PMI Audio, early on distinguisheditself from the pack, first by makingit clear that it was partnered withChina’s 797 Audio, and second bybrazenly setting up its C series LDCsright next to Neumann’s venerable U87 at trade shows and inviting everyonefrom jaded audio professionals to gee-whiznovice musicians to step right up, put onsome headphones, and find—I dare ya—find the inadequacies in its mics.

Few were found, and Studio Projects micsbegan to get rave reviews and find homes inproject studios across the land (I still get mailfrom readers who want to know where to buythem).Now,the company has issued its B series

mics, which come in slightly small-er housings at even lower prices.The feature set is distributed acrossthe line, just like the C series: onebasic cardioid LDC, one multipat-

tern version, and one tube model.The power supply for the tube-based TB-1 retains the proprietary multipin cablehookup to the mic (a standard XLR con-nects the power supply to the mic pre),

but lacks the multipattern selector switch thatcomes with the C series tube mic, the T3.TheTB-1, for those of you whothought you couldnever afford a tubemic, weighs in at astaggering $399.

Of course thismic could sell for athin dime,and if thesound matched theprice, it would be anonissue. But thesemics sound good,even great for someapplications. I set upall three on a recentmale vocal session,and any one couldhave been the final-take mic. The B-Series mics don’tcome with shock-mounts,but the basicclips provided do thejob just fine, and atthese prices, you canput an entire miccloset together forless than the price ofone Porsche.

by Rusty Cutchin

R emember when you had to buy (notthat any of us could) a Mercedes, aBMW, or a Porsche if you reallywanted a superbly engineered,

finely crafted luxury automobile? That was thecase for years, leaving most Americans toproudly motor from place to place in their rat-tletraps with gas-gulping tanks. Eventually,

however, economics andchanging tastes broughtus higher-quality carsfrom Asia—both luxu-ry and basic trans-portation models—andsuddenly people couldget European qualityfrom cars with neo-A s i a n n a m e s l i k eInfinity, Lexus, andAccord. Of course, youcould still buy the high-er-priced originals,withtheir name value andquality-control benefits,but the imports provid-ed a much wider varietyof choices for the driverwho wanted more valuefor his money. (You can

see where this is heading.)Microphone manufactur-

ing has undergone a similarmetamorphosis, giving homerecordists a mind-boggling

array of high-quality, inexpen-sive large-diaphragm condenser mics. Justdetermining which of these imports is theInfinity and which is the Yugo can be a full-time job in itself.

Studio Projects, manufacturer of the line ofAsian-built mics and mic pre’s marketed by

B1FET 3-micron 1" large single diaphragm; cardioid polar pattern; transformerless circuit; low self-noise; wide dynamic range

B3Pressure-gradient transducer; dual 1" 3-micron mylar capsule; selectable patterns;

highpass filter; 10 dB pad

TB1Pressure-gradient transducer, 1" 3-micronmylar capsule; cardioid polar pattern; transformer output; 6072 Dual Triode tube

FEATURES

Studio Projects

contactus@studio

projectsusa.com

studioprojectsusa.com

B1: $99

B3: $199

TB1: $399

CONTACT

Studio Projects

More Price/Performance Winners

REVIEWSREVIEWS

B Series Microphones

64 February 2003 I homerecordingmag.com