Scope Labs Periscope

GEORGE SHILLING dives into testing a steampunkinspired ‘character’ mic with a built-in compressor

There have been quite a few ‘character’ microphones that provide a non-linear response, e.g. the Bastard BM88. That’s cheap fun, and great for a bit of lo-fi telephonic character if you are going for a wax cylinder sort of sound. However, the Scopelabs Periscope is an altogether different concept. This mic was three years in development and one of its designers is Matt Sartori, who I met many years ago when he was the tech at London’s Mayfair Studios. As well as being an expert outboard and console restoration and service engineer, he is also a gigging recording engineer. Sartori’s partner in Scopelabs is Finnish sound engineer Paavo (AKA Dr.) Kurkela, who is also an inquisitive mechanical engineer. Their mics are hand-built in Finland, but have very quickly found favour around the world, with celebrated users including Butch Vig, The Chemical Brothers, Joe Barresi (Resolution V15.8) and Ricky Damian (Resolution V15.4). and a reasonably fast release — it doesn’t linger; you can hear it quickly opening up.

Which-fi?

You cannot really describe the Periscope as lo-fi, but then you also couldn’t describe it as hi-fi either! There doesn’t seem to be any great loss of upper or lower frequencies (as with the BM88); the omni capsule is not entirely uncoloured, but generally covers the normal full range. However, the compressor squash is fairly strong, although not unpleasantly so! Even with my (admittedly bright and loud) Faith jumbo acoustic guitar, at about 45cm you could still hear the compression,

Boxed in

It arrives in a vintage-styled ‘treasure chest’ case, within which — nestling in the pink lining — you’ll find the Persicope’s untreated copper tubing. it looks stunning. Lifting it out of the box, it feels very sturdy and heavy. The three copper sections provide shielding and are held together with protruding Allen bolts. The designers are clearly fans of steampunk, and Matt says the shape came from Paavo who was inspired while repairing the studio sink. However, Paavo disputes this, saying it came to Matt in a dream! The bottom section houses an XLR socket; clamped around the middle section is a plastic K&M clip that holds the mic securely and allows for rotation. The weight of the mic can cause droop but it is easy enough to tighten the bolt. The Periscope’s top section takes a 90deg turn to the capsule, which is housed behind a bulbous aluminium dome with a black centre, looking very cyclops-like. It’s a bit unnerving, almost like having HAL 9000 staring at you.

This thing needs 48v phantom power (10mA), as it is based around an electret capsule. However, also somehow hidden inside the tubing is a fixed-setting compressor circuit. You cannot change any settings, so this is entirely dependent on signal level and placement. Firing it up and just recording myself talking and singing into it, the results are instantly gratifying. The compression adds bit of squash to the sound, making my annoying voice somehow sound quite rich. It would seem to have a medium attack that allows transients through, / A character mic with real character even adding attack on single picked notes. It helped it really cut through the mix without sounding too chirpy. Some background hiss was evident when not playing — the compression brings up the noise floor — but it’s nothing to worry about in most situations. Drum ambience is an obvious application for the Periscope, and here it doesn’t disappoint. Placed only about 4m away in a relatively dead space, the compression added great cohesive richness. It added some nice length to the ‘bosh’ of a low-tuned 6.5” deep Black Beauty snare.

Although the condenser capsule is ostensibly omnidirectional, the high frequencies tail off considerably when off-axis. However, there is none of that claustrophobic clogged up proximity effect you get from cardioid mics; the omni character keeps this mic sounding friendly and open, even when considerable ‘squash’ is occurring.

Instant charmer!

It’s the kind of mic to leave plumbed in at all times. Whatever you are recording, it might be worth a listen to what it is doing and moving it around a bit for some options later. In combination with more sonically pure mics it lends a touch of character and warmth — instant parallel compression!

The more you use the Periscope, the more you admire the development that must have gone into it. Somehow, the compressor almost always sounds fabulous. I mean, who doesn’t love a bit of compression? But these ratio, attack and release settings tend to work in most situations, even if they are not what you might have chosen. The Periscope is a very clever idea. Yes, you can probably achieve something similar with plug-ins, but there is something groovy about the plug-and-play aspect of this. You won’t waste time fiddling with compressor settings; it either works or not. Usually, it does, bringing smiles all around.

VERDICT

PROS Character microphone with cleverly tweaked (fixed) onboard compression; almost always sounds wonderful alone or in combination with other mics; great looks will impress and intrigue

CONS You will probably want two; K&M clip a bit plasticky; I wish it would stop staring at me!.

Presonus PD-70

ROB SPEIGHT looks at PreSonus’ podcaster mic, and finds it a solid contender

There are many microphones aimed at the YouTuber, the game streamer, the podcaster — or basically anyone who wants to create their own content With prices ranging from several hundred pounds to tens of pounds you will — of course — get what you pay for.

