Atmos 5.1
Model 9843
The Specs | In Use | On Drums | On Piano | On Acoustic Guitar | All Together Now |
SPL/Brauner Atmos 5.1 Surround Microphone System
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Of all the new microphone brands recently hitting the street, few evoke quotes of "classic" or "worth the money" as much as Brauner. It's hard to gain such a glowing reputation among the 40 and 50 year old classics, but Brauner has managed to do so in a relatively short time with a wide range of high profile users and owners. Plus designer Dirk Brauner is as innovative as he is classic and shows it by teaming up with SPL Electronics with his new Atmos 5.1 surround microphone system, a unit as impressive looking as it sounds.
The Atmos 5.1 is really a system consisting of two pieces; the SPL Atmos 5.1 console and the Brauner ASM (Adjustable Surround Microphone) 5. Let start with the console, which is a truly interesting device as it acts as the control center for the microphone as well as being a pretty neat full featured portable surround console as well.
The Atmos 5.1 console actually is two units: one main unit occupying a 5U rack space, and a 1U power supply. The unit features all the things you'd expect on a small console and more. It starts with 5 high quality mic amps, each with an illuminated VU meter (nice touch), that feature triple gain stage, servo driven circuitry, Lundahl input transformers and 70 dB of gain. Each mic amp also contains illuminated switches for input pad, phase reverse, phantom power, low cut filters, aux send and insert. Each mic amp also employs the unique feature of having the gain trim pots motorized so all five can be linked to a master control if desired.
The signal is then fed into a rotary fader that then feeds an output assignment and panning matrix. This panning matrix has controls for LCR panning, Front to Surround panning, and Divergence (Great!!). This allows you to place the signal from any mic capsule just about in any soundfield position that you'd like.
The output matrix of the unit is also unique. First there is the Sub section, which allows you to derive an LFE channel from L/R, Center, LS/RS or any combination. There's also a switchable 130 Hz filter and an output gain control. From there there's a stereo Aux Input with a gain control that allows a stereo signal like a reverb or an additional room mic to be routed to either L/R, Center, LS/RS or any combination. Then there's two similar but unique matrix sections that determine the spatial width of the Front and Surround channels. On each of these sections there's a mono switch, a stereo expander, a rotary pot that determines the stereo width, and a stereo phase meter.
The unit also features a section that allows continuous adjustment of the polar pattern characteristics of each microphone from omnidirectional up to figure-of-eight.These adjustments can be made remotely from the Atmos 5.1 console and can be monitored while recording.
Finally, there's a monitor section featuring a level control and output jacks for either a standard set of stereo headphones (the output is selected via a channel assignment matrix) or a special connector for Sennheiser Surrounder headsets. There's also a set of LED output meters for each channel as well. The unit features 6 channel monitoring outputs (calibrated to within 5 dB to each other), but we didn't use this feature during our brief time with the unit.
The Brauner ASM 5 microphone unit consists of five matched Brauner VM1 capsules that are mounted on a machined aluminum spider. The capsules are able to be manually rotated 90 degrees and the patterns can be remotely controlled from the Atmos unit. The design of the ASM 5 is based on a set-up called "INA 5" (Ideale Nierenanordnung 5 which translated means "ideal cardioid" set-up) that is a result of a master's thesis of Volker Henkels and Ulf Herrmann, although the ASM 5 is said to offer more flexibility and variability than the original INA 5 set-up. The L/C/R microphone heads of the ASM 5 are factory-positioned in a triangle with each microphone being positioned 17.5 cm ( about 6.9 inches) away from the center although they can be moved to form a straight line if that miking position is preferred. The two rear microphone capsules are placed 59.6 cm (about 24 1/2 inches) to the back with 60¡ offset. The ASM 5 includes a top quality 25 meter (82 feet) 12-pair multicore cable to connect it to the SPL Atmos 5.1 Surround Recording Console (multicore lenghts up to 500 feet are supported).
