ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Sound engineers know that the tools they choose have a dramatic impact on the quality of their recordings. They select their microphones with near-religious fervor and could argue endlessly about the pros and cons of different signal processing equipment. They justifiably pay tremendous amounts of money for slight improvements in digital to analog conversion and use cables that are painstakingly engineered to convey every possible sonic nuance. All of these links in the audio chain have received ample press to the relative exclusion of one humble device: the mic mount. Sound engineers might be surprised to learn that a mic mount's effect on the quality of a recording can be as dramatic as all of the other tools that they so happily obsess about! Barry Hufker is a case in point. With over 35 years in pro audio, Hufker is currently an associate professor of audio production at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, a program that he founded 18 years ago. When not teaching the next generation of sound engineers, Hufker records classical, jazz, and international music in and around St. Louis. To his credit are recordings for CD, DVD, and broadcast of Bobby McFerrin, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Brubeck, Chanticleer, and his regular engagements with the Opera Theater of St. Louis and the St. Louis Chamber Chorus. Like most sound engineers that have such extensive experience, Hufker is passionate about his equipment, opinionated about his craft, and skeptical about new gear and its inevitably inflated marketing boasts. "Over the years, I've met many interesting people in this line of work," said Hufker. "I've come to know and trust Brad Lunde and Richard Bowman at Las Vegas Pro Audio, a distribution company that I do business with. I like the way they run things. They focus on relatively smaller companies that design unique and interesting products, like API, the makers of my cherished 3124 four-channel preamp. There is no doubt that if they choose to rep a company, that company is doing something special. "So when they told me I had to try an Enhanced Audio M600 mic mount, I suspended the cynicism and skepticism that I might have unleashed had the recommendation come from someone else," he continued. "But all the same, it was going to take some hard evidence to convince me that a mic mount could really make a noticeable difference." When the mic mounts arrived, Hufker brought them unopened to his class of upper-division audio majors. To begin, they hooked up his Brauner VMA tube condenser, a microphone for which Hufker's voice fairly trembles with respect and love, to its factory mount. They recorded spoken word and, as Hufker fully expected, the VMA sounded great. No surprise. Then they swapped out the factory mount for the Enhanced Audio M600. "We were very rigorous - everything was exactly the same," he explained. "I heard the difference, but it was still hard to believe. With the Enhanced Audio M600, everything sounded crisper, clearer, more detailed. The bass had better definition and the high end was cleaner. To be honest, I was startled. The microphone which, moments before had sounded so wonderful, sounded even better!" Shortly thereafter, Hufker found himself at the St. Ambrose Church in St. Louis recording the St. Louis Chamber Chorus. The church is highly reverberant, and Hufker fought the competing demands of distance from the chorus for a nice blend of voices versus proximity to the chorus to cut down on reverberation. He started with his pair of Sonodore RCM402 omni condensers in their factory mounts. "I found the best balance I could between too close and too far, but it still wasn't all I was hoping for," Hufker recalled. "I switched out the factory mounts for the Enhanced Audio M600s and changed nothing else. Same position, same preamp, same everything. "It was hard to believe, but the M600s gave me the sound I was looking for and was afraid I wasn't going to get! The bass was tighter, the mid-range was clearer, the highs were clean, the stereo image tightened up, and all of a sudden I was capturing a presence in the chorus that moments before I had been missing!" Hufker concluded, "I had recorded two samples - one with the factory mounts and one with the Enhanced Audio M600 mounts. Listening to them back to back, it was immediately apparent that the new mounts made a dramatic improvement. So I've gone from being a non-believer to a believer. I have to admit, the M600 does what Enhanced Audio promises it will do!" |
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