Product Description
The Dolly microphone uses a large dual-diaphragm capsule and is designed for a detailed and neutral sound - with transparent highs, smooth midrange with minimal presence and close to flat low-end response. It has a cardioid polar pattern.
How the microphone reacts in concrete application depends on a number of factors - room volume, reflections, reverberation, microphone distance and angle from the sound source and room walls, external microphone pre-amplifier input impedance and electronics type, microphone cable length and quality, etc.
The Dolly is based on dual diaphragm large size true electrostatic capsule. A high quality 6-micron Mylar film active diaphragm is sputtered with a special gold mixture and tensioned on a precision made brass back-plate. It provides faster transient impulse response, minimum sound coloration, better low frequency response, and lets the capsule handle louder sound pressure levels. Each capsule is carefully checked in an anechoic chamber for optimum performance.
The unidirectional cardioid polar pattern effectively reduces ambient studio noise, but the frontal incidence angle is optimally wide. The microphones head-grille is an acoustic filter of multi-layer brass mesh that reduces plosive sounds, breath, pop and wind noise, minimizes internal resonance, and keeps high frequencies and sound transparency unaffected.
The internal solid state pre-amplifier is based on class-A fully discrete transformer-less electronics circuit, built using the best quality, selected components. The circuits are designed under the highest audio standards and provide linear audio frequency range, high dynamics, low self-noise, and very low audio distortion of all types.
The Dolly requires quality and stable 48V phantom power. It is available from most external microphone pre-amplifier and mixing console inputs, or from separate phantom power supply. Some units, though rated as 48V sources, may supply inadequate or unstable phantom power, which can result in distortion and degraded performance. Please check your phantom power source under real microphone load.
Rugged microphone construction and two internal shock-mounts, separate for the capsule and for the electronics, effectively reduce stand rumble, outside infrasonic interference and mechanical shocks. The Dolly is ready for operation on supplied stand adapter, but for the best isolation we recommend to mount it on optional external elastic suspension studio shock-mount.
The Dolly will work with a standard symmetric microphone cable, but we recommend to use audiophile quality microphone cable with gold plated contact connectors to minimize external noise, signal loss and maximize contact quality. Microphone cables are available as option.
APPLICATIONS
The Dolly microphone is designed for recording needs and is capable of capturing vocal, piano, guitars, drums, percussion, strings, wind and many other sound sources. The microphone can be successfully used in professional sound reinforcement systems, in broadcast and TV studios, in movie and video industry, project studios and home recording, and many other applications.
VOCALS
The Dolly is great on vocals. Use them 2 to 10 cm from capsule to get the best results. There is no need to worry about the microphone overload in case of close using. Using pop-filter in studio, or foam wind-screen in live application can additionally help to reduce plosive sounds, breath, pop and wind noises.
PIANO
The Dolly provides excellent results on piano. Use a pair or more for stereo recording. There are many methods with close miking, distance miking and combined miking. The result depends highly on the piano player and instrument individuality and rooms acoustics. The right microphone placement is the most important factor. The best method is to find it by your own ear - go and listen.
ACOUSTIC GUITARS
The Dolly provides excellent results on both - metal string acoustic guitars and classical nylon string acoustic guitars. Right placement is the most important factor again. We recommend to begin with facing the microphone to guitars neck, where it joins body, at some 10 cm distance from it.
ELECTRIC GUITARS
The Dolly provides excellent results for bright clean amp sound, aggressive lead guitar overdrive/distortion sounds, and for warm jazzy tones recording. Place the microphone at 5 to 10 cm from the center of a loudspeaker to get more upper frequencies, or move the microphone toward the cone edge to get a fuller tone with more mid and low frequencies.
DRUMS
The Dolly's fast impulse transient response, crystal clear highs and loud SPL handling make it excellent for the drums recording, especially for snare drum, overhead and hi-hat. The advisable distance is 5 to 10 cm from a drum rim, but you can try different positions and angles. A bigger distance will add more air, environment and naturalness. A smaller distance will increase the low frequencies and separation from other sound sources. You can use a pair as overhead microphones. There are different methods to record drums - from one pair of stereo microphones for a balanced drum kit in an optimal acoustics room, to several microphones on each drum.
BOWED STRINGS
The Dolly is an excellent choice for recording all kinds of bowed string instruments. The distance of 25 to 40 cm above the instrument bridge is preferable for violin and viola. The distance of 10 to 20 cm in front of bridge is right for double bass or cello.
BRASS AND WIND
The smooth, natural tone of The Dolly microphone makes it the best choice to record saxophone and other brass and wind instruments. For the clarinet and the soprano saxophone use the microphone 10 to 30 cm above the horn and lowest pads. For the other saxophones place the microphone 5 to 15 cm in front of the lip of the bell. For the flute place the microphone above the middle of the instrument. Use 10 to 50 cm distances for the trumpet, the trombone, the French horn, the tuba and other brass instruments.
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