CROWLEY AND TRIPP MICS TAKEN TO THE HIDEOUT

Singer/songwriter Danya River and independent producer/engineer Michael Hynes recently recorded River's new CD at "The Hideout" in Austin, Texas using Crowley and Tripp's Studio Vocalist and Naked Eye ribbon microphones.

AUSTIN, TEXAS: When independent producer and engineer Michael Hynes set out to record Danya River's full-length, follow-up to her critically-acclaimed 2004 EP, "Bone By Bone," he knew that properly capturing her amazing voice, a practiced, yet effortless, four-and-a-half octave force of nature, would be as difficult as it was essential. River, who has been described as a melding of Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, and Shawn Colvin, writes lyrics that are profoundly evocative of complex emotional experience and possesses an enchanting voice that leaves an indelible impression on everyone who hears it.

Hynes, a twenty-year veteran studio musician, broke into production and engineering ten years ago because, in his words, "I couldn't get other people to engineer records the way I heard them in my head!" Together with partner Mark Cravotta, he founded The Hideout Studio in Austin, Texas.

"The female voice is very complicated," said Hynes, "and Danya's voice is particularly so. She has a very rich, even low-end and captivating breathiness. I searched high and low for a vocal microphone that would capture all of that nuance. I tried all of the German classic condensers, vintage and contemporary. I kept hearing artifacts in the high-end that accentuated some frequencies at the expense of others. The result wasn't pleasing."

After all of the "obvious, knee-jerk solutions" turned out to be deficient, Hynes started considering less-explored solutions. "I had a pair of Crowley and Tripp Naked Eye ribbon microphones," he explained. "They've done great things for me on a host of instruments, and I often use them in situations where the 'standard' solution would be a condenser." Suspicious that the same might hold true for River's voice, Hynes ordered a Crowley and Tripp Studio Vocalist. The Studio Vocalist is a new-generation ribbon microphone that preserves the beauty of the classic ribbon sound but delivers hotter output than even a typical stage dynamic mic and more high-end presence than a typical ribbon, making it applicable in a range of situations where a standard ribbon would be unsuitable.

"The Crowley and Tripp Studio Vocalist ribbon was just the microphone I had been searching for," Hynes said. "It captured the warm bottom-end of her voice and enough breath and presence so that I didn't think of it as a normal ribbon. The Studio Vocalist captured her voice the way I heard it naturally in the room with my ears. The breathiness was there, the high-end was detailed and present, but the harsh artifacts I heard with the condensers were entirely absent. Instead, Danya's voice came through naturally." For the album, Hynes sent the Studio Vocalist into a Sage Electronics preamp, an API 5500 two-channel equalizer, a Neve tape drive processor, and a Neve Portico compressor. He used the API 5500's ability to dial in half dB boosts and cuts "without a hint of harshness" to fine tune the high-end.

While River's voice is obviously the focal point of the new album, Hynes paid just as much attention to the other instruments. His pair of Crowley and Tripp Naked Eye ribbon microphones worked overtime to produce an album that is wonderfully organic sounding. He mic'd the Hammond B3's Leslie Cabinet with a Blumlein Pair of Naked Eyes. He again used the same Blumlein Pair six feet from the kit for drum room mics. A single Naked Eye a few inches from the guitarist's Fender Hod Rod Deluxe and angled off axis delivered the album's electric guitar sound. When acoustic guitar and dobro called for a brighter sound, Hynes flipped the Naked Eyes around to use the "bright" lobe of their figure-8 pickup pattern instead of reaching for a different microphone.

Regarding the Naked Eye's "bright side/dark side," Hynes remarked, "It's not a subtle difference! Both sides have a similar mid-range and low-end, but when I need more high-end without harshness, turning the Naked Eye over to the bright side is a great alternative to a condenser. You get the air without the artifacts."

He continued, " Certainly condensers perform well in certain applications, don't get me wrong, but after using the Crowley and Tripp ribbons, I am really impressed with their smooth detail and even performance. Danya's new album was mostly recorded with ribbons. The Hammond organ is awesome sounding - like you're in the room with it! The guitars are natural and beautiful. They sit effortlessly in the mix. The ribbon drum room mics, when combined with the close mics, produce a big, organic, old school drum sound. Of course, Danya's voice is absolutely stunning. In total, the album has a very natural quality about it."

Crowley and Tripp ribbon microphones are hand-built in the company's Ashland, Massachusetts USA laboratory by people who know the art and science of acoustics, and who have years of experience with high output, low noise instruments used in medical and professional audio applications. Models include Studio Vocalist, Soundstage Image, Proscenium, Naked Eye, Recordist and SPLx Custom.

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