User manual AEA LA30

[. . . ] Blowing into a mic may have worked for your junior high principal on a PA mic: "Is this mic working?" On a studio ribbon mic, strong breath blasts can stretch some of those pleats and change the tensioning of the ribbon. This will change the sound, so try to avoid blasts of air. Joe Chiccarelli recommends putting your hand where the mic will be, to feel if there are air blasts there from the guitar / bass cabinet, vocalist, or whatever you are recording. If you spot a problem, move the mic or use a "popper stopper" to block the blasts. [. . . ] The sound of a ribbon hitting such obstacles is not pleasant. Fixing it requires disassembling the mic and trying to clean out the gap. Sometimes a new ribbon is required and this is not covered under warranty. 2 LA30 Short Manual WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?"Nothing else sounds like a large ribbon on strings, horns and voices, " observes Wes Dooley. "AEA's classic R44 series and our neoclassic LA30 offer a truly opulent sound. " It is uncanny how closely what you hear in the studio, while you are placing the mic, matches the control room playback. The versatile LA30 sounds great on a wide range of instruments, including brass, strings, percussion, electric guitar and bass. Whether used on vocals or instruments, its performance is intimate, warm and detailed, yet never harsh. AEA's first ribbon mic, the classic high-output R44 series, continues to gain converts with its natural sound, articulate midrange and forgiving nature. Your LA30 enjoys similar sonic qualities, but is optimized for close-up solo and accent chores. The LA30 is an LRG mic with an aluminum diaphragm that is over two inches long, but only 185 thousandths of an inch wide and 70 millionths of an inch thick. This supple, low-tension element dances exceptionally well to the music, which results in: 1. The R44's sometimes overwhelming bass boost begins at six feet (1. 8 M). The original RCA 44 was developed during a time when studios were larger and mics were rarely used really close up. The contemporary LA30 has a more moderate proximity effect that is well suited for close up use. The LA30 maintains an effective figure-eight polar pattern from down in the basement at 20 Hz and on up. In the studio or on stage, such wide-band native figure-eight performance can be useful. A figure-eight has the same directivity index as a cardioid and with the null area being a plane at 90 degrees to the main axis, you have access to a whole new set of tricks. Blumlein and More Two LA30s set vertically coincident and at 90 degrees to each other creates Blumlein's famous stereo configuration. This setup is also a useful studio technique if you want faceto-face interaction but with console control of each musician's levels. You place the musicians at right angles to each other and directly facing the front or rear pickup axis of the mics. The isolation is excellent as the principal axis of one mic is the null plane for the other. Such right angle orientations also are used to isolate guitar and bass amps. [. . . ] We embarked on a quest lasting several years for the know-how and expertise necessary to recreate ALL the parts for this much sought after microphone. We were exceptionally fortunate to be advised by Jon Sank during this endeavor. Jon was the engineer who supervised RCA microphone production from 1960 until the division closed in 1976. He continued to be involved with microphones and acoustics as a consultant, and never lost his love for RCA microphones. [. . . ]