Manufacturers On The Mic

January, 2006--"Of all the components in a sound system, microphone technology hasn't evolved as much as other devices, but microphone selection has more influence on a performance than anything else." So says Mike Torlone, Market Development Manager for AKG Acoustics, setting the stage for a discussion of live sound vocal microphones. PSN surveyed a number of manufacturers for their perspectives on the current state of affairs in design, manufacturing and application.

Asked about design trends in mics for live vocal performance, Neumann (President of Development Stephan Peus and Microphone Development Engineer Martin Schneider jointly replied to our survey) reports seeing "more & more condenser microphones on stage, providing studio quality sound for the stage," a trend also cited by Electro-Voice (EV), AKG and Audio-Technica, with A-T's Marketing Director Gary Boss indicating a trickle down effect. "The proliferation of handheld condenser vocal microphone use in high-end touring sound has begun to migrate to the regional bands and smaller clubs," says Boss. "Ultimately the end-users will experience higher fidelity and better intelligibility in their audio. And isn't that what it's all about?"

Shure's Senior Director of Brand Management Mark Brunner and Senior Director of Product Management Scott Sullivan offer part of the logic behind their design of the KSM9 live performance condenser microphone, saying "the overall trend we've seen in live sound is more mixed use of wedges and personal monitors. Setups may change in different venues or even between acts on the same bill. One of the reasons we created the KSM9 was to give performers and engineers the benefit of being able to change the polar pattern of the microphone. We felt it was important to be able to adapt to both of these environments." Adjustable polar patterns on a single live performance mic is a feature Shure cites as typical in the studio world but unique to the KSM9 in sound reinforcement. "We chose supercardioid and cardiod patterns because they are commonly appropriate settings for wedges or in-ear monitor use, respectively. Additionally, a vocalist's perception of full frequency response is heightened when using personal monitors, which is why we chose the design approach used in our recording capsules to create the KSM9."

The Neumann team offers further reasons for the trend toward condenser vocal microphones in live sound, "High-quality condenser microphones have more controlled frequency responses and polar patterns. The end user can be sure that he gets optimum sound quality from the microphone, and can concentrate his efforts on optimizing stage monitoring and amplification/room acoustics issues." AKG's Torlone adds, "As other components in the signal chain have improved and as speaker systems have become more resolute, the transient superiority of condensers is easy to hear; however, they still aren't the best choice for every vocalist."

"Better sounding vocals" is what EV's Johnson cites as the motivation for end-user's widespread adoption of condenser mics for live vocal use. "We believe that every vocalist deserves their own microphone," he elaborates. "No two singers sound the same--each deserves a mic that best brings out the nuances in that individual voice. Think about it this way--how many guitarists would do a gig with any old guitar that the club happened to have laying around?! And for that matter, vocalists not only deserve their own mic, but there are valid health related reasons why they should have one--who knows who sang into that mic last night?"

The increasing use of wireless mic technology, and the breadth of application, wraps back around to drive design, according to Sennheiser Senior Project Manager Volker Schmitt. "More and more wireless applications can be found on stage, TV applications, etc. which resulted in different aesthetic changes, performance enhancements and easier ergonomics and interfaces." The hot topic in wireless at the moment is not the microphone but the regulatory environment and the continued availability of the radio spectrum typically employed by pro audio wireless end-users. "Especially here in the US," says Schmitt, "the discussion about available spectrum (White Space) is on top of the priority list. If unlicensed devices flood the UHF spectrum it will cause problems in the reliability of the wireless audio transmission, which affects more than just the concert world...Efficient use of the available RF spectrum, flexibility and networkability will continue to be main topics in the future."

From more of a business perspective, Paul Froula, national business manager at beyerdynamic, says that "Design trends seem to indicate ways to continue price point erosion. This is a trend we see, but do not participate in at beyerdynamic." Bob Heil, president, founder and design chief at Heil Sound, adds: "The only trends I see-other than our larger diameter element dynamics--is the race toward cheaper and cheaper manufacturing."

Heil, always a maverick, has focused on improving the performance of dynamic vocal mics as opposed to climbing on the condenser bandwagon. "The quality of dynamic microphones built today is lower than the quality we grew up with 30 to 40 years ago," he says. "It's like we are handing our audio technology to China saying, 'It doesn't matter anymore, we just want cheap!' This is crazy and what I am actively tying to fix. The end user cannot depend on multiples of his favorite model sounding the same anymore. Try to find three [individual mics] (of the same brand and model) that sound the same of the big brands!

