Topic: Roswell microphones?

[Chanher]

Curious if anyone has any experience with these. Couldn't find anything on LMA that was useful.

I've been dabbling in voiceover work for the last few months and picked up a Roswell mini K87 high output version. They have a K47 and K87 (mini) large diaphragm and the K87 is supposed to be neutral and transparent; no hype or color. I bought one on a bit of a whim after a voiceover youtube guy (who usually does NOT do gear recs) tried one out and was impressed. I got the high output version (for quieter stuff like voiceover) and have completed a couple professional voiceover gigs with it. Definitely quiet and an improvement over the brighter entry level large diaphragms. I'd love to try it on some quieter music but I only have the one. One thing that's cool is they're definitely smaller than your average large diaphragm (hence the "mini") and that should help in the field.

Matthew McGlynn is in charge of Roswell microphones as well as Microphone Parts, I was hoping someone here has tried either of these brands in the field. I exchanged numerous emails with Matt and he seemed knowledgeable and was quick to respond. He recommended the microphone parts small diaphragm set and says he designed the body based on the Schoeps CMC5 and the capsules based on a Neumann KM84 capsule. (I know, I know.)

I am keenly aware of how easy it is these days to start a microphone company and make outrageous claims with clever marketing. Not saying that's what this is or isn't, just curious if anyone's tried these with our unique intended purposes.

Here's a link to the K87 if anyone can decipher the specs (to be taken with a grain of salt) better than I can:
https://roswellproaudio.com/products/mini-k87?variant=37614925676744&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8YyuBhBSEiwA5R3-E6-NZhBBjDl2woOvmuDNUxa2EJOoiQM-9wB0BBS4phCxH6lMpmGDFxoCMRoQAvD_BwE

[goodcooker]

I have a friend who has a VERY well heeled studio in his home that he does recording and mastering for a career out of. He has a pair each of the Roswell K47 and 87s. He pretty much leaves those 4 mics set up on stands all the time. He chooses them over other stuff in his locker - depending on the task of course - like the Neumann, Schoeps and other top shelf high end mics that he used for years. He loves them.

I've been mulling over getting a pair for some time now but honestly I have more mics than I need. Good problem to have...

[Chanher]

I have a friend who has a VERY well heeled studio in his home that he does recording and mastering for a career out of. He has a pair each of the Roswell K47 and 87s. He pretty much leaves those 4 mics set up on stands all the time. He chooses them over other stuff in his locker - depending on the task of course - like the Neumann, Schoeps and other top shelf high end mics that he used for years. He loves them.

I've been mulling over getting a pair for some time now but honestly I have more mics than I need. Good problem to have...

Good problem to have, but don't let that stop you haha. I've been buying more gear than I should but I've been Uber driving to pay for it and it's very dangerous to know that I can do this now. The K87 is almost paid off from the voiceover work but I've been sick and out of commission.

I'm seeing these pop up in random studios more often it seems. EVERY new mic has some random studio endorsing it but I've seen mentions from established places that get a lot of work. The Little Feat guitarist definitely uses a K47x (transformer version) on his cab for live shows.

I'm most interested in the neutrality of the K87's. Others have posted about adding color or flavor after-the-fact in your DAW and I really want to try that using neutral mics with the Zoom F series pre's, ESPECIALLY on some jazz and classical acoustic recording. But truth be told the CM4's are just fine for that purpose so new mics aren't a priority. I would love it if they have that LDC sound but with the (slightly) smaller body.

[BlueSky71]

Chaner, is this the Mic you refer to from microphone parts? Interesting that it's available in different patterns and in a kit form as well.

https://microphone-parts.com/collections/microphones/products/snare-mic

[Chanher]

Chaner, is this the Mic you refer to from microphone parts? Interesting that it's available in different patterns and in a kit form as well.

https://microphone-parts.com/collections/microphones/products/snare-mic

Pretty much, although it looks like the snare mic that you linked is the high-SPL version. On closer inspection of their site, they have 2 different small-diaphragm stereo kits:

Once is based on Schoeps CMC5
https://microphone-parts.com/products/sdc-microphone-kit?variant=8892555001916

The other is based on the Neumann KM84
https://microphone-parts.com/products/sdc-84-microphone-kit-neumann-km84-style?variant=9618652921916

Keep in mind that the above links are for their DIY kits, which means they come UNASSEMBLED and you have to solder all the components together. For a couple hundred dollars more, you can buy assembled kits. They also only include one set of caps, you can buy matched pairs at $314. That's really expensive if you want a full set of caps: You're looking at $1600+ if you want card, omni, and hyper caps and you can't or don't want to solder.

I'm definitely not trying to hawk these at all, I'm simply curious if anyone's tried these and I wanna hear what they sound like. Unfortunately there's WAY too many companies out there that make outrageous claims about cloning and years of R&D (rolls eyes) etc. to consider these guys any different.

With that being said, the one Roswell product I own has proven useful, and I think I tried 4 different LDC's for voiceover work before I settled on the K87. The at4040 was the closest to being acceptable, solid noise floor but just too bright. I even tried one of my CM4's but a hair too noisy.

I do think the concept of selling DIY kits that you put together yourself is kinda cool, although I wish they were cheaper. If you read their reviews you see a few people mention that they actually messed up the build and then you're SOL.

[BlueSky71]

I think I might build a set of the CMC5ish hypers....

[Chanher]

Very cool, please update us on your findings. There's always the appeal of using things you built with your own 2 hands and microphones are no different, not to mention the added benefit of learning about how mics work in a hands-on way (my preferred way of learning).

Apparently, from conversations with a modder known on this board, in the last few years there have been leaps in the quality of available components and I imagine that should be reflected in new products? We shall see. I recently soldered my first audio cables and hopefully in the next few years I can graduate to more advanced projects like this.

You're thinking along the same lines as me as I originally emailed Matt about hyper patterns. He talked about SDC's usually having better off-axis rejection; using the physical structure of the capsule as an acoustic baffle to create off-axis rejection, whereas LDC's use clever engineering (his words) to approximate the polar pattern and that they tend to be more omni at low frequencies. I've always wondered how LDC's could have a tiny switch that changed the polar pattern. I'm guessing this is why it's very rare to see hyper and supercardioid LDC's but could be wrong.