My Electro-voice Blue Raven mic review!

[treemind]

I looked EVERYWHERE and could not find a review for this mic. Nothing at all. However i just had a hunch about this mic. So i bought it for $139 is pretty cheap for a mic, but if you can just buy an SM57 for $90 why would you want it? That was the speculation everyone seemed to be saying. Anyhow... the reason is this.

SM57s and 58's are wonderful for many applications, but for live shows they always give my voice this strong nasel sound when i hear the club mix's later on. Plus for them small phrases on home studio vocal takes where you are screaming to the point of fuzzing up the large condensor, or tube mics its always nice to have a trusty Dynamic you can squash with a compresser. I loved the idea of getting something specific without spending the extra cash on a SM7 broadcast (i love them mics, I just cant afford them now after spending money on a BRICK pre, and a CAD M9 tube mic.)

Anyhow, my hunch was correct... this thing has a really nice mid range sparkle to it.
reminds me a lot of the old school EV665 or 666's... sure you can get them for about $150 on EBAY... but i wanted to find something new. This thing is really pretty great for the money. Side by side on my vocals there is a much more exciting flavor to the Raven then the sm57. The Capsule seems to be the thing that BLUE brings to the table. Sleek and sexy! The Raven handles high belting the way you would expect a dynamic to handle it. So far its early, but in listening back i am super impressed. It has almost a condensor sound with Dynamic ablities. Early on two thumbs up! I will test it at my live show tonight. good times for $139!

[FNM]

Where did you find it for $139 if you don't mind me asking. I have only seen them for $149, and I am thinking about possibly picking one up.

Does it come with anything, like a bag or case?

[69 Sound]

Originally Posted by treemind

The Capsule seems to be the thing that BLUE brings to the table. Sleek and sexy! The Raven handles high belting the way you would expect a dynamic to handle it. So far its early, but in listening back i am super impressed. It has almost a condensor sound with Dynamic ablities. Early on two thumbs up! I will test it at my live show tonight. good times for $139!

It was my understanding after speaking with a few different dealers that Blue only designed the body, the insides were all EV.

Maybe someone else can verify this information?

Either way... Please post more information after you've spent some time with it. For the price I'd be interested if they work out well as a general purpose mic such as a 57 or 58.

Regards,

Chris

[TheSoundFella]

I for one can tell you that if you are looking for a nice condenser as well, look to the Raven's counterpart - the Cardinal. @ $199, WOW!

Great mic - used it for sax in the studio. Next to the RE20 there was no comparison. Very transparent & breathy - perfect for the ballad I was working on.

Live it has been sounding great on electric gtr for me for the last month....all the details of the FX have been very clean coming through and VERY full!

I haven't tried the Raven yet but a pal of mine says it is very clean on his Collins radio.

GO EV AGAIN!

[treemind]

I picked up mine at fullcompass.com... come to think of it, it might have been $132!

Now i am really curious about the "Cardinal" as well.

Live the Raven was fantastic, has a great sparkle to it, reminds me of an old 60's EV...

very cool stuff, i am way happy with it!

[69 Sound]

Originally Posted by TheSoundFella

Great mic - used it for sax in the studio. Next to the RE20 there was no comparison. Very transparent & breathy - perfect for the ballad I was working on.

So are you saying you still prefer the sound of a RE20?

If either the Raven or Cardinal are that close I'll have to pick one up to check out.

[xqtion]

How are they on vocals?

[treemind]

Three things

1- the Raven has what sounds to my ears like hyped highs and mids, a lot like the old 60's mics EV made... like the EV 665 or 666. This can be an amazing thing, but probably not something you would want on all songs. However for belting, because its a dynamic it seems to handle anything i give it and doesnt break up... i love compressing it hard! Very interesting Dynamic mic.

2- while it doesn't have the warmth that my tube mics have (CAD M9 and MXL V77) when mixed with one of them as two tracks of vocals it covers the high end sparkle that they don't cover. So doing two tracks of the same vocal line with one of each mic seems to really be an excellent tool for covering all ends on the cheap.

3- live it sounded terrific on my voice (a mid-high range tenor). The band after mine that played also used it. His voice is lower then mine, I think it worked even better for his voice. the Raven really has a unique charm that I dont hear in the SM57 or SM58... however i would guess it totally depends on your voice. A girl i know tested it, she has a very high voice... and it didnt really do much for her at all, it was too high end sounding. She sounds great with an SM58 live. Go figure.

I hope someone can do more tests with these... i am curious what really great ears might think. I am an experienced singer/songwriter... but not nearly as advanced when it comes to the recording end of things, So these are just my novice views.

[max cooper]

For $130 it's cool looking enough that if it doesn't pan out, it'll be a decent talkback mic.

I'm sold.

[Benmrx]

anyone tried using either the ravens or cardinals on Toms?

They seem so easy to position, much easier than trying to find room for 421's

[pan60]

anyone else try these mic's?
they do look so cool.
i am a fan of E.V. as well as BLUE so i have the hots for these babies just from that.

[donsolo]

Bumpity...

