greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of a super cardioid ribbon microphone
that microphone being the aea ku5a if you are interested in this microphone it will cost you
around 1200 dollars like always i'll throw some links down below and for this review i
have the microphone connected directly to the focusrite 18i20 second gen 48 volts phantom
power are turned on for a ribbon microphone because it is an active ribbon microphone
the gain is set at around 1 30. i will not do any kind of post processing but i may boost it in post
so check the dooblydoo to see what i diddly did and now let's talk about what comes in the box
yep first off everything comes in this really nice hard shell storage case
you will of course get the microphone which does have this built-in mounting system as well as a
three meter permanently attached cable you'll get a little bit of documentation and if you want to
buy the windscreen it will cost you an additional fifty dollars then as far as the build quality it
feels surprisingly durable for a ribbon microphone it has an all metal body as well as some fabric
covering the metal grille on the side the end of the mic that you speak into has a standard metal
mesh grille the mount that is installed on the microphone is made all out of metal and the screws
that tighten down the mount are made of metal as well the threading on the microphone mount
is 5 8 inch it does not come with an adapter as i already mentioned the xlr cable is permanently
attached but it has a little bit of a stress relief built in and the rear of the microphone
is where you will find the high pass filter and you really need to want to press this thing i've
found that using a 3.5 millimeter plug is great for engaging or disengaging the high pass filter
and to my understanding all of aea's microphones and preamps are handmade in pasadena california
then as far as the specs this microphone has a super cardioid polar pattern that's right
it has a frequency response of 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 43 db
an impedance of 92 ohms a max spl of 135 db and a phantom power requirement of plus 48 volts now
i am moving around the ku ku5a to 90 degrees so you can hear the off axis rejection and coloration
we'll continue around the microphone to 180 degrees here's what it sounds like from the rear
we'll continue around the microphone going to the second 90 degree angle
and then we will rotate and end at the front of the microphone now i really don't want to
do this next test but i will test the plosives on this thing 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 how the proximity effect on this thing how the proximity effect on this microphone sounds
yeah it's got a lot of that now i'm about three inches off of the mic with a pointed at the corner
of my mouth and here is how the audio sounds about one foot away from the microphone two feet
away from the microphone and about four feet away from the microphone now i am typing on a keyboard
with gatoron blue switches to see how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks up
and for you elite gamers now i am typing on the sad w keys
here is how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
now because the microphone does not come with the option for a shock mount i will go ahead
and tap the desk to see how much of that noise it rejects and then i will tap the boom arm
now because i am a rather pedantic and thorough person i will tap
on the body of the microphone to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
now i want to see how the high pass filter affects the tone of the microphone currently
i do not have the high pass filter engaged and i'm about three inches off of the microphone which is
where i would typically use it for spoken word let me go ahead and flip the high pass filter on
and now i have engaged the high pass filter which rolls off the low end 6 db per octave
starting at 283 hertz and here is how it sounds at the same distance about three inches off
there you go that's the high pass filter on the ku5a now i want to demonstrate how the
50 dollar windscreen affects the tone of the microphone right now i am about three inches
off of the microphone no windscreen on no high pass filter engaged and here is how it sounds
and now i have placed the windscreen on the microphone the area to really listen for
is the upper frequencies because windscreens tend to dampen some of those frequencies down
and on a microphone that's a bit darker and very robust in the low mids that may be a detriment to
it so listen to that top end to see how it affects that now i'm going to go ahead and
switch back and forth between the ku5a and a couple of other microphones three ribbons
and the sm7b so we can see how it compares against some other options that are out there
like always we'll start on the microphone we're reviewing currently you're listening to the aea
ku5a i'm about six inches off of this microphone the gain on the 2i2 or 18i20 second gen is now at
about three o'clock check the lower third to see how much i boost each of these microphones in post
but here is the mic we're comparing everything against first microphone we have is the mxl r144
this is a 100 or 160 dollar ribbon microphone this is a figure eight microphone i had to increase the
gain to 100 percent i am about six inches off and here is how this microphone sounds compared
to the aea ku5a 160 dollars versus 1200 we are back on the ku5a no changes to anything no high
pass filter six inches off gains still at three o'clock here is how this microphone sounds let's
jump to another one and do that comparison next we are on the sm7b which is a 400 dynamic microphone
gain is at 100 percent and i'm about 6 inches away from the capsule the reason i'm including
this this is one of my favorite microphones because it is so smooth and easy to listen to
and that is another characteristic that i love about ribbon microphones so here is a dynamic that
i absolutely love for 400 compared to a microphone 3x the price 400 1200 back on the ku5a again so
you can hear the tone of this microphone before we jump to another one and compare it to that
so let your ears get acclimated to this the tone of the ku5a and now let's jump to another mic and
hear that one next we are on the royer r10 another figure eight ribbon microphone this goes for about
five hundred dollars the gain on the interface again is still at one hundred percent this is not
an active ribbon it has passive electronics six inches off and here is how this microphone sounds
in this scenario compared to a microphone that is more than double the cost and we are back on the
ku5a one last time to remind you this is a twelve hundred dollar ribbon microphone this is the most
