Sound Advice by Brent Handy Contributing Writer October 08, 2006

ADK Area 51 TT & A Really Unfair Comparison
I took the ADK tube mics down to The Church Studio, Tulsa, OK. The Church is owned by Steve Ripley (of Ripley Guitars and "The Tractors" fame). I wanted to compare the ADK's to some Neumanns. The Neumanns are pristine U48's, worth about $9,000.00. They are a multipattern version of the U47 (an industry standard), which many manufacturers now emulate (Lawson, Soundelux, etc). The ADK is under $1600 retail.

Steve was demo-ing the new Telefunken ELAM 251 reissue. (If you are not a recording buff, or have never heard of the ELAM, or AKG's C-12, then go to www.telefunkenusa.com to learn more. This is a new release of a vintage industry standard, and it costs $12,000.00. The case alone is nicer than any luggage that I own!) So now it is really unfair, right?

With the ADK, Neumann U48 tube and the Telefunken correctly amplified by the preamps in the Neve 8068 console, we listened. First we listened for self-noise. Second we listened for conductive noise. And last but not least a sonic test drive.

Noise. The ADK was the most quiet mic of the three. It was VERY quiet for a tube mic. Actually, it is VERY quiet compared to most condensers. The ADK TT did an excellent job rejecting RF, unlike the Telefunken.

All three mics had minimal conductive noise. The shock mounts isolated the microphones well. The ADK metal hardware broke. It felt fragile compared to the Neumann. But, a Neumann shock mount costs as much as an ADK, A51 condenser microphone ($250). So, once Larry Villella told me that they would correct the problem and replace the unit, I didn't give it another thought.

Sound. For Ripley to use something other than his 48's says allot. He is has a Grammy-nominated signature sound. The ADK replaced the Neumann and the Telefunken on a vocal and acoustic guitar track. The tracks will appear on his upcoming Tractors children's album. He liked it. I found the ADK to be my favorite female vocal mic. It allows the vocal to cut though the mix. This high end has a color and character that will not work on everything. The boost from about 8kHz to 9kHz caused me to reach for the De-Esser plug-in a few times. I liked this mic on the piano, overheads and stereo A/B recording. Actually, I had good result with everything except the trumpet

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