KM 201

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"KM 201 - I've spent some time with my new Elation 201 on acoustic guitar and voice. Bottom line is that the 201 has more presence and more articulation without losing the silkiness. I also notice that I can mic much much closer with the 201. The 201 allows me to get as close as 6 inches without drowing the mix with low frequencies! So which is better? That's a tough one to answer! It really depends on the application. Just the fact that it allows me to mic closer is worth the extra money. Ok, for voice the 201 is much better in my opinion. Extremely smooth on voice and it made me smile when I first heard it, as it did Taylor J. Oh my...I love these damn mics! Ok, ok...I don't want to hype them, but hot DAMN! I can't control myself! hehehehe" - Wes Archer (USA)

"Now I got enough time to give you more impressions about the concerts I have mixed last weekend using Elation KM 201's and 202. Heavy metal concerts. So I get a big volume on stage that at the beginning feared me using 201s as overheads, but I feared for nothing. I usually cut out the low under 150 from overheads to reduce boominess, but this time I did not have to do this. The cymbals were the best I have ever achieved, They sound brilliant and without harshness. But the thingh which made me very happy is that the 201s give to my entire drum sound a power and a definition that I can't believe. And imagine that the stage sidefills plus the musician ampli get a power of 3500 watt so a big noise in the stage. But the sound didnt suffer and the drum was pretty in your face. The 202 is a big hit too, I usually heavy compress the kick, and use two mics on kick ( the electrovoice ns 868 for low impact and the Shure 57 for the hi peak) this time I ve used only the 202 and just a bit of compression, and no EQ. The mic. gave me the bottom, nice powerful bottom without boominess ( kick is very important in heavy metal, coz you have cut trough a wall of guitars and bass without adding muddiness but you need also a sort of low esplosion on every kick: a compromise near impossible that 202 obtain easily) it give me the warmest "razor" high peak that i ve heard too. I love this mic and i think soon i get another one of it (for double kicks)." Luca Merlin, Gong studio, (ITALY)

"Microphones sound just PHENOMENAL ! Congratulations ! Fantastic mics guys. They are so warm and transparent the sme time, that I didn't feel the need for a pre-amp. Seriously....." Andy Otras (Seattle) USA.

Dear Sirs,

"I would like to say that I am very pleased with my new Elation KM 201 microphones. They give a very clear top end and in my experience are particulary suted to acoustic guitar" sdsssd Graham Lyle (UK)

 

"My first preference was to use the mic alongeside an AKG 414 as a voice over mic. The Elation KM 201 performed excellently, I often find the 414 a little cold, and hence the natural sound of the 201 was very pleasant. Also the 201 seemed quite resilient to P blasting and did not seem to suffer badly from handling noise. On overall impression the microphones are well suited to broadcast T.V. use. The long terme durability is yet to be fully realised as T.V. mics come in for a lot of obuse, moving from studio to studio and having to work in all sorts of temperatures, but so far the mics have displayed none of the inherent symptoms of such obuse, hence so far they seem well suited to the job, and I can recommend them for voice over and sound effect work. nnn Derek Nash (Sound Supervisor) B.B.C. T.V. (UK)

 

Having tried the Elation KM 201 on a wide variety of sound sources, we were most impressed with its warm, transparent character. Excelent results were obtained on stringed instruments, particularly acoustic guitar, whilst its high SPL capability allowed its use on percussion and snare drum - a good all rounder.

Peter Norris - Rondor Music (UK)

 

"Today we did a shootout with the Neumann KM140s using a custom built AD converter and high speed mike preamp, and we were all extremely impressed with your microphone, in fact, astonished. The consensus was that the Elation 201 is a much better microphone. I myself was surprised at the difference because I have been using Schoeps and Neumanns for many years and we do these comparisons regularly with new microphones, AKG, Beyer,Oktavas and many others--I have never seen a mic which clearly outperformed the Neumanns (although the Neumann preamp has a slightly higher--but harsher-- output).

I will try to use them in the next CD we are making of Bach Concertos. We usually use the Schoeps wide cardiod KM 201 for this but it would be interesting to compare your wide cardiod with the Schoeps. We would be happy to mention the mikes in the booklet if they work out."

David Tayler Director, Pandore Recordings (USA)

 

ALSO SEE THE SOUND ON SOUND AND STUDIO SOUND MAGAZINE REVIEWS:

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KM 901

KM 901 Test Report to rec.audio.pro newsgroup by Bill Roberts, 10/12/99 The results are in on the Elation KM 901 vs Neumann TLM193 and TLM103 shootout. Here are the results: The Elation KM 901 slaughtered the TLM193. Dead. Bloodbath. This was a blind test: all I knew was "red mic cable" or "blue mic cable." I was surprised that my Neumann (surely the red one had to be the Neumann) was sounding so fine: it sounded very nearly as good as recordings on the VTL label using the Manley Gold Stereo Reference with the all-amplification-in-mic,transformless mod. I mean, wow. I had lent the TLM193 to Elizabeth for recording her own material and had been away from it for some time, so I attributed the amazing improvement to my forgetting how good it was. And that other mic, "obviously" the Elation... what a P.O.S. by comparison. Sounded like it had a windscreen on it, and I hate windscreens. A total failure. The red mic had far better clarity, and somewhat more and much better highs, and msot importantly a purer sound. I was embarrassed for Elizabeth at how bad the "Elation" (the blue mic) sounded. What a disappointment. Uh, the red mic was the Elation!!! The P.O.S. blue mic was the Neumann! I couldn't believe it, so we swapped cables and channels on the Mackie (OK, the test was using a VLZ Pro!). Same story with everything swapped. It wasn't a bad channel on the mixer. The TLM103 also got beaten. The Elation again had much better clarity and purity. So far as the balance of highs goes, the Elation is about 2/3 of the way towards the TLM103 end of the TLM193-TLM103 spectrum, but doesn't sound hyped at all. It is nearly as bright as the TLM103, but not quite. Overall, a stunning performance. Might the TLM193 sound better on some other source (these were female vocal and also acoustic guitar) such as kick drum? Maybe but I really doubt it. Bass cabinet? More likely but don't know. Basically I could see myself preferring the TLM193 only if for some reason I wanted that "just not as good" sound. And I don't foresee that happening. The Neumanns may be for sale... I cannot comment on other's report that the Elation is not as good as the Neumann TLM170, since I have not heard that mic. An absolutely killer performance by the Elation. This is not even taking into account the fact that it is multipattern. And yes, the omni pattern also sounds great. (I did not try figure 8). Bill Roberts (USA)
 

The Elation KM 202 is a big hit too, I usually heavy compress the kick, and use two mics on kick ( the electrovoice ns 868 for low impact and the Shure 57 for the hi peak) this time I ve used only the 202 and just a bit of compression, and no EQ. The mic. gave me the bottom, nice powerful bottom without boominess ( kick is very important in heavy metal, coz you have cut trough a wall of guitars and bass without adding muddiness but you need also a sort of low esplosion on every kick: a compromise near impossible that 202 obtain easily) it give me the warmest "razor" high peak that i ve heard too. I love this mic and i think soon i get another one of it (for double kicks)." Luca Merlin, Gong studio, (ITALY)