WARM "WA-44 vs. AEA A440" RCA 44BX Microphone Shootout!
Vložit
- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- Produced from 1932 - 1955, the RCA 44-BX is perhaps the single most recognizable ribbon microphone and something of an icon in the world of broadcast and recording history.
The 44-BX is a high-fidelity bi-directional ribbon microphone designed for music recording and broadcast. It uses a 2" long corrugated aluminum ribbon which is just 1.8 microns thick, roughly 1/20th the thickness of a human hair.
The frequency response from a 3 foot distance is quite flat from 50Hz - 15kHz, followed by a steep high frequency rolloff. The bass boost from proximity effect becomes quite apparent at closer distances, and so jumpers are provided inside the microphone to allow for two high-pass filter positions (V1, V2 -- "V" for "Voice" which is typically picked up from closer distances).
The only major difference between models 44-BX and 44-B is how the output cable comes out of the microphone's housing. Some examples of 44-BX have the ribbon assembly placed further back in the head basket, but this is thought to be due to inconsistencies in manufacturing and not necessarily a change in design.
@Ribbonmics has been the standard for museum quality reproductions of the RCA 44 for many years. Recently much less expensive clones of the RCA 44 have been release such as the @WarmAudioOfficial WA44. Having recently spent around four thousands dollars of my own my money on a used AEA A440 (A microphone I've had my eyes on for years) I wanted to give the two microphones a comparison and shootout! - Hudba
The WA-44 is a passive ribbon mic that replicates the passive RCA 44BX designed in the 1930's. The AEA A440 in this video is a modern design and is a completely different circuit from the RCA-44BX or WA-44. Of AEA's catalog, a proper comparison to the WA-44 would be the AEA R44C. Passive ribbons sound darker than active microphones so the result in this video is expected. Passive ribbons are often used to intentionally darken sources, or when used with a little bit of high-eq you can pull great top-end detail out of them like what is found in this video: czcams.com/video/J5vKH_2QyN8/video.htmlsi=BGx3motAnLjf5rtr where only 5 of the WA-44 mics were used to record this entire track.
Ok cool, fair enough. I will try shooting out an AEA R44C vs. the WA-44 next then and post the results. Now you have me more curious 🧐🧐🧐
PS: I pinned your comment ✨
@WarmAudioOfficial your cheap imitations that undercut companies that have been around for years infuriate me. I’ve never been a fan of your products, but the CL 1B ripoff, and now this, have ensured that I will never even buy a Phillips screw from you. Come up with something at least remotely original.
You're just Chinese copycats in disguise. Copying the AEA 1:1 - even the case - is just ridiculous for a company that claims to be American. Years ago everyone was complaining about the Chinese copying everything on the cheap, and now you're pretending it's an American company. At the beginning I liked you, but you lost your credibility with copies like that.
@@thelivingroom-cg The Tube-Tech is (to a degree) a fair shout, but I'm pretty sure the target markets don't intersect, I doubt the Warm will reduce sales of the CL-1B.
LA2A, 1176, 1073, RCA, AKG; Warms versions of these are no less of a ripoff or a clone at this point than the so called "originators".
To elaborate on this, my point is that the companies don't really deserve any individuals loyalty, they're just businesses doing business;
Gates Radio Company sold in 1957.
UREI was sold to Harman in 1983 (under JBL).
Neve Electronics sold to Siemens in 1985.
RCA liquidated in 1986.
AKG sold to Harman in 1994 (then Samsung brought Harman in 2017).
API sold to ATI in 1999.
Universal Audio was "resurrected" in 1999.
2017 Audiotonix brought Solid State Logic.
#2 sounded natural and open, hands down AEA A440 for the win. Nice comparisson, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Just used the Warm 44 on vocals on a record and it held up to my AEA 88. Which is basically two 44’s
Definitely could tell the difference! Great review!
Happy I could help! I didn’t feel bad about having saved up for the AEA after doing this comparison 😂 …once the drums kick in the difference is night and day. That said, I’m really curious to see how the N8 sounds in comparison next since it’s also a “big ribbon” and made by AEA as well …and way cheaper than the A440. It’s a pretty great experience singing into a mic as beautiful as the RCA 44 though. For sure that’s part of the charm! But you also want it to sound great when you do! haha
Mr.DiMuzio i-love watching,listening your CZcams channel.Hope you continue doing what you do best.Music & other show performance.Any way you are also a kind & loving father which is awesome,Happy father's day Mr.DiMuzio, hope you & your children have a wonderful time together celebrate this father's day.Day.👍👍☁💥😍🌈👍👍🎶🎶🎶🎶
Initially I was all "that difference isnt worth 5k!", then the drums came in 😑 bummer.