"The market is absolutely flooded with the import thingies," Heil continues. "One after another, they are just mere copies of the prior one. Articulation, phase cohesion, off-axis rejection and the actual personality of a dynamic microphone has been lost in pursuit of cost reductions. There is a 'buzz' out there when you dare to do something different that really works and is not just marketing hype."

"We came into this market after having left the live sound industry back in 1981," Heil says. "We moved over to Amateur Radio where we focused on midrange vocal performance in dynamic microphones. Heil Sound dominates that industry now, for the past 25 years. Many of the technologies learned there have been applied to this new direction in pro mics. With help from my long time friend Joe Walsh, we've figured out the midrange! We have been very active in developing large diaphragm dynamic mics for recording--a novel approach to say the least. Broadcast and live sound all benefit from this intense focus on mid sound quality; I call it articulation."

Asian manufacturing has spawned a huge number of new microphone brands over the past few years ("The "domestic" manufacturers of dynamic mics are now importers and everything is being done offshore," claims Heil. "At Heil we still believe in the US."), though most of the manufacturers PSN surveyed continue to build their products primarily in long established domestic, European and Japanese factories. Heil says his company has "special designed parts built in the U.K., Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Japan and the USA. They are brought to our assembly plant in Fairview Heights, Illinois (metro St Louis) where we assemble and test each product." Boss says at A-T, "Almost all of our upper-echelon microphones are built in Japan. Most of our other product is made throughout Asia in Audio-Technica owned or controlled facilities."

Shure reports variety in their manufacturing locales, saying "Microphones are built in each of our manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Asia and Mexico. Our top tier products, such as our KSM microphones, are manufactured in Wheeling, IL." Sennheiser has an Albuquerque, NM factory and shares a Wedemark, Germany plant with Neumann, who manufactures exclusively in Wedemark. beyerdynamic manufactures in Germany as well, and Torlone says that "Nearly all of AKG's products are manufactured in Vienna, Austria."

The use of automation in manufacturing is cited by some as a viable path, or a step on the path, to product quality, while others eschew mechanization, boasting on the human touch. "Nearly 10 years ago, AKG updated and modernized its production facility with a high level of automation in order to improve efficiency and ensure a high level of consistency," says Torlone. "The entire production process isn't automated--most transducers are still hand-assembled and tested." Neuman replies this way: "All assembly steps including the capsules are still handmade. Automation only plays a role in the mechanical and PCB production/workshop." Of the QC stage, Neumann adds that "faster test procedures and semi-automated measurement setups have aided in making the quality control net even tighter."

On the Sennheiser side of the equation, a higher degree of automation is employed. "Lots of manufacturing steps are automated as they were in the past," says Schmitt, though adding that there are "still devices in production which need manual adjustments or assembly steps. Sennheiser is using a fully automated manufacturing line for our evolution wired vocal microphones. This includes full quality control and analysis of 100% of our product." In general, he says, significant increases in quality are the result of "better design tools (simulation tools) and higher automation during production."

Adding to the automation/human production debate, Boss says, "Audio-Technica uses a blend of both processes. In many cases, a more hand-crafted approach is needed to achieve our desired quality and consistency objectives. In fact, on a recent tour of our facilities in Tokyo, a certain high-level audio professional commented that no one would ever drop a microphone again if they realized the level of care that went into building A-T mics." Boss says that care extends to "the highest level of quality control. For example, we QC 100% of our 40 Series microphones."

Froula replied with a simple "No" when asked if EV employs automation in manufacturing, and Heil says "Oh, not at all," maintaining that each mic "has to be hand built. Each part has to be tested. Each product is tested at least three different times as it rolls through our production line. We have been building audio products for 40 years and continue to achieve this high standard of QC. Each product is born, not just simply built at Heil Sound."

"Absolutely not," is the response from Shure about the use of automation, with the elaboration: "Shure's manufacturing processes are designed with a high level of human touch...even in our largest volume products." To insure performance, Shure reports updates in their quality control infrastructure. "We have updated all of our measurement software, which allows us to do more testing and analysis of our products more quickly and efficiently across the board in all of our manufacturing facilities."

Asked about new materials and techniques employed in mic manufacturing, Torlone replies that "The new AKG D5 uses a new diaphragm technology called Laminate Varimotion that reduces sonic coloration significantly and also helps improve gain-before-feedback characteristics." Heil says that, "our magnet structures use Neodymium but we have discovered that an additive of iron and boron with it really increases the power of the motor. This was really needed with the larger diaphragm we use (an inch or more). The combination of the larger element and rare earth alloys (in our motors) is the reason we haven't seen this level of performance before from a dynamic. Everyone else failed at bringing this high a level of performance to a dynamic because you couldn't do it even 5 years ago."
What about the impact of the "RoHS" (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) initiatives in Europe, restricting the use of materials such as lead in products sold in the EU? "Since nearly all AKG products are manufactured in Europe," says Torlone, "the RoHS directive was considered in their design stage (most of our models are less than 3 years old)."

