greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of another mid-priced large diaphragm condenser
microphone the microphone we're looking at is the lauten audio la220 fat condenser microphone
if you are interested in this mic it will cost you around 300
like always i'll throw some links down below in the sake of full disclosure i do need to let
you know that lauten did send me this microphone free of charge for the sake of doing this review
and for this review i have the microphone connected directly to the 18i 22nd gen my gain
is set just at around 1 o'clock i will not do any kind of post processing but i may boost it in post
so check the doobly-doo to see what i did he did and now let's talk about what comes in the box
of course you are going to get the microphone you'll get the shock mount and a 5 8 to 3 8 inch
microphone stand adapter a dust cover and some documentation then as far as the build quality
it feels pretty good to me it feels a little bit like a higher quality neewer microphone like it
might be a mass-produced body and they just put their internals inside of it but it does have
an all metal body as well as a metal mesh grille and the grille does have a bit of give to it
then on the front of the microphone you have two switches a 120 hertz high pass or low cut filter
and a 12 kilohertz low pass or high cut filter as you move around the microphone you will find no
other buttons or switches or features and on the bottom you have the xlr port then as far as the
specs this microphone has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz a
sensitivity of around negative 40 db an impedance of 200 ohms a self noise of approximately 15 dba
a max spl of 130 db and a phantom power requirement of plus 48 volts next up i am
spinning around the la-220 to 90 degrees to show you the off-axis rejection and coloration we'll
continue around the microphone to 180 degrees here's how it sounds from the rear continuing
around the microphone to the second 90 degree angle here is how it sounds and then rotating and
ending at the front of the microphone now let's see how this microphone does at rejecting plosives
please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto now i am right on
top of the microphone so you can hear what kind of proximity effect this microphone has about three
inches off of the microphone with it pointed at the corner of my mouth and here is how it sounds
about one foot away from the microphone now i'm two feet away from the microphone and about four
feet away from the louton audio la-220 now i am typing on a keyboard with gatoram blue switches
to see how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks up and for all the lead gamers
now i am typing on the sad w keys next up here is how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
now i am right on top of the microphone to really accentuate the proximity effect
i do not have any of the filters engaged and here is how it sounds and now i have
engaged the 120 hertz high pass filter so you can hear what that does to the lower end
to really help tame some of the boominess that you get when you engage that proximity effect and now
i am back about four or five inches away from the microphone with none of the filters engaged
and here is how the microphone is sounding and now i have engaged that 12 kilohertz low pass or high
cut filter and you can hear that it really tames a lot of those higher frequencies and i think
that is a really nice option to have if you're going to be micking up some brighter instruments
or sound sources next i want to tap the body to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
now in order to see how well the provided shock mount does i am bumping the desk to see how much
of that it rejects and then i will tap the boom arm to see how much of that it rejects
now i want to do a very quick comparison between the la220 and a couple of other large diaphragm
condenser microphones so you can see how it compares to the other mics on the market so first
up i am speaking into the la220 about five inches off of the microphone connected to the 18 i-20
gain is still set at around one o'clock and here is how the audio sounds and the first microphone
here is the neewer nw 7000 which is maybe a 25 microphone and here is how it sounds at the exact
same distance with the exact same gain setting and to make sure to check the lower third because i
may have to boost them differently in post to make things easier on you we are back on the la220 so
you can hear how this sounds before we jump to the next mic next i am speaking into one of the
most popular condenser microphones on the market the audio technica at2020 i am at the exact same
distance exact same gain setting and this is a 100 condenser microphone and here is how it sounds
compared to the la20 back to the la220 as a pallet cleanser so you can hear this microphone before
we jump to the next comparison now i am speaking into the rode nt1 which is a 270 dollar condenser
microphone kit same distance same gain setting and here is how the road compares to the loudon audio
la-220 i am sure that you are completely and utterly shocked but we are back on
the louton audio la-220 so you can hear this before we jump to another microphone
and now i am speaking into the sennheiser mk4 which is a 300 condenser microphone i am at the
same distance same gain setting and here is how the audio compares to the la-220 and we are back
on the la-220 so you can hear how this sounds before we put another microphone up against it
next i am speaking into the roswell mini k47 which goes for around 350 dollars
i am at the exact same distance exact same gain setting and here is how it compares to the lauten
another night another day all the time we spent away from the places that we haunt eating pizza
that we want or something it's like this worm is just burrowing in my brain i just need pizza
i'm just kidding i'm fine i just i really like pizza so i just sing about it a lot i'm fine guys
alright so in the 200 to 300 budget range i think the la220 is an incredible utilitarian option and
first up in terms of pros the lows mids and highs of this microphone are very even and balanced
sounding you can get a very robust and thick low end especially if you engage that proximity effect
but if you use it from a distance or if you throw on a high pass filter you just get a
smooth and very usable tone i also really like that they include a high pass filter on the mic
but more importantly i love the fact that they include a low pass filter that is so
incredibly useful especially if you're recording any kind of really bright and harsh sound sources
and then in terms of cons my main issue with this mic is the resonance of the body and that
may not come into play if you're in a studio and you're making vocals from a foot away
but if you are using the microphone at your desk and you're somebody who talks with your hands
you risk bumping the microphone and capturing that resonance and then as far as my overall
thoughts of this microphone on the electric guitar i do think it is a little bit on the darker side
and it doesn't have much bite to it i might also describe the low mids as a little bit woolly
sounding but when i got to the upper register of the guitar it was just so incredibly unoffensive
sounding and i really liked it for that then on the acoustic guitar i think the microphone
has a lot of weight to it it could benefit from throwing on the high pass filter to clean up a
little bit of that low end but then when you listen to the upper frequencies it captures
some really nice attack and articulation from the guitar next up for singing we have another
absolute banger of a microphone why did i say that i hate myself for saying that but
i think this thing sounds incredible for singing it gives more of a vintage tone
meaning it's not overly bright and it gives you a really smooth sound but even though it is a little
bit darker it does capture a lot of nice detail in the upper end and lastly for spoken word i think
the mic has some really nice articulation in the upper frequencies although it does border on being
a little bit sibilant although at the same time it somehow avoids any kind of mid-frequency honkiness
it doesn't have this sound to it which a lot of microphones in the sub 300 price range tend to
have and also in the lower frequencies for spoken word it has some really nice depth and weight to
it so if you're looking for that overly bassy and boomy voice of god i think this microphone could
work well for that sound and to wrap up would i recommend the la220 yes i would when i compared it
against a bunch of other microphones the la220 has a unique sound that none of the other microphones
offer and although this microphone does seem to lack that wow factor meaning when you throw it in
front of somebody they're not going to enter nirvana or enter some new plane of existence
it is insanely utilitarian and i found it useful on everything that i threw it at
all right i think that's going to wrap up for today but i do want to hear from you in
the comments down below what did you think of the la220 if you found this video fun interesting go
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you so much for watching thank you so much for listening i will talk to you next week
bye