Earthworks TC25, TC30, SR25, SR30, QTC50 User Manual

Capture the Full
Spectrum of Sound

What is a High Definition Microphone™? It is
a microphone that will pick up sounds with far
greater accuracy and fidelity than conventional
microphones. The difference you hear is like the
difference you see when comparing a standard
television picture to a high definition television
picture. It is that dramatic!

Today’s recording systems and recording media
are getting better and better with higher sample
rates and increased bit rates that provide extend
ed frequency response, lower noise and greater
dynamic range. The question is, are microphones
capable of picking up sounds with increased
bandwidth, lower distortion and with far greater
detail? Most microphones available today only
have high frequency responses reaching be
tween 15kHz to 20kHz and are also not fully
capable of supplying the increased detail and
dynamic range.

In contrast, David Blackmer, the inventor and
engineering genius of the Earthworks and dbx
core technologies foresaw our time. He realized
that dramatic improvements in microphone design
technologies were needed to replace some of the
existing outdated ones. So, he invented a number
of new technologies to dramatically increase the
audible quality of microphones. Earthworks™
High Definition Microphones™ are not made like
any other microphone on the market because they
employ Blackmer ’s new advanced microphone
technologies. The audible results are startling!
Let’s look at some requirements needed to create

advanced, higher quality microphones:

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REQUIREMENTS OF A HIGH
DEFINITION MICROPHONE™:

• Better Impulse Response

This is the ability of a microphone to accurately
pick up signals with fast transients and rise times
such as p e r c u s s i o n , brass, guitar and piano.
The impulse response is the single best measure
of the overall sonic accuracy and fidelity of a

­microphone.

• Shorter Diaphragm Settling Time

A shorter diaphragm settling time will increase a
microphone’s ability to pick up subtle low-level

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sounds and transients. If the diaphragm is still vi­brating from the sounds it picked up previously
it will tend to mask or color many or all of the
subtle sounds that follow.

•Extended Frequency Response

A number of studies have shown that acoustic
sounds and overtones of musical instruments ex­tend to beyond 100kHz. Studies also indicate
that sounds beyond 20kHz greatly influence
the overall quality of the sound we perceive.

• Minimum Signal Path

Minimum electronics provide a more pure and
unaltered signal. Features such as switchable
patterns, pads and hi/low pass filters tend to
degrade the sonic qualities of a microphone.

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• High SPL Handling
at Low Distortion

Many microphones will create severe distortion
above 120dB SPL. Higher quality microphones
must have very low distortion up to and beyond
140dB SPL. This provides far cleaner signals
when picking up high level transients from close
miked or amplified instruments.

• Cable Length

Once a microphone has provided a pure signal
with extended frequency response,
to the other end of a long cable without losses.
High current, Class A amplifiers allow driving
long cables at very high frequencies without signal
loss or slewing.

• Improved Polar Patterns

Polar response of most conventional microphones
is poor over their operating frequency range.
This causes beaming or spotlighting in addition
to deteriorating frequency response with phasing
problems on the edges of the pattern, resulting
in phase cancellations and/or coloration in close
multi-miking and contributing to acoustic feed
back. Improved polar response dramatically
reduces these problems.

All Earthworks microphones with exten ded
frequency responses to 25kHz and beyond meet
the above listed criteria of a High Definition
Microphone™. Even our 20kHz models meet
all this criteria with a frequency response out to
20kHz. Those who have heard Earthworks
microphones are astounded with what they hear.
When using an Earthworks microphone, typical
comments are: “I hear details that I don’t hear
with other mics!”, “This is the best guitar sound,
ever!”, “This drum sound blows me away.”,
Unbelievable detail!”, “This is the best piano
sound that ever came out of this studio!”, “You’ll
have to pry these mics from my cold, dead
hands!” and many more.

Don’t take our word for it, hear it for yourself!
Go to www.EarthworksAudio.com and request
the free High Definition Microphone™ Demo
CD.” There are amazing, audible improvements
as the frequency response of a microphone ex
tends. Just listen for yourself and you too will
be astounded!

TM

Earthworks, Inc., 37 Wilton Rd., Milford, NH 03055

Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]

[e-mail], www.EarthworksAudio.com

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