I just did an 8 Microphone test on my Guitar amp (Fender Deluxe 90 solid state) with an 01 American Fatstrat Deluxe. The mics were
Sm57
e609
Raven
Cardinal
i5
Samson C01
NT1-A

While the condensors are not a fair comparison based on their ability to grab detail but I liked the Raven the best. It's very very present with not as muched Hyped high end as a 57.

I also liked the i5 for its sparkle (more than the condensors) but it wasn't very full sounding.

I didn't try any combinations of them but I could if I wanted.

The Raven is really nice, very full. I'd consider it a warmer mic than the NT1-A which has a slight grainy top end in my opinion.

I haven't heard the SM7 (tear) except what Ruben's done to it after all those 1176s.

I'm planning on trying the Raven on a kick and possibly the Cardinal as well.

The Raven has a Maximum SPL rating of 162 and the Cardinal 150. That was info that I had to dig around for.

I'm interested in more of the backstory of these. So BLUE actually had something to do with this mic?

[nandi]

thanx man for sharing this to us. I was looking too for a review and your was convincing.
B.R.

[Chrisc_o]

Do a search for "cardinal" as a tag and you will find a thread with audio of a pair of Cardinals on OH duties and an Apex 205 on kick.

These guys are pretty much permanently in the air at my place. Great mics, and you can find them for a very fair price if you look around enough. I got mine for $150 each.

[BudgetMC]

Yeah, EV and Blue collaborated on these mics... a spin off of EV's distribution deal with Blue, perhaps? Or vice-versa.

Definately cool looking mics, so it's nice to get some positive feedback on how they sound.

[pan60]

i want to try a pair of both, but at the moment they are low priority.
on the wish list though ~
i will probably do the dynamics first, i dig great dynamic mics!

[norton]

The raven was designed to have more of a condenser-mic sound to it...(extended top end) and if i remember correctly, it's supposed to give you the same sonic vibe regardless of impedance loading etc... unlike an sm57.

direct from some folks at blue..

I've lost out on all the used one's i've seen... but am still looking for one. From what the BLUE folks told me, it sounds like it would be a KILLER snare mic... toms and even kick too.

[juan162]

Every time I see the Raven and the Cardinal, I just drool. I just think they look really cool! It's nice to hear good things about them. I missed a chance to buy a pair of Cardinals on ebay for $200 for the pair.

I'd really like to hear some samples of either on voice.

Juan

[pan60]

Originally Posted by 69 Sound

It was my understanding after speaking with a few different dealers that Blue only designed the body, the insides were all EV.


Chris

not true
all BLUE : )~

[lordwesley]

Why are these mics £120 on english websites... £123 on Thomann, but only $149 in USA. That's a massive difference. And I want one and am in England, so its really annoying.

[theDBC]

I saw the raven in a photo on the RHCP tour blog. I've been wanting to hear/ use it. The Rat Sound guy maintaining the blog seems to like it on guitar.
Anyone else using these live?

[Pfhuck]

I've not used either the Raven or the Cardnial.

However, I have a friend who works here locally at company called Telex, which is the parent company of E/V. He's involved in testing and QC of Midas consoles and E/V products.

He said:

BLUE who?

MFG in PRC

FYI

FWIW

LTR,
Pfhuck

[pan60]

found this and felt it to be pertinent!
to be clear, at one point Electro-Voice was handling the worldwide distribution of the BLUE mics, the Raven ( a dynamic ), and the Cardinal ( a condenser ), are re-branded Blues.
just to make sure every one knows, they are Blue mics with an EV label.
click for a great article on the topic

[BudgetMC]

I just picked one of these up mongo cheap on eBay... the "Buy it now" price is $52.99 -- but they're also taking "best offers."

Let's just say that my offer was several percentage points below full price...

EV Electro-Voice Raven Dynamic Mic Electrovoice OPEN - eBay (item 120360959944 end time Feb-07-09 14:47:23 PST)

[Vocalvoodoo]

Thanks for the heads up, Budget. I'm picking up a Raven. May go for a Cardinal too. At these prices you almost have to.

[Iggy Poop]

Got one for me too. Great price. Thanks Budget.

[BudgetMC]

Doh! I didn't even notice the deal on the Cardinal... uuuuuuugh!

Must. Be. Strong... have. too. many. condenser. mics. already...

Originally Posted by Vocalvoodoo

Thanks for the heads up, Budget. I'm picking up a Raven. May go for a Cardinal too. At these prices you almost have to.

[Ol' Betsey]

Hey guys,

Tell us what kind of service you get from the seller, ok?

Thinking about jumping on this as well but since I'm overseas I wanna see what turns up on your doorstep first.

Cheers,

R.

[Vocalvoodoo]

Originally Posted by Ol' Betsey

Hey guys,

Tell us what kind of service you get from the seller, ok?

Thinking about jumping on this as well but since I'm overseas I wanna see what turns up on your doorstep first.

Cheers,

R.

For what it's worth, the seller is Musicians Advocate, but selling under the name Openboxmusic. I have done business with them in the past, as have others I know, and they were straight up.

Musician's Advocate

I will let you know about the condition of the mic once it arrives though. thumbsup

[tarabok]

52 dollars!!!!???