Placid Audio Copperphone Review

[dokushoka]

One of my less productive hobbies is combing Ebay for mics from the 1940 - 1960s. There were so many odd ball pieces of equipment made in those years that have such distinctive sounds. It seems like most modern mics are focused on having a hyped high end and kind of flat mids. That is all well and good, but when it comes time to get a sound with a unique vibe, modern mics seem to always kind of leave me feeling cold. That is why I was so excited to get my hands on a Copperphone from Placid Audio!

Mark at Placid hand builds these monstrous dynamic mics when he's not busy with the Polyphonic Spree. The rather large looking diaphragm is housed inside a copper pipe that makes the mic look quite a bit like a pipe bomb! Construction is assuredly bulky with a nice in-built pivoting clip for mounting the mic. Its very sturdy, but the fact that its attached to the mic means that you have to spin the whole mic assembly just to mount it. Additionally, it has a somewhat limited degree of movement. I quickly noticed that the Copperphone is prone to mic stand vibration, so the option to have a shock-mount would have been much appreciated.

The Copperphone is built from old style telecom components. As excepted, this gives you the the "telephone" vibe but there is bit more to this mic than the typical band passed sound. The polar pattern seems to be fairly omnidirectional, which, in the context of this mic, is probably a good thing. Self-noise is surprisingly lower than I expected and the output is fairly strong, about what you'd except from a typical dynamic. While the frequency response is obviously very limited (you get mids, and that's about it) the mids that you do get are GREAT. The Copperphone has very pleasing, crisp, but not harsh mids that are naturally compressed. This works brilliantly for things like a doubled vocal or for something that you need to cut through a mix without "hogging" space.

The first source I used this on was a Hammond organ. The artist was hoping for a kind of "old timey" sound, but, with the Copperphone going into a Neve 2254e, we got a pretty great sound that was by no means lo-fi. In fact, in the mix, it was the best I have ever heard my M103 organ sound! It was simultaneously pleasing and disappointing to the artist and I. Granted, the 2254e was thickening up the sound substancially, but the two together were such a nice pairing that we went for it. Next up, we used it on a trumpet track, also going into the 2254e and got a similar result. The mids were totally cutting through, as horns need to do, but without the harsh upper mids and highs that a regular condenser often gives you on a horn. This time around, the band passed sound was more prominent, but, to be honest, I don't think most listeners would interpret it as such. Again, an equally pleasant and disappointing surprise!

Determined to get the artists his long coveted "old timey" sound on at least 1 track, we employed the Copperphone on an upright piano part along side a Neumann KM184. The idea was that the Copperphone may not work in the context of the song, so we recorded both to separate tracks. Soloed, the Copperphone gave us a wonderful, highly authentic 1930/1940's sounding piano, a perfect compliment to my 1890s upright! Similes all around. The really interesting thing came when we listened back to a mix of the KM184 and the Copperphone. The Copperphone added some very nice mids and a resonance to the piano that was highly complimentary. This made me appreciate the mic even more and has me dreaming of pairing it with ribbon mics. In this sense, the Copperphone can serve as a very unique utility mic, as well as a "special effect."

Finally, we did a vocal take, which was the intended use of the artist for the Copperphone, and got exactly what we had hoped for. A kick ass old AM radio vocal sound that just can't be faked with eq or plug ins. Very nice!

At $250, where else are you going to get a hand built mic with a vintage vibe but modern sensibility? I just wish more companies would make "bold" sounding gear like the Copperphone. Cheers to the guys at Placid Audio!


Audio samples:

http://sfrecording.com/upload/copperphone/

[respirator]

Nice review!

The Copperphone is a great, and useful, toy. (And looks spectacular).

Another "tip". Try recording drums with it from a monitor and blend with your normal drum track. Ahh. I can't do that with processing.

Thomas

[Infernal Device]

I use mine on guitar amps for a bit of "push" through a mix. Most times instead of reaching for the eq, I can push up the fader a bit on the copperphone.

I love this thing. Mark is a great guy.