😅 …yup.
Mr.DiMuzio awesome performance,great voice and i-love it.Happy advance father's day, hope you & your children have a wonderful time together celebrate father's day.👍👍😍☁💥🌈👍👍🎶🎶🎶🎶
Thank you my friend ✨💛💛
Nice!
Thanks for watching 😁
I dont get it, the guitar is processed in stereo? how are we supposed to make a educated guess?
I recorded two tracks of the same guitar part on each mic and panned them left and right. That should actually help you if anything to make a more accurate guess because you have stacked tracks of acoustic on each mic.
First off, thanks for doing a comparison. Not any out there to my knowledge. 2nd. I have the wa44 and have listened to all the demos out there and something sounds off with yours. I think it’s an impedance mismatch. Or maybe you got a bad wa44. It sounds veiled, boxy and midrangey. Mine doesn’t sound like that at all. . Did you try other impedance settings? In the real world one would “twist the knobs” to get the desired tone. Might want to give it a go again trying to get the best possible sound. Also the compression isn’t really fair. Passive vs active.
Hey Nic, I’m quite confident this is because there is no A/B testing. If you don’t hear one sound source right next to another in real time with no few seconds for your brain to reset it’s almost impossible to gauge what most things actually sound like. I once used a horrible sounding guitar cable for a couple of months having no idea that it sounded like crap until I actually plugged it in and compared it to another guitar cable and A/B’d them like this. Suddenly I realized the one that I was using for a couple months actually sounded awful 😅
This WA-44 is one that was actually used in some of the popular promotional demos on CZcams crazy enough. So it’s the same mic that you’ve likely heard in other videos that you’ve watched here on CZcams …but in those videos they don’t reference A/B against anything else.
If you come to Nashville bring your WA-44 and we’ll compare together. Hit me up on IG. Or, grab an AEA N8 or R84A and compare it. You could always buy one from a place where you could return it? Do the comparison like this yourself, and then return it if you don’t like it significantly better. I would love to see a video of that if you do it. Those two microphones are not a lot more than the WA-44.
@@DavidDiMuzio did you try different impedance settings?
@@niclectic yes
Just an observation...on drums you used the "back" side of both mics, which does sounds different on the WA-44. I don't know that it significantly changes the outcome, but it's definitely worth mentioning. I picked up a WA-44 and compared it to an R84 and found that the top end extension on the R84 made it a little more open, but the WA-44 had a much more saturated upper midrange. I was able to eq them to sound very close, but i liked the WA-44 slightly better. Based on this comparison the AEA A440 sounds quite a bit brighter than any ribbon I've used...it almost sounds like it was designed to have a shelf at 10khz. This shouldn't scare anyone from picking up the Warm as it takes eq very well. Used as an overhead it may seem dark, but for a room mic it will save you time in eq'ing out harsh cymbal frequencies. As i stated the front of the WA-44 will definitely pickup more low end energy, but you would probably HPF all of that in this context anyway.
Oh, thanks for mentioning the backside of the microphone thing on the drums! I didn't know the back side of the WA-44 was voiced differently. Typically I thought RCA 44's were voiced the same on the front and back? I assumed the AEA was voiced the same on the front and back as well, as I also used the back side of it. Anyway, for my upcoming comparisons I will use both front ;)
PS: Next I will compare my N8 mic by AEA to the A440 ...I'm very curious how they compare since they are both active.
it would be really cool to hear a comparision between the a440 and a u87
I don't own a U87, but I own a Neumann M-149 so I might compare that actually!
@@DavidDiMuzioLessons Mostly because the a440 due to have an active circuit gives me the feeling that is very similar to a condenser.
#1 sounded thinner. #2 had extended punchy lows. Listening on Focal Twins with sub. I also own a RCA 44BX. #1 could literally be any ribbon mic and sound close to what it's putting out. It would be interesting to compare #1 to the cheaper MXL or Oktava ribbon microphones.
I'm going to do some more comparisons of the WA-44 to some passive ribbons next based on Warm Audio's feedback.
@@DavidDiMuzioLessonscompare it to the t.bone rb500 too, it's the thomann ribbon "based" on a 44.
the Warm Audio WA-44 sounds kinda boxy and lofi compared to the AEA. There are better ribbons in the 1000 usd area.
wish you hadnt compressed the vocals.
I didn't actually at all. I only volume automated them.
👍👍👍❤