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Neumann TLM 49 -review-

 
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:37 pm    Post subject: Neumann TLM 49 -review- Reply with quote

Testing the Neumann TLM 49 large membrane studio condenser mic

They must have been somewhat... nervous in the Neumann boardroom, for their Chinese clones seem to pop up everywhere these days. So then what do you do? Come up with something totally new, or just show just why it is that you have been in business for the past some odd 80 years building pretty amazing microphones. Well... they decided to do both. It looks very retro, and clearly resembles the M49 which is also a very big microphone, with hardly a pricetag of a lesser size as well. For comparison, this TLM 49 is about twice the size of the much cheaper and therefore much more popular TLM 103.

Inside the TLM 49 you will find the almost legendary K47-capsule which has been the leading capsule of the most expensive Neumann mics since the early sixties, especially the M49 and the even more vintage U47. It is (and very much sounds like ) a giant cardioid condenser with no transformers in the amplifier circuit; hence the name TLM 49 (Transformer Less Microphone), how obvious Wink

No wooden case around this one, just a cardboard box, but with a very sturdy high quality shockmount to hold the pretty heavy mic. The mic I tried weighed close to 1 kilogramme so you need a heavy-duty mic stand to sit it on. It was primarily designed for singing and speaking vocalists, but I also tried recording some piano. It is a great sounding mic around 5 khz, for it has a bit of a boost there giving you that presence I like so much, especially on male vocals! Around 8k there’s a light dip and another peak can be heard around 10k, giving you a very beautiful chrystal clear top end.

It sounds beautifully open, not overly warm though with a lot of definition without being too sharp sounding. No sibilance problems here, it’s almost like there’s an intelligent de-esser built in the mic! The sound of a singing voice is right ‘in your face’ it seems like your head is in the singer’s mouth almost, it masks virtually nothing. It has this distinctive sense of ‘air’. Another great aspect is that the TLM 49 is not very much influenced by the proximity-effect, so a vocalist with less than average microphone handling skills won’t mess up the steady sound you aimed for in a session. I used a TL Audio VP 5051 Ivory Series tube pre with the noise gate switched off, no EQ and a 4:1 compression ratio with a bit slower attack time than I normally use in recording radiocommercials.

I only had 4 days of testing time, so I missed out on recording guitars with it or violins for that matter. I think it will prove to be a great mic for strings, but again… didn’t try, sticked to the vocals. It is a super microphone with no cons at this price I guess, it sells in Europe for 1175 Euro excluding 19 %VAT or the current equivalent of $ 1528, plus your taxes. It is therefore relatively affordable if you want to own a top standard Neumann unit.

The audiosample is a fully produced 30, with NO additional overall processing except for a bit of reverb. You just hear the mic processed as described above. The music bed was manually gain-ridden for this spot and it aired on all major regional Dutch public and commercial broadcasters, as well as on national TV and on a big sports trade fair in Amsterdam where you could win a pair of New Balance trainers. You might pick up on a little Dutch here… Wink

Neumann TLM 49 is a winner… but it’s only my opinion.
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