Boss says A-T has also worked the RoHS restrictions into their design process. "Audio-Technica is an environmentally aware company," he explains, "and has been anticipating the RoHS initiative for some time now. Many of our lines were built to be compliant from their inception, for example our new Artist Series, new UniPoint, Artist Elite and others. " At EV, Johnson says they will continue to follow the approach taken with their Cardinal condenser and Raven dynamic mics, "that being to design great sounding mics that look as good as they sound. RoHS consumed a lot of resources, but did not affect our products or company in any more significant way than that."

Shure reports that they have "had to find alternative materials for some commonly used parts and components, like hexavalent chromate that's used in some platings, for example, because it's now a banned material by the new RoHS standards. So, yes...in some products, we are using new materials and/or finishes. Fortunately though, for some of our products, we didn't need to change anything because a lot of what we'd been doing was already acceptable. All of Shure's products currently being shipped to Europe are reported to be RoHS compliant, remaining "as durable as they've always been."

Neumann says that they are still employing "standard materials, design and manufacture" in their products, though "RoHS has caused a high additional workload over the last few years, including some redesigns and qualifying modified manufacturing processes. But all Neumann production was RoHS-compliant on time; and there's nothing one could say against protecting the environment and reducing potentially harmful materials." Neumann parent Sennheiser also reports on-time RoHS compliance in their manufacturing facilities, echoing the increased workload that the regulations spawned, Schmitt adding that "the push towards ever smaller wireless technology is also affecting manufacturing. Because of the trend to smaller devices, new concepts had to be introduced. Smaller components during the design stage leads to new manufacturing processes."

Competition is intense between professional wireless microphone manufacturers, each pushing towards wired mic fidelity within the constraints of wireless technology. Torlone states a common theme: "From a philosophical point-of-view, AKG believes that a customer wants a wireless system to sound just like a wired microphone. To deliver that level of performance, that means he wants wide frequency response (35 - 20,000 Hz) and wide dynamic range (the AKG WMS400 and WMS4000 systems deliver 120 dB dynamic range). Frequency response and dynamic range are important characteristics necessary in delivering accurate, uncompressed sound."

Wireless Microphone Product Manager Dave Egenberger says EV is "working on several new technologies and approaches to solve the many challenges that wireless products face in the next few years. From a sonic standpoint, we work hard to make each new generation product sound better than the last. The new REV is a perfect example, we spent many hours making the REV sound as close to a wired microphone as possible and we are very happy with the results."

To approach the dynamic range available from wired mics, wireless systems use companding--dynamic range compression on transmission and expansion at the receiver. Shure says that, "Since their inception, the biggest detriment to the sound quality of wireless microphones has been companding artifacts. Several years ago we embarked on the design of our patented Audio Reference Companding circuitry and deployed it in the majority of our wireless systems. We believe it provides a noticeable sound quality improvement versus competitive offerings." Audio Technica is also addressing companding issues, with Boss elaborating that the "dual compander in our 4000 and 5000 Series Artist Elite wireless systems eliminates many of the compromises otherwise found in standard single-compander wireless systems, thus providing higher fidelity."

Wireless sound quality improvements in their SKM5200 and SK5212 systems are due to more than the analog circuits, says Sennheiser's Schmitt. "Overall the wireless transmission is getting more and more robust during the performance due to the turnkey products which Sennheiser offers (i.e. Antennas, Distribution Systems, etc.), all of which improves the audio quality."

Heil says that Heil Sound "has not touched" the wireless market as yet, "but we are talking about it. There certainly will be moves there in the next year or so."

The intense competition in the professional microphone market insures that innovation will continue, as evidenced by new offerings from our surveyed manufacturers over the past year-Heil's new dynamic mics, two new handheld, sub $200 mics from Audio-Technica, Neumann's KMS 104 cardioid companion to their KMS 105 hypercardioid model (along with the KK 105 HD "heavy duty" variant of the KK 105 S capsule, designed for high wind and "pop" situations, for use with Sennheiser SKM5000/SKM5200 wireless transmitters), the byerdynamic Opus 89.6 and pending handhelds from AKG in both condenser and dynamic configurations, along with two new AKG head-worn vocal microphones. "Emerging technologies are contributing to audio design concepts each and every day, says Schmitt, while Neumann footnotes the discussion, "There's still lots of ideas in line that wait for research, prototyping, field-testing and finally implementation!"