Review by Joel Patterson

November 8, 2006

Product Features

•High definition “time coherent” revolutionary design

•Omni pattern

•Lower Self Noise Compared to “TC” Series

Product Specs

•Frequency Response: 6Hz to 30kHz

•Sensitivity: 30mV/Pa (-30.5dBV/Pa)

•Power Requirements: 48V Phantom

•Minimum Output load: 600 ohms

•Noise: 22 dB SPL equivalent (A weighted)

•Weight: .35 lb (160 g) each

First Impressions

“Can you take me back where I came from?” is not a question I ask much: when I started my humble studio ten years ago, I was an expert at throwing some pretty basic gear at the problem and getting pretty fair recordings. It always took a healthy dose of experimentation and mucho radiation treatments of processing, but I’d always end up with things sounding “like they really did.” That is where these microphones begin.

These don’t look like microphones at all. They look like deluxe, stainless steel Sharpie markers. End to end it’s only 6.5 inches, the wide end of the shaft only large enough to accommodate a female XLR cable, narrowing down to a point, almost, at the capsule end. It’s not possible to disassemble it, it’s a solid bar.

In Use

These are a world away from anything else that calls itself a “microphone.” I know all of you remember the thrill of hearing something playing back, for the first time. Recordings in general, music, movie soundtracks, the whole gorgeous realm of the media. There wasn’t any doubt in your mind that what you were hearing was different from the real life you heard day-to-day. Because “real” stuff had a snap, an urgency, an immediacy. It was real.

These mics capture all of that, every last iota of believability. This is great for everything. It’s so relaxing to listen to the natural sound of something. All the compressing and EQing and squeezing and throttling I used to do, it really had the potential to make for some irritating music because it was warped and shaped in artificial ways. If you mic up a drumkit with these, you will, mercifully, get a true image, and that itself can be worth a thousand words. However, close mic’ing of drums would distort the QTC series as they are not made for close mic’ing of extremely loud sources.

There is no handling noise, which is a big, big plus for me, and no proximity effect. This is good, because for situations where your goal is to get a nice rendering of singers in a hall, or an orchestra, you can’t lose. I had this set on an ORTF bar at a high school band concert, I threw it up at the last minute to catch the percussion of “The Typewriter” (Anderson / Werle), a novelty piece where a few of the best kids on shakers and bells simulate the sound effects of a typewriter. The clattering was crisp and even and not only that, the QTC30′s gave a sweet picture of the band playing behind… so accurate and dense. At a piano camp for aspiring young performers called Summer Sonatina, where set up and teardown times were of the essence, I slapped these up at the edge of an open grand piano, and the results were glistening and gleaming: dynamic, searing performances as well as the beautiful hush of the hall.

So, this would be the best microphone in the world and the only one you’d ever need… except for the inconvenient fact that sometimes, you only want a narrow pattern of one isolated thing, or sometimes you need a little coloring, or some specific job calls for a specific tool. I’ve steadily acquired every accessory that’s offered, and there’s a tantalizing “100 mph windscreen” that at first blush seems silly, but then again, hurricane Foley might be an exciting sideline.

PROS

•Perfectly flawless imaging and true-to-life detail

•Very small and inconspicuous

•142 SPL peak

•Lower self noise spec compared to “TC” series

CONS

•Fine for all but the loudest close mic sources (don’t put 2″ from a rock snare)

•They are not giving them away

Conclusion

There sure is some mojo science that went into creating these, bordering on and spilling over into pure magic. For people who’ve gotten them, it’s very much an instance of getting back to where you started–and knowing the place for the first time.

Tags: earthworks qtc30 review, joel patterson, qtc review

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