Presonus launched the PD-70 at the tail-end of last year, competing with the likes of the Shure MV7, Audio Technica AT2035PK and Rode’s Procaster. The PD-70 sits below these microphones in terms of price, but how does it compete in terms of build and audio quality?

The first thing you notice about this microphone is that it is heavy, and I mean really heavy. If I found a burglar in my house, the first thing I would reach for to whack them over the head would be this microphone. What’s more, I am sure it would do a very nice job of dealing with the situation. If nothing else, if you were recording at the time you’d probably get some interesting sound effects, and a still-intact microphone, to use at a later date. All that weight, as you would expect, helps a lot with the handling noise — and it is very quiet in that respect.

The microphone is a front-address dynamic cardioid with a flat response from around 90Hz through 1kHz, where there is a significant response boost up to around 10kHz after which it drops away. For me at least, this increasing linear boost in the high frequencies up to around +5dB at 10kHz is too much. In the quest for clarity the mics response in the high end introduces a lot of sibilance and scratchiness to the voice, which is accentuated by a lack of warmth in the low-mids. However, the mic does a fairly good job with proximity effect of distances up to about an inch or so — it also has a consistent sound off axis, which is pretty good for a mic in this price range.

One thing I can’t stand on voice recordings are plosives and the PD-70 does a great job at dealing with those. Only when one is right on axis, lips touching the windshield, is there the slightest whiff of one at normal speaking levels — give it to an American shock jock, and we might need to have a different conversation, but there aren’t many mics that can cope under such pressure. Apart from a decent windshield, the way in which the mic seems to deal with plosives is that, on removing the foam, it can be seen that the capsule is mounted over an inch away from the closest you could get your mouth to the mic. Unfortunately, it is probably this distance that also contributes to the PD-70s overall lack of warmth.

So, where does this leave us? Well, the microphone is extremely well-built, has a tight pickup pattern in comparison to some of the other aforementioned products, and has good rear rejection. All this, and the weight, adds up to a mic that is great if you’re talking while banging away at a keyboard, or prone to hammering the desk as you address it. If you’re looking for something that will last, stand up to the rigours of less than careful use, and is very affordable, the PD-70 is in that category. If you want a mic that would work for a late-night sultry talk show you might want to look elsewhere. If you’re kitting someone out with a basic home studio for ‘casting and remote connection, or you’re just starting out, you could do a lot worse than the PD-70. If you’re looking for a warm rounded sound you’ll probably end-up wanting to upgrade — but at least you’ll have a good burglar deterrent to stash under the desk.

VERDICT

PROS Sturdy construction; deals well with plosives; tight pickup pattern

CONS Lack of warmth

www.presonus.com

The Revelator and 'Bundle' options

Also new to PreSonus’ range of products for vlog-/podcasters and streamers is the Revelator USB-C mic. In contrast to the sturdier, one-job, PD-70 this packs in all manner of features for the startingfrom-scratch customer. It has three patterns — cardioid, fig-8 and omni; 96kHz/24-bit operation; it’s own headphone output with volume control for zero latency monitoring; modes designed for activities like Zoom calls or streaming gameplay; 4-in/4-out virtual streams for application-to-application recording and playback, with loopback options for macOS and Windows; as well as built-in EQ, compression, gate, and limiter plus effects. All this is packed into a mic with its own desk stand, and comes at a price that’s not much higher than that of the PD-70. If you’re looking for something a little more traditional than the Revelator that’s still not going to break many banks, we’ve noticed that at least one UK retailer has started bundling the PD-70 into a ‘Podcasting Bundle’ with either a Zoom mixer, or — rather ironically, considering its own range of podcaster-friendly mics — a Rodecaster Pro desk, headphones and leads. Something like the Rodecaster Pro will serve to imbue a PD-70 (or any other mic you choose) with similar functionality to the Revelator — such a mixing in a feed from a PC via USB, a monitoring facility, and in-built effects. Of course it adds other things, too — such as the connection of up to four mics and/or headphones, physical faders, trigger pads for inserts and jingles and a bluetooth or cable connection for mixing in phone calls. Another primary benefit is the ability to record to SD card, making it a portable and quick setup that doesn’t necessarily need a laptop as the Revelator would. While the Revelator is a viable toe-in-the-water option for some, it is limited — as any single mic will be. As far as basic setups for kitting out a relative layperson or remote staffer, and getting them up-and-running for self-recording and across-the-desk interviews, a PD-70 based bundle that comes in at around the same as the cost of a couple of SM7Bs (and a lot less than two RE20s) is not a bad starting point at all.

