Author Topic: AT4050ST Stereo mic (Read 10081 times)

SmokinJoe · « **on:** March 24, 2012, 11:51:50 AM »

I just picked this up from the yard sale, here is the first pull. I can't remember the last time I was this happy with a first pull.
http://archive.org/details/dopapod2012-03-22.at4050st.flac16f

My 25 year old daughter is into taping, but not the geek factor. She doesn't care about brand names, different caps and different patterns. She wants something simple she can set up, press record, and go dance to the music. She just doesn't want to make a lot decisions, so an all-in-one box with an all in one mic is just fine, but it still has to sound good. Dad makes all the decisions, and of course, Dad pays for everything.

I bought the AT4050ST in the yard sale. I liked the sound of the samples I heard on the archive. Internally it's a mid/side mic, with a switch for mid/side raw, 90* matrix, or 127* matrix. OK, that's one decision to make, but unlike an LSD2, the logo always points toward the stage, right side up, or upside down. It fit the technical requirements, I was just hoping when I got it we would be happy with how it sounds. After the first show, I'm absolutely thrilled with how it sounds. I'm not ready to dump the Schoeps just yet, but I absolutely don't feel like I'm giving her the hand me down crap.

Gil · « **Reply #1 on:** March 24, 2012, 12:22:45 PM »

Quote from: SmokinJoe on March 24, 2012, 11:51:50 AM

I just picked this up from the yard sale, here is the first pull. I can't remember the last time I was this happy with a first pull.
http://archive.org/details/dopapod2012-03-22.at4050st.flac16f

My 25 year old daughter is into taping, but not the geek factor. She doesn't care about brand names, different caps and different patterns. She wants something simple she can set up, press record, and go dance to the music. She just doesn't want to make a lot decisions, so an all-in-one box with an all in one mic is just fine, but it still has to sound good. So Dad makes all the decisions, and of course, Dad pays for everything.

I bought the AT4050ST in the yard sale. I liked the sound of the samples I heard on the archive. Internally it's a mid/side mic, with a switch for mid/side raw, 90* matrix, or 127* matrix. OK, that's one decision to make, but unlike an LSD2, the logo always points toward the stage, right side up, or upside down. It fit the technical requirements, I was just hoping when I got it we would be happy with how it sounds. After the first show, I'm absolutely thrilled with how it sounds. I'm not ready to dump the Schoeps just yet, but I absolutely don't feel like I'm giving her the hand me down crap.

Are you looking to adopt any more children?

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #2 on:** March 24, 2012, 12:23:59 PM »

Quote from: Porno Gil on March 24, 2012, 12:22:45 PM

Are you looking to adopt any more children?

I'm not sure how my wife would feel about a kid who's first name is "porno".

rastasean · « **Reply #3 on:** March 24, 2012, 11:12:54 PM »

1. congrats on getting a really great price on the 4050ST!

2. what a great hobby to share with your daughter. my stepdaughter who is now 7 is not surprised when I walk around recording her with a microphone.
Hopefully she and I will be able to record some music one day or maybe she will play an instrument and I'll be able to record her.

3. this recording is quite nice for such little configuration which would likely increase the chances of it being used more.

enjoy taping!!

achalsey · « **Reply #4 on:** March 25, 2012, 12:16:01 AM »

Quote from: SmokinJoe on March 24, 2012, 11:51:50 AM

My 25 year old daughter is into taping

Go on....

If you're not looking to adopt then how about a son in law? Can we register in the YS?

vwmule · « **Reply #5 on:** March 25, 2012, 01:47:36 PM »

Damn, that sounds nice indeed.

yltfan · « **Reply #6 on:** March 25, 2012, 03:00:25 PM »

Like I said in the Yard Sale post, Audio Technica is the most underrated brand around here. My 4051/53s are amazing. For lo-pro, I love the 853s. I was tempted to snag this mic, but I already have too many. Glad it found a good home.

thunderbolt · « **Reply #7 on:** March 25, 2012, 03:06:17 PM »

Very tasty!

OOK · « **Reply #8 on:** March 25, 2012, 05:08:57 PM »

I really like the dimensional sound of this mic. The sense of space at 127* is amazing. I am not fond of the 90*, but the 127* rocks.

Javier Cinakowski · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2012, 10:42:18 PM »

Glad you and you daughter like the mic, i look forward to her tapes.

The at4050st is no joke

axomxa · « **Reply #10 on:** April 01, 2012, 12:13:13 AM »

Nice indeed Joe. Its got that depth but not overbearing. As OOK said its got dimension. . . and there is one on ebay right now for $1182

acidjack · « **Reply #11 on:** April 01, 2012, 12:52:07 PM »

Whoa... that is a really nice recording indeed! Strong work!

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #12 on:** April 01, 2012, 02:17:55 PM »

Quote from: OOK on March 25, 2012, 05:08:57 PM

I really like the dimensional sound of this mic. The sense of space at 127* is amazing. I am not fond of the 90*, but the 127* rocks.

