Brauner and Soundelux mics in new studio

24 February 2004

USA - Paul Reed Smith has become synonymous with excellence in the crafting of guitars. Smith's dedication and perfectionism have established PRS Guitars as the benchmark against which other manufacturers are judged. Recently for his new Riverhouse recording studio, he chose the Brauner VM1 tube mic and the Soundelux 195. Smith said of the Brauner VM1 microphone: "It's the best all-round mic I've ever heard - period. Our constant question about a track is how musical does it sound? The Brauner sounds musical on just about anything that you put it on, and it needs very little EQ. It's exceptionally versatile with extraordinary performance on acoustic guitars, drum overheads, hi-hats, electric guitars and vocals. It's just a ridiculously good microphone."

In addition to the Brauner, Smith also purchased the Soundelux 195 rounding out his large condenser mic contingent. "Both of these mics sound almost exactly like whatever you put it in front of them," Smith continued. We used the Brauner the other day on a live session while the musicians were writing a song. There was a drummer playing on a chair, a bass player playing through a Marshall 50 amp, a vocalist who was playing a small acoustic guitar and the track sounds like a CD!" Smith pointed out that the Riverhouse Studio was built specifically to produce his new CD with top end equipment requiring very little EQ.

Smith has fine-tuned all the gear to ensure the best possible performance. He tweaked the Apogee converters and some APIs so there was a lot of attention paid to all the different elements. However according to record producer Shane Koss: "There was no need to tweak the Brauner or the Soundelux, I had the Brauner off-axis on bass through a guitar amp and it produced one of the best bass sounds I've ever had."

(Sarah Rushton-Read)