Given the immense flexibility of the Atmos 5.1, I didn't have nearly enough time to try all the possible permutations in each recording situation, but I did use it enough to get a feel for what it can do. While it seems that this system was designed more with the Classical engineer in mind, I really wanted to try it in the Rock and Pop situations that I'm more accustomed to. So we set it up in Studio A of Front Page Recorders on some familiar instruments; namely, a drum kit, acoustic piano and acoustic guitar.
We tried a number of recording positions with the Atmos and ultimately all were pleasing and useful. Probably the determining factor of the setup would be the context that the instrument was used in more than anything else. Since session drummer Brian McCloud was in the other studio that day on another project, we asked him to set up his "cocktail kit" to be the guinea pig for us. We first set the ASM 5 up in front of the drum kit about 5 feet high and 5 feet away from the kick drum just to see what would happen. Immediately we were all impressed by the spaciousness and realism the system supplied. The surround mics were turned until we got the desired reflections from the back of the room so what we got was the sound of the drums and room as if you were standing there yourself. Then came the big surprise. By dialing in a bit of the sub (which in this case was derived from all 5 mics), the sound went from sounding just like the small kit to absolutely gigantic. I don't know how they do it, but the Sub section is certainly this system's secret weapon.
Next we set the ASM 5 over the drum kit with the center mic over the snare and the Left and Right mics in more or less traditional overhead position. Separation in this case was very good, with the distinct image of the entire kit as the toms and cymbals were placed around the soundfield. We then turned the mic around and tried it from the drummers perspective at a height of about 5 feet. In this case, you got the impression of actually sitting on the drum throne with the whole kit around you. Although I've gotten close to this feeling before using a traditional close-miked Rock technique, I've never gotten it to sound this authentic.
Finally we went back to in front of the drums again, but this time closer (about 3 feet) and at about snare drum height. While this didn't give the widest soundfield, it did give us the biggest Rock sound, making even the small cocktail kit sound absolutely huge. This was my favorite and would probably be the way I'd use the system in a real tracking session if I had the chance again.
On acoustic piano we placed the mic about three feet in front of the piano with the lid up. The sound was wide, spacious, and for want of better terms real. The piano just sounded completely natural with no hint of hype. If you closed your eyes you were there in the room. Listening in stereo either with all but the L and R mics muted or via the downmix switch on the Multimax became a very unsatisfying experience after listening to "the real thing".
We tried a couple of different positionings on acoustic guitar. First, near the sound hole at about head height to mostly pick up the acoustics of the room, then more Pop style with the mic at guitar level where the center mic was positioned at the point where the neck meets the body. Although the guitar level position sounded a bit closer, both provided what may have been the best example of the system. In each case, a rather mediocre acoustic guitar sounded not only huge, but again real. What was the most surprising aspect was the amount of sound coming out of the surround mics, and how much they added to the sound of a rather close miked instrument. In fact, it almost sounded as if the guitar was doubled, yet without the phase anomalies that accompany either acoustic or electronic doubling. The sound was sweet indeed.
Finally, we tried a take with drums, piano and acoustic guitar all playing at the same time just to see what the separation would be like. Again, it sounded as if you were standing in the room with the players as it was easy to hear the distinct positioning of each instrument. There was no blurring of the soundfield or any phase anomalies whatsoever.
While most of the time we left the patterns of all mics in either on cardioid or hypercardioid, on the very last setup we began to experiment a bit and set the rear mics to omni. The result was actually very surprising, with far more definition than the other positions. Had time permitted we would have experimented with pattern settings more since this was a definite improvement in the definition of the soundfield. I would urge anyone using this system to experiment with this first as it has a far greater effect on the sonic outcome than might be imagined.
This is truly a great microphone system that exhibits fine and meticulous workmanship and attention to detail with a sonic and build quality second to none. After a time of "fluid" pricing (meaning substantially higher), the U.S. retail of the Atmos 5.1 has now been set at $27,900. I don't know if I've ever seen a more appropriate use of the phrase "You get what you paid for", but in this case of the Atmos 5.1, it is most certainly true.
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