts. The BP40 headgrille simply unscrews, allowing you to change the foam and disinfect the headgrille. The headgrille also serves another purpose, it keeps the talent at least a specific distance from the diaphragm to prevent closer and more proximity effect from overwhelming the almost inch and a half diaphragm.

Radio DJs frequently like to "eat the mic" to take advantage of the bass building proximity effect that getting close to a directional mic produces. Working close also reduces bad room acoustics and noisy HVAC systems. Let's move to video for a comparison between the BP40 and RE27N/D.

In the above video shot in my studio, you can hear that the the pattern is tight as the graph below left indicates. There's a slight tail at 5kHz, but when you listen to the above video, while you might be able to hear it a little more than with the RE27N/D, I don't consider it a problem.

The BP40 has a humbucking coil to reduce the pickup of stray AC fields. I have an "AC Hum Hell Hole" in one spot here in the house. It's really tough on mics. especially ribbons and dynamics. There's a 200 amp AC service cable that runs down the outside of the house to the main panel in the basement. Inside, in my den, some mics begin to pick up the hum as far away as three feet from that wall. I got the BP40 all the way to the wall before I heard the faintest hum.

BP40 Polar Pattern

BP40 Frequency Response

My first career was 17 years in radio as an on-air talent and Production Director. That's a lot of time on mic; a five hour air shift and at least three hours of production, five days a week. Different stations have different mics. Your voice becomes a test tone. You learn a lot about mics. If you're still in radio production and have somehow missed Radio And Production magazine, check it out. Editor Jerry Vigil has been working hard for quite a few years to make RAP an oasis for radio production people.

Depending on the voice and delivery, you learn to use the variable frequency response caused by working the proximity effect of the mic. Above right, the frequency response graph of the BP40 works well for voice; the frequency response graph shows a nice little peak at just below 4 kHz. The 6 dB per octave bass cut shows the roll off begins at 200Hz. Again, in the above video, you can hear the effect. You may well need the Low Cut for big voice performers who like to eat the mic. Not a big voice? Then leave the Low Cut off and move in.

WTMD

WTMD Ops and Tech Manager Donnie Carlo

In order to get a wider scope on what the BP40 sounds like, I reached out to Operations and Technology Manager, Donnie Carlo, at WTMD. Carlo arranged to have me come in to the WTMD studios and also mentioned that one of their female air talent could help me by cutting some tracks. Carlo had an ElectoVoice RE27N/D and a Shure SM7 lined up for me. These are typical on-air mics. Perfect!

WTMD is a college station, attached to Towson University, but it's no ordinary "college radio station." Their programming and listener outreach is the best I've heard and seen. We're very fortunate to have them here in Baltimore. It's a Class B1 FM at 89.7 MHz with a power of 3 kW. Several years ago they received a grant that allowed them to move from the basement of one of the older university buildings to a new facility at 1 Olympic Plaza in Towson, MD. It's a beautiful facility with updated gear. I know many professional radio people who have never worked in a station as sweet as this.

She who will not be named @WTMD

We spent about an hour in Studio C using my voice and the voice of "the female talent who preferred to be unnamed" - how's that for mystery!? We recorded with the Audio-Technica BP40, Shure SM7 and ElectroVoice RE27N/D with the top EQ roll-off. I also recorded my voice back here at my studio using GML preamps and an RME ADI-8 DS A/D converter interface.

I found that, as with the RE20's Variable D design that minimizes proximity, the BP40 proximity effect didn't really kick in on my voice until I was two inches or closer.

Peavey International II kick and BP40

Drums
I had a music session here and used the BP40 on kick drum. I wasn't sure how the ten year old Peavy International II kit would sound. The kick is a 22" x 14", 9-ply basswood drum. (to the right.) I was very pleased by the the entire kit and the kick drum. The extra barrel with yellow label is a Shure A15AS variable pad set to -15 dB. The kick drum track below says more than my words can. See what you think.

Here are some files to check out. I think the BP40 holds up very well against these mics.

Ty Ford Voice BP40 w/GML preamp

Ty Ford Voice BP40 at WTMD

Ty Ford Voice RE27ND (with peak cut)

Ty Ford SM7 at WTMD (cover removed)

Female VO talent BP40 at WTMD

Female VO talent RE27ND at WTMD

Female VO talent on SM7 (cover removed)

Peavey International II Kick drum

In Conclusion
Like most Audio-Technica mics, the build of the BP40 is very solid. Having a quality, directional hypercardioid like the BP40 in your mic locker will serve you well. Based on my use of it, I'm guessing that it would work or horns, hand percussion and guitar amps as well. It would also probably tame banjos and fiddles.

