Prosoundnews.com - 8/3/05

Crowley and Tripp Demo at Mix One
by Janice Brown

Late last month, a new microphone manufacturer, Crowley and Tripp, introduced itself to some of Boston's music production community, demonstrating three of its new ribbon microphones at Mix One Studios. The new line of ribbon microphones arrives on the scene courtesy of Bob Crowley and Hugh Tripp, co-founders of Ashland, MA-based Soundwave Research Laboratories. The two teamed up in 2004 to officially apply their skills to a quest for the "world's best ribbon microphone."

Crowley shares, "We saw the need for a really good-quality ribbon microphone now that people are starting to realize the value of ribbon mics. All the ribbon mics we saw out there had either been out for a long time or were re-makes of older designs; the technology hadn't moved forward that much So, we saw an opportunity to raise the level of quality."

Crowley and Tripp, the men, share a background in technology development for medical products, including transducers used in critical medical procedures, and worked together at Boston Scientific Corporation for many years. Both also share a passion for music and recording technology. Soundwave Research Laboratories is an R&D and manufacturing facility for Crowley and Tripp's inventions in both the medical and recording fields.

The first Crowley and Tripp microphone, the Studio Vocalist, shipped in April, 2005. Three of their microphones--the Studio Vocalist, Soundstage Image, and Proscenium--were showcased at the Mix One shoot-out, with a jazz trio and vocalists brought in to put the mics to the test. Lending their ears at the event were faculty from Berklee College of Music and University of Massachusetts, among others of a select group.

The Studio Vocalist ribbon mic, addresses Crowley and Tripp's discovery that "none of the ribbon mics being manufactured today had the rising characteristic or articulation quality necessary for successful lead vocal tracking." Tripp describes, "We matched the Studio Vocalist curve with some of the best condenser microphones, which allows us to have a choice in sound with a more articulated mid and much smoother top end."

Ted Paduck, chief engineer of Mix One Studios, was impressed with the demo, commenting, "The Studio Vocalist was unlike any other ribbon mic I've ever heard. It had the nice smooth bottom and mid-range that a ribbon usually has, but it also had a lot more clarity and top-end than any ribbon I've ever used." Crowley and Tripp's Soundstage Image is "the least colored and most accurate of the three mics," designed for classical music settings, such as a concert hall or theater, "settings where you don't want too much coloration added to the signal," according to Soundwave Research associate Chris Regan. Paduck called the Proscenium "very full and robust," with similar output when shot against other more modern ribbon designs.

Crowley and Tripp microphones are currently manufacturing and dealing completely in-house, selling the mics at a laboratory-direct price, and plan on holding demos of their product in some other U.S. cities (first stop NYC) in the coming months.

www.soundwaveresearch.com