Ran it last night at Strangefolk at State Theater in Portland ME... a large reverberant opera house with OTS near the SBD. If there is a place where an M/S mic is at a disadvantage, I figured this would be it, but the previous owner had that SCI tape which sounded awesome, so I figured I'd go for it. I left it on 127* which I know is wider than the situation called for. I intended to run set1 at 127* and set2 at 90*, but then didn't change it between sets ("Dad, I've get my levels set, don't mess with it!!"). It sounds clean, but it's highly reverberant as expected. So now I'll play with converting XY > raw mid/side, then back to XY at a narrower angle. But the "flavor" is still good... not too thin, not too fat. I'll try to throw up a sample in a day or two.

DigiGal · « **Reply #13 on:** April 01, 2012, 03:39:51 PM »

Congrats to you and your daughter! Just listened to your first recording with it, sounds real nice, where was the mic located? Very little crowd noise and no chatter, was there a crowd?

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #14 on:** April 01, 2012, 04:18:52 PM »

Quote from: DigiGal on April 01, 2012, 03:39:51 PM

Congrats to you and your daughter! Just listened to your first recording with it, sounds real nice, where was the mic located? Very little crowd noise and no chatter, was there a crowd?

The mic was on stage, about 18" high, between 2 stage monitors. I think the majority of the sound is coming directly from the on stage amps/drums, etc, but I'm sure some is coming the monitors. That show wasn't very crowded, it was a week night, but even so, on stage recordings typically are pretty good about not having much chatter.

Jamos · « **Reply #15 on:** April 02, 2012, 02:51:18 PM »

The link to the recording you posted sounds pretty awesome. Super accurate, tight, clean...
These are great mics, much better than the LSD2's IMO, and for a simple point & shoot, they are perfect.

I'd love to hear your Strangefolk recording!

acidjack · « **Reply #16 on:** April 02, 2012, 05:14:18 PM »

Quote from: Jamos on April 02, 2012, 02:51:18 PM

The link to the recording you posted sounds pretty awesome. Super accurate, tight, clean...
These are great mics, much better than the LSD2's IMO, and for a simple point & shoot, they are perfect.

I'd love to hear your Strangefolk recording!

..which they ought to be, for a $1300 mic vs. one that seems to retail at $750 where you can still find it...

I agree, the recording smokes.

lastubbe · « **Reply #17 on:** April 02, 2012, 10:29:17 PM »

Paging tapinfool.

I've always had much love for AT mics.

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #18 on:** April 03, 2012, 09:52:43 PM »

Here is the Strangefolk tape: http://archive.org/details/sf2012-03-31.at4050st.flac16f
Listen to #10 "Westerly"... when half the crowd was singing along all around us.

This was recorded at the 127* setting, which is kind of silly for the environment, but we set it up without thinking to change it from last time. But it doesn't matter, I can fix it at home. I took the raw recording:
- converted to M/S using audacity plug in,
- add a slight low end boost to just the side channel (+2db from 40-160), a process called "shuffling".
- dropped the side channel by 3db which narrows it up when I go back to L/R. This added more punch in the center without making it overly narrow.
That may sound like a lot of work, but I've done enough mid/side mixes that I've got it down to just a few clicks. I think it's really cool that you CAN do the encode/decode thing, and works well because it was MADE with mid/side caps.

I'm happy with the result. I'm tickled pink with the overall tone. Not muddy, not too bright. Listen to the music, not the mic. There were 16 pairs of mics running at Strangefolk, Schoeps, Gefells, DPAs, and AKG's. Direct comparison of the AT with those is hard because my brain gets really wrapped around the coincident vs near-coincident thing, so it's an apples and oranges, but "it doesn't suck" in comparison.
[-- later --] Now that I've been listening to a few different sources for an hour I think I prefer the AT over any of the others. At first my brain is drawn to the detail of the others, but that's fatiguing if you put ear buds in and try to listen for an hour or two. The AT source is warm in comparison and more enjoyable to listen to.

F.O.Bean · « **Reply #19 on:** April 07, 2012, 04:01:06 AM »

Congrats, sharing new toys with your daughter must feel awesome

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #20 on:** April 10, 2012, 08:00:41 PM »

Tape from this past weekend.
http://archive.org/details/dubapoc2012-04-06.at4050st-sbd-mix.flac16f

On stage, with mic set to 127*. I added a little bit of SBD because the on stage mic was weak on the kick drum. SBD was 6 db lower than AUD, so maybe 80/20?

Javier Cinakowski · « **Reply #21 on:** April 10, 2012, 08:26:11 PM »

keep posting these! I am living vicariously through you!

Sounds great!

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #22 on:** August 13, 2012, 12:28:19 PM »

This little bugger continues to impress me. Here is a tape from the OTS at Gathering of the vibes... big open field, about 100' from stage. I tried to talk my daughter into using the AKG461's... I assumed at that distance using a mid/side mic would result in a very mono mid, with no side... but I was wrong. At least to my ears using headphones there is plenty of L/R information to make it interesting.

http://archive.org/details/mumford2012-07-19.at4050st.flac16f

Jammin72 · « **Reply #23 on:** August 25, 2012, 02:44:36 PM »

Have you tried running the mic with discrete outputs and decoding later? That seems like a pretty great feature in an all in one microphone.

