Bees Neez Mics

[cookseyeng]

I recently stumbled onto these Australian made mics and I checked them out and they look solid, the company was started in 02'. The one girl that played guitar in Mj's "This Is It" uses them. There are two links below the first is her playing (shes pretty good) and along side the video is some sessions at a radio station studio with the Beez Neez mics if you watch the first one (Orianthi In The Studio) the mics kick in after they let the room mics go. 2nd link is the Beez Neez Home site. Sorry if there is any spelling errors I worked 9 hrs all night.

1.
http://www.wkrq.com/story/2009/11/06/orianthi-in-the-studio-bonus-footage

2.
http://www.beesneezmicrophones.com.au/index.htm

[the shadow]

I like their philosophy of trying to create something new as opposed to another U47/C12/etc clone. Originality seems to be quite rare in pro audio these days. Even if the mics aren't the best thing since sliced cymbals, they, like every other mic, will sound great on at least one thing.

[Mixwell]

I wish I could comment on these microphones, but in talking with Ben over the phone a few weeks back, he said he didn't have any demo microphones from his line available to send us for evaluation. He suggested that we purchase a microphone from him, in order to evaluate the product in our studio. Of course it is a long time policy here at Mercenary; that we must put any and all product through the "ringer" so to speak, so as to make an educated conclusion about a product. We do recommend the same for our clients, and after I explained this to him, [testing the product] would be in order for us to consider being a dealer for his products [which was the purpose of his call to Mercenary] he suggested that I check out a well known gear message board, where people were posting about their experience with the microphones he builds.

[ABEGAIL20]

The electronics in all our microphones are of the highest quality and use point to point wiring for the best quality signal path. The tubes used in our microphones are hand selected from European and American new old stock (NOS). When deciding on a tube for our microphones, we don't just test for noise, we burn them in and then listen to ensure that every tube used meets our requirements.

[Adam Smith]

A studio I work for in Columbus, OH has the tube U-47 looking BN mic (the T-1, I think) . Pretty dark, but an excellent sounding mic. Variable polar pattern. I've used it as the fig-8 in a m/s setup w/ a U-67 as the mid on a drum kit. Sounded stellar. Sounds great on piano. Didn't like it on Kick. Good on ele guitar. Love it on vox. I'll usually use the BN before the FET U-47 on about anything.

[Tomasz]

A studio I work for in Columbus, OH

May i ask what studio in columbus... I live in the infamous Kirtland:eek: Ohio, so I am curious...
cool info on the mics Adam.. I'd like to check them out..

[pauly]

these mics have been an interest to myself and studio partner in the last few months. my dealer and a local rep in brooklyn both carry the line so as soon as i get around to tyr one i can post some impressions. a few things that have stood out to me on the quality is 1 klaus heyne who has done work on my buddies cm7 and made great improvements to an already great mic, believes ben's recreation of the u 47 capsule to be the best one to date. klaus is one of the very few that i can say i trust his ears and the second is (i wont name names because its not my buiseness) some of the most reputable microphone companies have attempted to source the work ben is doing. the man is in the middle of the outback with diesel generators making everything himself and is determined to deliver a great product.

naturally i would need to try these mics out and totally respect adam and mercenary's policies of putting gear through the ringer. its in the best interest of their clients to do so.

[bleen]

I have a Producer Series Arabella on the way - full report after she arrives!

[aldis]

Unless you're running a surround system, you shouldn't be feeding your sub off a discrete output. Your stereo outputs should be feeding some sort of crossover or bass management system which then feeds your sub and your mains. This processor is often built into the sub, so in a "2.1" system, you'd run your L/R signals to the sub, then out of the sub into the tops.

[Mixwell]

Unless you're running a surround system, you shouldn't be feeding your sub off a discrete output. Your stereo outputs should be feeding some sort of crossover or bass management system which then feeds your sub and your mains. This processor is often built into the sub, so in a "2.1" system, you'd run your L/R signals to the sub, then out of the sub into the tops.

Hey Aldis,

Was this a post misfire? This thread here is about Bees Neez Mics.

Carry on.....