Copyright 2015 All Rights Reserved

Contact Ty Ford at www.tyford.com

AES NYC 2015 A Journeyman's Wandering #05 & Finale

Photo by Tom O'Connor

The AES/NYC show at the Javits Center (or in California on even years) is always an eye and an ear opener. Each time I attend I come in the door thinking I've pretty much seen everything. I'm always wrong.

From the white papers in sessions where engineers talk about what may be around the corner to the floor where you can see what's shipping or what's about to ship, my coverage continues with this 5th and last episode. 

Read on, there may be surprises for you. This last report features RME, Radial Engineering, TASCAM, Lewitt Microphones, Zoom Recorders, Cloud Microphones and from Shure, in-ear monitors and MOTIV, which offers digital microphones and new ways of recording. 
RME
I have been an RME user for about eight years. I bought one of their A/D D/A converters because I wanted to improve the audio quality going into my Digidesign 003r, rack mounted I/O box that I operate using Pro Tools. I still use the original RME ADI-8 DS for that job, even though RME has upgraded it to the RME ADI-8 DS Mk iii. If I needed that same sort of quality functionality today, the Mk iii would definitely be a contender. I reviewed the new unit in February of 2015 and you can find that review here. The combination of my room, mics, preamps and the RME ADI-8 DS, are responsible for the quality of the sound I get.

I was looking for a piece that would be attractive to small studios and also for actors who are called upon to do their own engineering when asked by producers for voice auditions. The audio book market continues to grow and the tech-savvy actor can open an account at www.acx.com and make at least a partial living by recordings book in the privacy of their own homes. 

The RME Babyface Pro (above) is one way to get there. Its small footprint belies its abilities. As I watched Jeff Petersen explain the ins and outs, it occurred to me that there was a lot going on inside this box. I'm sure you'll agree!

Radial Engineering
I have always enjoyed the thinking at Radial Engineering. They make a large number of audio boxes that do lots of different things - call them "problem solvers" if you like. You'll understand as you watch Jay Porter explain some of these boxes, like the BT-Pro, the first BlueTooth enabled stereo receiver direct box. The DI Net, direct boxes for DANTE systems that either input or output from a DANTE network. The JDX Direct-Drive a small instrument amp simulator that lets you feed a small house system or a small powered speaker, but the processing in the box supposedly makes it sounds like a Marshall 412……except at a much lower volume and without having to lug the amp in and out. Check them all out in the video below.

Radial bought Jensen a few years ago. John Hardy has been making the one rack space Jensen twin 990 servo preamp for some time and it's a truly great sounding preamp. I've had one here in my studio and also took it around to other music studios to the delight and amazement of others. For more details, here's a rabbit hole to my online archive and one of the reviews I wrote about the Night preamp and the Jensen twin 990. The Jensen twin servo mic preamps built into the 500 Series format caught my eye and ear.  

Jay also had a nice USB-Pro Stereo USB Laptop DI box (below) that can solve a lot of problems. 

TASCAM
TASCAM's Jeff Laity had a great little plug on recorder for dynamic mics, the DR-10X Plug-On Micro Linear PCM Recorder (below). If you're doing on the street reporting with a dynamic mic, you can now safely leave the cassette deck behind. This would probably be useful for singer-songwriters or anyone who want to quickly capture a mono file of a thought or musical performance. Keep one by the bed for those wake-up moments when you have a great idea that you'll never remember in the morning.

On the top end, TASCAM's DA-6400 is a 64-track recorder (below) for live sound, FOH or live broadcast recording and playback. Timceode, Gigabit Ethernet, Serial RS-422 and parallel control.

TASCAM has speced and engineered their own SSD hard drives and have hot-swappable enclosures for them. There are two I/O slots for optional audio interface cards: IF-MA64/EX 64-channel redundant (in/out/thru) MADI optical/coaxial interface card, IF-MA64/BN 64-channel MADI coaxial interface card, IF-DA64 64-channel Dante interface card and an IF-AE16 16-channel AES/EBU interface card.

Lewitt Audio
To be honest, I had never heard of Lewitt microphones. They started after Roman Perschon left his job as Project Manager for AKG, best I can tell, around 2009. Lewitt makes a line of dynamic and condenser mics. I wish them luck. It's a crowded market. The glowing vacuum tube in the Lewitt LCT940 (below) caught my eye and the power supply and pattern adjustment box it was attached to looked interesting, so I spent a few minutes with Dean Downey to learn more. It's a mic that combines both FET and tube and allows you to vary the mix of the two and choose among all the patterns from Omni to Figure Of Eight.