expensive microphone in the lineup but here is how it sounds six inches off gain at three o'clock
check the lower third and let's do one last comparison and lastly we have the buyer dynamic
m160 a ribbon microphone that stole my heart a couple of months ago this goes for about 700
and i think it just sounds outstanding but i am six inches off of it the gain is still at 100
no phantom power on any of the microphones other than the ku5a all of these other microphones are
either dynamic or passive ribbons here is how this microphone sounds and let me know in the comments
which of these microphones did you like the best did you like the mxl the royer the 7b or the buyer
or the aea ku5a let me know in the comments down below now let's do a music test very cool
ah
the time has come but i don't want to find out what's going on tonight
the zombies came and they want my flesh but i don't really wanna die
now to be completely honest i don't know if they are in fact zombies but they seem really angry and
crazy and i think they want me dead it is one of those serious just yikes kind of moments not good
okay i am taking this moment once again to declare that i love ribbon i love ribbon microphones this
thing is amazing it is super cool and first up in terms of pros the microphone is an active ribbon
microphone meaning it utilizes phantom power to power some electronics that amplifies the
signal ultimately meaning you don't need a super powerful preamp to drive this thing and get a good
sound out of it secondly the super cardioid polar pattern on this thing is a nice change from the
standard figure eight puller pattern of a ribbon microphone because that eliminates a lot of the
potential for comb filtering due to reflections off of the rear of the microphone and lastly
the microphone is just so damn smooth that's one of the huge benefits and draws to ribbons
this microphone is no exception there and then as far as cons there is very little that i don't
like about this microphone but i always dislike built-in cables because that means if the cable
goes bad you got to ship it off or tear down the microphone take out the existing xlr cable
resolder a new one all of that always a pain to deal with that so i would have preferred to have
an actual xlr port so you can use any cable then as far as my overall thoughts and opinions of this
microphone on the electric guitar i thought it was incredible you get the microphone a little
bit closer to the cone of the speaker and you get this brilliant top end this attack and this
aggression that you don't typically get on other microphones that you may have to have a little bit
further away from the cone and it seems to match up and offset the powerful low mid section doesn't
come across too muddy or too lopsided really a great sound on the electric guitar in my opinion
then on the acoustic guitar i don't typically like darker microphones like this but this one
seemed to work really well it doesn't give you that in-your-face and alive sound that a really
airy microphone tends to have i don't think that this is an accurate sound of the acoustic
it doesn't sound like you're in the room with it but what i get out of it is a more natural
sound definitely not going to work for every genre but if you're looking for more of that
natural robust round and smooth sound not as detailed i think it works beautifully and i really
enjoyed how it sounded next up for singing i think this is one of my favorites that i've ever used
i would just say smooth smooth smoosh moose moose moo smooth it's a very smooth sounding microphone
if you have a higher pitched voice or you have a harsher voice like mine and you want to tame
that a little bit soften it up a little bit this works wonders for you or if you're just
going for that really powerful low mids you can just get right on top of it and start crooning
i think it works incredibly for singing if you want more proof of that just go check out the
scary pockets youtube channel they are always using this thing and i can tell exactly why and
lastly for spoken word i was shocked at how much i enjoyed this thing when you get to be about three
to six inches away from it you get this incredible sound out of it the lows and low mids have this
heft to them without becoming too overpowering or too muddy the mids are surprisingly natural
they don't sound scooped they don't sound overly nasally or too forward like some other ribbons
do and the thing that was shocking to me is how open the treble region on this microphone sounds
i was not expecting that you get that openness you get a bit of detail but you don't get any kind of
sibilance you get that smoothness from a ribbon i was shocked at how much i enjoy this thing on
spoken word and to wrap up would i recommend the aea ku5a what a shocker yes i would i used this
thing on my podcast for a month i absolutely loved it it was super fun using a ribbon on a podcast
something you don't typically do i also use this mic to record a couple of songs on the ukulele
it worked wonderfully on that i will link those in the upper corner on youtube and if you're
looking for a spoken word microphone i think it absolutely can work for that application i did it
i enjoyed it i just don't think it necessarily fits the bill if it is your only microphone that
you're going to have i think you need a little bit more versatility out of your only spoken
word microphone but if you want to throw this in as an addition to an existing microphone you have
i think it's a great alternative gives you a much different sound than what a standard
dynamic or condenser offers and sounds great and on the other hand if you just run a studio and
you're looking for a vocal mic or a general ribbon to throw on anything and everything
absolutely i recommend this thing it's right up there with the buyer dynamic m160 for me but you
get the benefit of the active electronics so you don't have to drive your preamp as hard you don't
have to be as concerned about the noise from your pres all around a great microphone that i have had
a ton of fun using over the last six months or so and i can't wait to continue using it it seemed
to work in every application that i had it's probably not going to work in every application
in every genre but for every application there's definitely something that it could be used for
but i think that's going to wrap up for today i would love to hear from you which microphone did
you like the best did you like the ku5a did you like the classic 7b the the buyer dynamic m160
the mxl r144 stinky or what was the other one the royer r10 let me know in the comments down below
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so much for watching thank you so much for listening i'll talk to you next week bye
you