ECM-87 Out of Warranty Repair

How Were These Microphones Recorded?  

Audio Test Kitchen’s audio sources are real recordings of every microphone in 11 different acoustic spaces captured under precisely standardized conditions: no variation in mic position, signal chain, level, or source.  

Every microphone was exposed to sounds from low to high, soft to loud, smooth to sharp, near to far, with both on-axis and off-axis information.

The sources – drums, percussion, piano, guitars, vocals – made the same sound consistently as every microphone recorded it using various techniques from robots to anechoic chambers.

Pure signal chains, and multiple quality control and level-matching stages ensure that when you compare the sound of mics in your Taste Test, the only difference you hear is between the microphones themselves.

How Can ATK Be an Accurate and Unbiased Representation of the Mics?

Because we carefully, methodically, painstakingly control the conditions of every recording to eliminate all variables. When every product is recorded exactly the same under the same conditions, the only differences that show up are the differences between the products. Afterall, that’s what we want to hear.

What is a STACKED MIX?

A STACKED MIX naturally amplifies the personality of every microphone by combining — S T A C K I N G — all the sources in the song together at once.  When you hear all the song elements — bass, guitar, drums, vocals, percussion, etc. — recorded through that one mic, the character of that microphone comes leaping out, compared to if you were only listening to one source at a time on that mic. 

What if a Product I Want to Hear is Not Here?

Email info@audiotestkitchen.com and contact the manufacturer via their website to request inclusion of the product(s) you want to hear.