[bleen]

My Arabella arrived the other day; first test was mono drum mic, 4' in front of the kit. One word - HUGE! Great blend of highs and lows, kick retained its largesse and the cymbals never got harsh. Path was Arabella>Buzz QSP-20>Symphony I/O:

Arabella mono drums (http://dongunn.com/audio/bleen/arabella-mono_drum.wav)

Arabella mono drums w/TG1 cartoon (http://dongunn.com/audio/bleen/arabella-mono_drumTG1.wav)

Next, I had a friend and fellow engineer come over with a guitar and his voice along with his Lawson L47MP and Microtech/Gefell UM70/MV692. I set the three up so he was singing between them all and we ran a few passes of his music at different distances from the mics to see how they reacted to proximity. Neither of us really liked the Lawson at a distance of 6-8" - it lost too much body and the top was a bit strident. The Gefell was rather amazing at both 6-8" and right on top of it, but it was very sensitive to plosives, even considerably off-axis. Huge low-end and brilliant, open top.

Then there's the Arabella...it has the bottom end of the Gefell with a less pronounced proximity effect and the smoothest, most lush top-end of the three mics. No hype at all - it's a "warm" top end for lack of a better term. The mic almost sounds compressed and perfectly dialed in. I'm in love.

I'm tracking a REALLY dynamic vocalist this week, so that will be a fun test for it, too.

http://www.dongunn.com/photos/mics-1.jpg

[Mixwell]

Excellent FOK sound Don!

Damn, you got the TG1 doing something ridiculous!

[bleen]

It's the same setting I use on the hardware TG on room mics - just makes stuff blow up!:eek:

I had an artist come over yesterday that I've recorded a bunch - he has a strong midrange voice that can be quite sibilant. In the past an AT4050 has been a better choice than my Lawson L47fet on him, so I wanted to see how the Arabella sounded on him. HOLY HELL!! Hear for yourself:
4050 (http://dongunn.com/audio/jdg/v101-AT.wav)

Arabella (http://dongunn.com/audio/jdg/v101-BN.wav)

This was a one-take thing, so it's rough. No EQ on either mic, but I did put a HPF at 80Hz on both vocal mics. They are both the same performance.

[Halfway Competent]

It's the same setting I use on the hardware TG on room mics - just makes stuff blow up!:eek:

I had an artist come over yesterday that I've recorded a bunch - he has a strong midrange voice that can be quite sibilant. In the past an AT4050 has been a better choice than my Lawson L47fet on him, so I wanted to see how the Arabella sounded on him. HOLY HELL!! Hear for yourself:
4050 (http://dongunn.com/audio/jdg/v101-AT.wav)

Arabella (http://dongunn.com/audio/jdg/v101-BN.wav)

This was a one-take thing, so it's rough. No EQ on either mic, but I did put a HPF at 80Hz on both vocal mics. They are both the same performance.

I gotta be honest, in this recording I like the AT4050 better. A little more present in the mids than the Arabella. The Arabella is quite dark, at least in comparison; however, sonically, it matches the guitar mics a little better.

[bleen]

The Arabella is a "dark" mic - or maybe it's a "normal" mic? There's no hype to the top end like so many modern microphones. I feel like I could open up the top end of the Arabella in the mix and the voice would never get strident or lose the body of the low-mids/mids.

[Mixwell]

I gotta be honest, in this recording I like the AT4050 better. A little more present in the mids than the Arabella. The Arabella is quite dark, at least in comparison; however, sonically, it matches the guitar mics a little better.

I kind of agree with this. The vocal is sitting flatter across the other instrument in relation with the AT4050. So, while it might be the "safer" bet of the two, its seems to fit nicely here. However, and its a big however, its all certainly preference related depending on what you want. I am curious about the relation of the microphones to the performance though.

I hear the BN mike, as thicker, with more roundness throughout. Its got a super character-full top end, and seems pretty syrupy, which is quite cool and old world. It also seems pretty forward in the low mid, which again is nice. It sort of has the "M7 sound" and not the "K47 sound"??? I think the K47 sound is edgier and has more presence at the 3-5K range, where this is more gradually smooth up there, and has the a-typical thickening and mid-detail thing going for it.

Of course, I can't say for sure how this mike will impact me what so ever, as samples are so hard to judge these things, other than to preview them, but this sounds cool. I never took time to listen to the GS posters examples. Another point of importance - we are not in your room to hear the artist to gain any common ground about how the microphones really react to what is heard. This usually brings instant context as to what exactly the tool is doing.