ZOOM
I've been a fan of Zoom for a while. They have made inroads into the pro audio and pro video markets with low cost gear that has some limitations, but gets the job done. I have reviewed both the Zoom Q4 and Zoom Q8 video cameras and am amazed that they can bring the technology they do at the price points they do.

I saw the Zoom F8 (above) come out earlier this year and have heard that it's selling very well. There are some cautions. The knobs are pretty difficult to mix with because they're so small. Also the gain knobs turn down, but not completely off. So the ideal use for the F8 is for a multi-track ISO recorder that you'll use to record audio and then mix the ISO tracks in post. Check out the new iPad control that Charlie Lederer demonstrates. Very Cool.

Cloud Microphones
I've known Roger for about five years. I reached out to him when the Cloud  JRS34 bi-directional ribbon mic came out. I worked with Cloud to make a few changes in the JRS34 as they were getting it ready for market. 

Somewhere along the line they put out a small amp stage called the Cloud Lifter. Then the Cloud Lifter CL-Z variable impedance mic activator. It's a truly neat device, especially if you have passive ribbon or dynamic mics, even a Shure SM57 or SM58. (Non-linear thought: If you're micing a snare with an SM57, try a Granelli G5790. It's an SM57 with a 90 degree angle that's a lot easier to position on a drum kit. These are local Baltimore guys.) The Cloud Lifter CL-Z allows you to continuously vary the impedance load the mic sees. That, of course, changes the sound of the mic; more flavors, more colors.

Shure
I've never seen so many in-ear phones! I asked Shure's Thomas Banks to run down the list and explain the differences. The Shure booth was very, very busy. I was concerned that all of the chatter around us would cover our comments. It's a little tough, but work with me here!

The Shure line (above) was very impressive. From the SE112 ($49), SE215 ($138.99), SE315 ($242.99), SE425 ($342.99), SE535 ($499), SE846 ($999), SHA900 listening amplifier ($999), and KSE1500 electrostatic earphones ($2,999.00) - there's a price point and feature set for everyone. (really? $3k? What must that sound like?)

My first thought was that one of these many in-ear drivers would be perfect for videographers who are also responsible for grabbing sound. Their problem is that even the small-ish Sony MDR 7506 headphones stick out too much and bang into the side of the camera when it's shoulder-mounted. NOT HELPFUL!! I hope to get around to trying some of these later to find out which model delivers sound similar enough to the MDR7506 to be useful in the location audio work I do. 

If you think Shure has been sitting on its laurels and watching the world go by, THINK AGAIN! This became apparent when Banks gave me a whirlwind (pun intended) tour of the Shure Motiv line of digital mics and new recording solutions. Please excuse the couple of places my camera decided to go soft focus. I may have had my finger over a focus sensor. I need to look into that. 

Banks showed me the Shure MVL lav, MV5, MV51, A free Motiv App, (a 24/48 recording software - check the App store), the MVi, MV88 Mid/Side stereo condenser with an amazing amount of control via the App in the above video. With these, Shure has definitely demonstrated that it's listening to "what the kids are saying."

That was my last stop of the second day and as the sun set over Manhattan, I walked back to the once grand (but not any more) Hotel Pennsylvania. OTOH, the Niles Restaurant a block south on 7th Avenue in the Affinia Hotel, was a great place to eat and drink.

The next day, as we trained from NYC back to Baltimore, I could only say that the AES Convention was, once again, great and showed me more than I expected. 
  

Shure Triple Threat Shotguns

Shure VP89 L, M & S

The VP89/L, VP89/M and VP89/S are long, medium and short electret condenser shotguns from Shure. The bodies are charcoal-grey metallic painted aluminum alloy with a stainless steel screen. They require 11-52 V DC phantom power. Each interference tube capsule comes with and use its own Shure VP89 XLR-terminated power supply with high-pass filter. There is no pad.

Each mic comes in a handy and sturdy vinyl-clad hard tube holster that’s large enough to accept the mic with its included foam wind filter. If more wind protection is required, Shure has three sizes of pistol-grip based windshields, one for each length and a Rycote Lyre suspension mount.

A Recent History of Ribbon Microphones

Audio-Technica AT 4080 and 4081

Ty Ford (written sometime in 2005)

The BBC cites 1933 as the year pressure gradient ribbon microphones were introduced. It also notes that RCA's Harry Olson applied for a patent on January 31, 1941 that was granted May 9, 1944 for ribbon microphones that converted sound pressure to electrical energy using a strip of aluminum between two magnets.