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #24 on:** September 04, 2012, 01:16:55 PM »

Quote from: Jammin72 on August 25, 2012, 02:44:36 PM

Have you tried running the mic with discrete outputs and decoding later? That seems like a pretty great feature in an all in one microphone.

I haven't... for a reason. The AT4050ST is mostly used by my daughter, and I know the idea of one channel doing one thing and the other channel doing something completely different would drive her batty... she would be cranking on the gain knobs trying to level it out, even if I told her not to. As far as I'm concerned you can't touch the gain knobs while recording raw mid/side, unless you can somehow remember exactly what you did so you can undo it in post (if there is a known 5db step from the V3 between songs I can remember that, otherwise no). Someday I'll use the mic when she's not around and run it with raw output.

Jammin72 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 05, 2012, 05:07:57 PM »

lol... Fair enough. The specs get better running it that way, I was just curious if there was a practical discernible difference.

Javier Cinakowski · « **Reply #26 on:** September 06, 2012, 08:23:30 AM »

I liked my tapes better when running raw ms. Not sure if was because the specs are better or if it was because I had control over the stereo image. Not a huge difference though and perhaps not worth the extra effort. The 120 stereo mode is delicious....

yltfan · « **Reply #27 on:** September 14, 2012, 05:48:31 PM »

Anyone have thoughts on how the AT would compare to the Nevaton MC 48 in the YS?

OOK · « **Reply #28 on:** September 14, 2012, 07:08:11 PM »

Quote from: yltfan on September 14, 2012, 05:48:31 PM

Anyone have thoughts on how the AT would compare to the Nevaton MC 48 in the YS?

Not sure but I can attest to the quality of other Nevaton microphones and other AT mics I have owned. I would say it is better than AT. AT has high quality control for being a mass produced mic where Nevaton has high quality control because everything is 95% hand built. The thing I like about the Nevaton in the yard is you have great variability with the Nevaton in terms of with, 50 to 140 degrees in 6 degree incriments. This would help you really dial it in verses the MS, 90 and 127degree selection on the AT. I have heard the AT in 2 of the 3 modes and I only like the 127 degree setting. I am really interested in hearing the Nevaton.......

OOK

tapinfool · « **Reply #29 on:** September 14, 2012, 08:02:33 PM »

Quote from: lastubbe on April 02, 2012, 10:29:17 PM

Paging tapinfool.

I've always had much love for AT mics.

finally checkin in

i regularly have sex with my at4050's(thanks heath

)

i love these mics. period.

i had one instance where the recording had too much bass ( moe 2012-03-08)

the room was ready to fall down there was so much low end. i knew i should have cut it but didn't

only bad recording i've done with them

also ran that 4050st mic for trey at the pittsburgh symphony

i would seriously consider and highly recommend the 4050st

mysticeyes · « **Reply #30 on:** September 14, 2012, 09:57:52 PM »

This the AT love thread? If so, I'll sign up because I just got three AT4049's - actually two 4049a's and one plain 4049 - and a pair of 4053a caps, and I'm ready to try them out.

yltfan · « **Reply #31 on:** October 10, 2012, 07:12:23 PM »

I finally pulled the trigger on one of these. After watching this thread, and getting way too tangled up in mics at a couple of recent shows, I could no longer resist. I expect to try the 127 setting first, and then the m/s, but what I'm wondering is how well it might match with my V3. Since I will be wanting this mostly for the simple and fast setups, I'll probably leave the preamp at home and just go straight into the DR-680, but will want to try it out with the V3 at some point.

SmokinJoe · « **Reply #32 on:** October 10, 2012, 07:48:29 PM »

I don't think I've tried it with the V3. My daughter uses it with the Tmod R4 all the time. That's her rig... AT4050ST > stock cable > R4, and she doesn't want to change it. It lives on the 127* setting, but I'm not shy about playing with it in post.

If you have stared at response curves for most switchable LD's, you will see that in general most of them have bass rolloff on the fig8 pattern, typically starting to drop off at about 200hz. I think in the 4050ST they may have eq'ed some of that back in. Compared to the LSD2, 414's, and TL's I've run mid/side, it seems to have more low end.

She recently recorded a Tedeschi/Trucks show at a typical theater which is like a big boomy cave. I thought they had FOB seats, but actually it was back under the balcony. I pulled it up in audacity, ran the Left/Right to Mid/Side converter and now I'm back to mid/side where I'm comfortable. I rolled off the bass on the side channel at 100hz, and dropped the volume on the side channel 1.5db. Pretty much the opposite of "Shuffling". Mix that back to Left/Right and the boominess is substantially reduced. I dare say it came out as well as anything is going to sound from that location.

I'm intrigued by the regular 4050's too. Someday if I get a chance to get them for the right price, I might grab some.

yltfan · « **Reply #33 on:** October 20, 2012, 12:57:56 AM »

Does the stereo image of my new 4050ST sound ok?
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=158802.0

chinariderstl · « **Reply #34 on:** September 09, 2013, 03:31:17 PM »

Tagging thread.