For quite a while now, we have been looking for a better suited microphone for Steve, the worship pastor. He has been using a Shure UR2/KSM9 wireless handheld which should sound amazing but for whatever reason just has way too much low mids and gets a little too brittle across the top end. In order to get it to sound even close to decent on Steve’s voice, I have to take the HPF up to 200Hz and then heavily dig out the low mids around 200-350Hz. As you could guess, it sounded very thin when he talked but then still woofy when he sang. The KSM9 capsule is Shure’s attempt at the Neumann KMS109 and I must say it does sound great. Steve’s voice however is very unique and this great microphone just doesn’t suit him so we began searching for a replacement. After trying all the Shure capsules, we decided to check out other brands.
Audio-Technica has always produced great studio microphones, along with specialty mics for broadcast and ENG/EFP. In recent years they have “stepped up their game” with wireless devices and have joined Shure and Sennheiser as the most popular, most reliable wireless devices.
When setting up the demo, I was able to get a 4000 series receiver and then 4 hand held transmitters, one for each of the capsule types. The links below are the data sheets for the wired version of these microphones:
AE3300
AE4100
AE5400
AE6100
I started by having Steve sing while playing just his acoustic guitar so I could get a clear picture of what the microphones sounded like in an acoustic setting. We were very surprised by what we found and immediately thought the AE4100 was going to be our clear favorite with it’s smooth top end and clear low mids, however, after adding the band into the mix we found that it was too dark sounding and then turned brittle when the high mids were boosted to compensate. I changed out the capsules several times during rehearsal and then used a different one for each service on Sunday. In the end our favorite turned out to be the AE5400. I sat right on top of the mix and remained clear with little need for EQ. After discussing it with Steve, he said that the AE5400 had the most presence in his in-ear mix and didn’t feel so flat and “in your face.”
Not wanting to leave out another contender, I then setup a demo with the local Sennheiser representative, Paddy Steading. He brought me an EM2050 receiver and an SKM500 with a 935, 945, and 965 capsule to try out. Below are the links to the wired version of these capsules:
e935
e945
e965
It didn’t take us very long to find which one worked and which ones would not be an option for us. Because of Steve’s unique voice, the e935 and e945 capsules were just too dark in the band mix and were harder to EQ than the KSM9. The e965 actually sounded alright and, while a little thick on the low mid section, would be an acceptable alternative.
So what did we end up going with you ask? After lots of debate and discussion, we decided to go with the Audio Technica system with the AE5400 capsule. Since it’s always good to buy things in pairs, and the fact that Steve plays acoustic guitar most of the time too, I decided to go with a dual channel 5000 series system that included an AEW-T5400a handheld transmitter for the vocal and an AEW-T1000a Unipak transmitter for his acoustic guitar. We now have the ability to leave these units dedicated to Steve, unlike his previous units which, sometimes had to be re-patched and used with headsets, inevitably resulting in the setting not being returned to their previous state and/or us forgetting to re-patch the unit.
The new AT gear finally came in and we used it for the first time on Sunday, January 16th with great results. Steve’s comment to me after rehearsal was, “It sounds just as good as I remember it sounding.” Note: At that point it had been almost two months since we had tried out the AT gear.
