Sennheiser has introduced the evolution e 965 microphone, called the flagship product within the evolution range and its first large-diaphragm true condenser microphone.

Ben Escobedo, associate product manager for the music industry at Sennheiser Electronic Corporation had this to say:

The e 965 is an outstanding vocal mic for enhancing the evolution 900 range. A completely new capsule architecture was designed for the e 965. It produces a very detailed, yet warm, full sound, and offers the mic optimal protection from humidity, so that it’s rock-solid even during very heavy stage use.

A wide frequency range, extensive dynamics, and extremely low distortion make the large-diaphragm microphone stand out from the crowd. The e 965 also features a dual-diaphragm transducer, which allows users to switch between cardioid and super-cardioid pick-up patterns. When the volume on the stage is loud, for example, the vocalist can select the tighter pattern. For high sound pressure levels, users can switch on a pre-attenuation of -10dB. A low-cut filter effectively eliminates impact noise and reduces the low-frequency overemphasis during close miking. Handling noise is efficiently reduced by the shock-mount design, while an integrated pop shield and windshield make the microphone very user-friendly.

Escobedo continues:

The e 965 links the high-performance live sound of the evolution range with the high-definition sound of a large-diaphragm true condenser mic.

The evolution e 965 is available in stores with an MSRP of $878.00.

Here’s a series of clips where I’m basically playing around with a couple of rhythm loops and a synth. They’re variations of the same theme.

solid4

A gate is typically the same thing as an expander, but set to a such high ratio (I.E. high compression) that it doesn’t let anything past the set threshold. In other words, it is almost to the gate, what the limiter is to the compressor. Gates are perhaps most often used as a noise gate, that is, to remove unwanted noise from recordings.

An expander is in a way the opposite of a compressor. While a compressor uses the threshold setting to reduce the signal above the set value, an expander reduces the signal below the threshold value. This makes the signal more dynamic, and is thus expanded instead of compressed.

As with most audio tools, the parameters can vary between expanders. Typical controls found are ratio, threshold, knee, range and attack.

Until Flux released something called a de-compressor, I would have said that the expander is the exact opposite of a compressor. You can pretty much tell it from the name, right? While the signal above the set threshold is toned down with a compressor, it’s the signal below the threshold that’s toned down with an expander. Thus creating an image of more dynamic audio.
More →

Today we’ll talk more about the de-esser, or more specifically, how you can make one if you haven’t got one. Many early de-essers used in broadcast were actually not de-essers, but homebrew stuff. And it’s not as hard as it sounds. You won’t have to touch a single screw. You will need a compressor and an EQ.

The trick is to “tune” the compressor to react to certain frequencies where sibilants occur. The easy way to find this is to take your EQ, boost one of the bands, drag it cross the frequency spectrum and listen to where the esses occur. Perhaps try around 5-6kHz.

Here’s a series of clips where I’m basically playing around with a couple of rhythm loops and a synth. They’re variations of the same theme.

solid3