The house recording revolution has come. From low cost and reasonably priced audio interfaces and software program to the rocketing abundance of USB microphones in the Zoom period, there isn’t a purpose why you possibly can’t make chart-topping singles in your bed room. (See: Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell.) It’s simple to get audio high quality that is adequate, however now high-end corporations are aiming to assist common musicians get true studio high quality at house.
The most recent Sphere DLX and Sphere LX modeling mics from Common Audio ask a easy query: What for those who might have nearly each well-known microphone accessible at your fingertips in a single, sub-$1,400 machine?
Plug in these stereo mics to any audio interface, open up the software program, and also you acquire entry to tens of hundreds of {dollars} of modeled microphone sounds, and even the power to alter them post-record. It’s been a sport changer in my small mission recording studio, and one that can make next-generation indie rockers sound cleaner and extra dialed-in than ever. You may even use a mannequin of the Eilishes’ personal Neumann, although you may be upset to comprehend that expertise is the primary purpose they sound so good.
On the Mic
The Sphere is available in two sizes and costs, the cheaper LX and dearer DLX, each of which come inside well-engineered gentle instances. (You may stack them, however they don’t seem to be going to outlive a success with a baseball bat.) You get two mounts within the DLX case, an everyday one and a shock one, and only a non-shock mount within the LX case. The bigger DLX will look instantly acquainted to those that have tried the Townsend Labs Sphere L22, one other modeling mic that got here out a number of years in the past, and for good purpose. UA purchased Townsend Labs, utilizing its tech to recreate the outdated mannequin and create the smaller LX sequence for extra budget-conscious of us.
Common Audio has made every thing from mic preamps and compressors to microphones over the previous 24 years. Like every thing the corporate makes, these mics feel and appear like they’re designed for skilled use, with strong metallic enclosures and a stunning match and end. The primary distinction between the 2 is the dimensions. The smaller and extra reasonably priced Sphere LX simulates most of the similar mics as its larger brother, but it surely lacks 18 mic fashions included on the bigger mic. You get 20 mic fashions on the smaller LX and 38 on the DLX.
{Photograph}: Common Audio
Each are stereo microphones that file by the back and front of a customized 1-inch stereo capsule. On their very own, they’re extremely transparent-sounding mics; that is partially what permits the mic’s plug-in software program to investigate and emulate traditional microphone polar patterns, tone, and so on. Each are powered by 48-V phantom energy, with white LEDs that mild up the capsule when the mic is plugged in and energy is on–a cool impact that I haven’t seen on different mics of this sort. It makes you are feeling just like the capsule is looking to your mouth.
The one draw back to the mics being stereo is that these do take up two channels of your audio interface. If in case you have a smaller interface, you’ll have to trace vocals and some other devices at totally different instances. Not an enormous deal, however price noting for these with solely two mic channels.
Recording Sphere
The mics are principally Photoshop for mic selection and placement. You may choose what mannequin of mic you want. Anybody who has hung round an expert recording studio will instantly acknowledge many, if not nearly all, of the microphone fashions included contained in the Sphere’s plug-in controller. Every part from traditional Neumann fashions just like the U47 and U67, to extra trendy mics just like the Shure SM7B and Sony C800G, can be found. There’s even a collection of ribbon microphones, which will be tremendous useful on horns or for a classic sound.
You may choose mics after recording too. You put in the plug-in, set it up on a stereo channel of your digital audio workstation, and select which mic you wish to use and the way. You may at all times change it later, offered the audio was recorded by the Sphere mic to start with. The plug-in works with each main piece of audio recording software program, from Garageband to skilled requirements like Professional Instruments, which makes it nearly foolproof.
Not solely are you able to regulate the particular mic, you possibly can even regulate the polar sample, which is the “lens” of a mic that controls the route from which the mic data, whether or not that is tightly in entrance or an omnidirectional recording. You may even use mics in methods the unique mannequin wouldn’t permit; I appreciated utilizing a mannequin of a classic RCA ribbon mic in a tighter configuration than the classic mic would permit in actual life. I get a lot much less bleed from surrounding devices. You may also regulate the space from the mic, the place generally you will get too many pops from “p” sounds or sibilance from “s” sounds.