Topic: TSKB: Heil Sound?

[dhora]

Anyone know anything about mics by Heil Sound?  I have a friend at work who is into HAM Radio and he claims Heil Sound makes the best mics for HAM Radio.  Anyone have any knowledge about them? I did a quick search and didn't see any articles.

Thanks.

[kd5fyx]

Bob Heil is a legend in certain circles of the music business.  Since he has been a Ham Radio operater for years and since Ham's were the victims of a lot of junk mics he designed a set of capsules and interfaces for the high quality Icom and Kenwood radios.  These mics became legendary in just a few years because of their beautiful yet penetrating sound.

However

The Amateur Radio mics woudn't work for taping.  They are tuned more like broadcast mics.

But

Bob has been famous for his other mics, speakers, and his success as a sound engineer and designer in studios, highend home theater, and commercial sound reinforcement for thirty years.  He does make mics for recording and stage.  Quite a few musicians LOVE his stuff!

His website doesn't tell a fourth of his interesting history but go there to look around.  heilsound.com


Also if you are a Dead fan or like the Eagles, Frampton, Who, or a dozen other legendary groups check this article http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document?ap=1&ap=1&doc_id=100290&g=home&s=art

All those concerts that blew your mind,, the sound was created by Bob Heil !

Have fun, Jeff

[dhora]

Thanks for the info.

+T

[DigiGal]

Old thread but just saw this 2009 Feature Story/Interview with Bob Heil...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc19UqLK5Pg

[JimmieC]

Thanks, embarrassingly did not know about him.  Anyone used his headphones? http://www.amazon.com/Heil-Sound-Closed-Studio-Headphones/dp/B008D64IG0

[DigiGal]

Here's another video with Heil Sound - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBI9LOSeKFA

State of the Arts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6zJTgovLDM

[StuStu]

He also invented the Heil Talk Box. (Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, etc.)

[hoppedup]

First show I ever attempted to tape I showed up with a minidisc and some cables to get a board feed. Venue policy did not allow SBD feeds. The sound guy loaned me a single Heil PR40 that I ran off the plugin power of the MD. I flubbed the recording by ejecting the disc before it was written, but did get the last three songs on a second disc. Tape turned out surprisingly well considering the limitations of the mic and powering of it.

The sound guy said it was one of his favorite mics to use for vocals and that it was underrated and under used, in his opinion. The venue hosted mainly acoustic stuff.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

I was under the impression that Heil mics were dynamic and didn't need phantom or plugin power.  Am I mistaken?  Honest question.

That aside, I've read a number of testimonials from musicians who love that brand.  First heard about Heil years ago in an interview with Adam Jones from Tool.

[DiggerinVA]

Looked them up and they are dynamic. So no power required. The PR-40 looks right up my alley.

[ScoobieKW]

I don't own any Heil mics, but have heard them in use. The PR-35 in particular is a fine vocal mic, with 40db of off axis rejection. Well suited to quiet singers who have issues with feedback.

The story is that after leaving the music industry to specialize in Satellite TV installs, Bob Heil was approached by Joe Walsh. He pointed out that the mics that Bob was building for Ham radio were better than the vocal mics that Joe could find. He persuaded Bob to come back and start building mics that were built for touring artists. A major difference is moving the bump in it's response curve up into a more pleasant frequency range compared to the SM57.

[raymonda]

I'm not sure what you may want to use them for but they do provide reasonable sound for not a lot of money. I have use of the 40/35 and 22 and use them for vocals, with the 40 also being used on guitar cabinets. They will not perform well for 2 point stereo, concert recordings. They simple do not have the frequency range, nor the refinement needed for concert recording. But if you are looking for a cheap, decent vocal mic, this might be the ticket. As a vocal mic they are much better than Shure 58's and I like them better than Audix OM7's. However, I like my Senn. 431, AKG 535, Shure 87, Neumann 105 and Shure KSM 9 better.......but they all cost more and for the right voice the 40 may even sound better.

[EV676]

I have 2 PR-22's and a PR-40.  I find them to be good vocal mics IF you need help in the upper midrange or are dealing with a muddy PA.  They are tuned to be bright.  I mix a lot of live music for local TV and I honestly prefer AKG 535s and even Shure Beta 58s for vocals.  They're well made...and made in the USA, the PR-22s look cool and come in neat blingy color combinations but unless you like bright-forward vocals, there are better choices.

Heil's ham radio mics are designed to cut through the narrow bandwidth of SSB radio transmission, and they do that quite well.

I do think that the PR-40 sounds better than the venerable Electro Voice RE-20 but that's comparing a mic designed in the late 1960s (the EV) against the more recent design of the Heil.

[ScoobieKW]

I heard the PR-35 most recently with a female vocalist with a "small" voice. Think Marta Sebastian levels. It worked well in that application.

Not a one-size-fits-all mic, but one that's useful with certain vocalists.

[hoppedup]

It took me a while, but I found the few songs that survived my newbie ignorance from the above mentioned recording. I posted one on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hoppedup/will-kimbrough-im-on-your-side

Keep in mind this is done by an absolute newb who had not a clue. So it is only a representation of what the mic can do with limited knowledge and equipment. It was recorded losslessly at 16/44.1 to a Sony Hi-MD.  The mic was set up in front of the board, which is way LOC at Ashland Coffee and Tea in Ashland, VA. It does sound a bit thin to me now. My next microphone recording was about 1.5 years later.

[DigiGal]

Bob Heil demonstrating some of his stage mics at a trade show Dayton 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwxr57u4lkE

Performing Musician Article Link (Dec 2008) . . .
The Night That Modern Live Sound Was Born
Bob Heil & The Grateful Dead

[chinariderstl]

Wow, that was really bitch, thanks for sharing.  Especially liked the article. 

[Church-Audio]

He also made a measurement mic but I cant find it on his website anymore. He definitely knows what he is talking about when it comes to mic design.