Earthworks QTC1

Have been recording acoustical instruments for the last five years. Take a direct line approach wherein the mike is run through Monster cable directly into the converter; once digitized, it goes ino the computer's soundcard. Am currently running RME conversion units and soundcards with several software packages. Monitoring is by Tannoy Reveals with comparison output to Bose, JBL, and other home systems.

The Earthworks QTC1 microhpone is an omidirectional microphone that is phantom-powered by the usual 48 volts. See http://www.earthworksaudio.com/qtc1.html for more complete specifications.

I use two matched QTC1 microphones in close proximity to a harpsichord soundboard in order to capture the incredibly complex sound quality of the instrument accurately. Because of the time variant naure of the overtone structure -- and its extremely powerful presence in the 20,000-40,000hz range -- the harpsichord is moct challenging to mike well. The QTC1s do it better than any other microhpone I have encountered.

Before the QTC1s I used a pair of Neumann TLM 103s (and still use them for ambient miking). The Neumann's provide a warmer, more "traditional" sound. But the Earthworks mikes cut through the texture and make sense of dense polyphony like no other mike. Selection between these higher-end mikes will always be, of course, a matter of subjective taste. Having them both around makes life easier.

Other reviewers of this microphone have noted an odd characteristic -- it is bext to place this mike very close to the sounding board (literally, inches away). It exhibits no adverse proximity effect and becomes a much different animal when so positioned. Forget what you have heard about normal positioning and give it a try right next to the sound producer. It is, BTW, omnidirectional in the extreme.

Suspect the mike could be used for many different applications but it is certainly brilliant when you need to bring order to a dense texture that has a lot of time variance.

Before I used these mikes I was suspicious about the value of recording overtomes in the 20,000-40,000 range. After trying it (along with 96/24 conversion capable of digitizing that signal range clearly) I can state with certainty that there is value for acoustical generators. That upper, "inaudible" octave impacts significantly on the clarity of the octave below. It makes the recording more realistic and "solid" sounding.

The Earthworks mikes are one of a few that extend their range high enough in order to capture these upper frequencies. Give them a chance before you dismiss this process as a fantasy.

Earthworks is serious about its products and knows quality control well. The one minor suggestion I might make to the company (and that others will certainly disagree with) is to avoid spending too much production cost on the microhpone case; I, myself, would prefer a less-fancy case and a less expensive microhpone.