Bettermaker EQ232D

Making things better is now possible without those annoying metal boxes. GEORGE SHILLING checks the algorithms

Many Bettermaker outboard processors have passed through my studio and been written about in these pages over the years. Now, though, it would seemthe Polish pioneer of software-controlled hardware has bowed to the inevitable and released its first plug-in, a re-creation of its EQ232P MkII. We looked at the knob-less (but still very physical) version of the hardware in 2013 (Resolution V12.2 — see box out) and noted its excellent sonics, and its clever expansion on the Pultec theme.

Sure enough, EQ232D includes a Pultec-style section (they call it P-Filter EQ), which sounds fabulous — including all the customary controls and frequency bands. Selection of the frequencies is achieved with idiosyncratic nudge buttons, and uses CPS nomenclature rather than Hz — nicely authentic to the hardware.

Cycles

On a kick drum subgroup it sounded wonderfully punchy with the simultaneous boost/cut trick at 100CPS, and a massive boost at 10KCS with medium bandwidth, then rolling off a touch at 20KCS.

Life beyond the EQ232

The EQ232P Remote George reviewed in Resolution V12.2 was a software control-only version of the original Bettermaker front-panel controllable unit EQ232P. The updated version of those, the EQ232P Mk II, is then the unit that this plug-in is based on. Even back in 2013, George noted that the idea of external DSP processing was already becoming ‘old hat’ in terms of the move towards native software applications, a trend that has certainly continued since. However, he also believed that Bettermaker’s hybrid of analogue processing and digital control was something that other manufacturers needed to catch on to quickly, because it’s blend of “high-end analogue circuitry, along with plug-in recall convenience” would be more prevalent in the future.

It’s fair to say that the concept hasn’t quite taken over the world since then. We have seen other examples in that time, of course, such as effects units from Lexicon and Eventide, the 1073OPX pre-amp from Neve (and its Genesys console), the WesAudio range, and McDSP’s APB system — but it is ultimately, you suspect, the sheer price of manufacturing analogue processors in an increasingly digital world that keeps the concept limited in its appeal when up against modelling technology.

Both of the EQ232 units — which were upgraded to a MkII iteration — are now considered as ‘legacy’ products by Bettermaker, replaced by the 2020 Resolution Award-nominated Mastering Equaliser (reviewed in Resolution V18.2) which stands in its range alongside a Mastering Limiter, Mastering Compressor and Bus Compressor. Notably, the updated unit adds an EQ curve display that George missed from the EQ232D — both in the plugin and on the front fascia utilising its touchscreen LCD display (it was never a feature of the originals). It also allows control of all parameters both from the unit’s front panel and accompanying plugin, while the software promised other useful features like A/B comparison of settings. In terms of sound we thought the updated system was “silkysmooth and sound[ed] extremely clean and musical.” Interestingly, that review also doubled-down on the usability and quality of the still-rare analoguedigital hybrid concept behind Bettermaker’s equipment, concluding that “this feels like the way forwards”. Maybe it will be this time?

The left section features two parametric bands; one ranges from 45 to 999Hz and the other from 0.6 to 15kHz. Bandwidth has nine settings from 1/5 to 3 octaves, with adjustment again via slightly inconvenient nudge buttons, and five LEDs giving a vague idea of setting. However, when changing any setting, a digital numeric display in the bottom-right corner indicates actual values. This goes for all the Pultec section controls too.

Smooth

The parametric bands are flexible enough for most situations and very smooth sounding, even at the sharpest bandwidth setting, and with 15dB of gain and cut, there is plenty of power. Interestingly, when sweeping the frequencies there is an audible smoothed-out delay effect, avoiding any nasty notches. It’s as if you are remotely controlling motorised knobs!

There is a useful and powerful 24dB/ octave High Pass Filter ranging from 18 to 200Hz, and handy separate Enable/ Bypass buttons for this, each parametric band, and the P-Filter EQ.

The plug-in is a collaboration with Plugin Alliance, so you benefit from all their elegant design and toolbar features such as MS Matrix and preset handling. Supplied presets are provided in the Pro Tools menu, which is preferable unless transferring settings between DAWs. The EQ232D is included in the PA Mega bundle and Mix And Master bundle for subscribers.

Although the interface seems initially a little fussy, you wouldn’t want it any other way. It feels like you are using a proper grown-up EQ, and this two-inone package covers everything you need.

VERDICT

PROS The sonic goodness of the hardware EQ for cheap

CONS No EQ graph, nudge buttons a bit fiddly

Leapwing Al Schmitt

Five decades of a legendary engineer and producer’s experience and expertise stuffed into an ingenious plug-in? GEORGE SHILLING finds it an education

Leapwing has scored itself something of a coup here by bagging Al Schmitt’s talents and working with him to make something useful for mixing and mastering engineers. Schmitt needs no introduction, but any CV that includes Frank

Sinatra, Steely Dan, Toto, Michael Jackson — and that has more Grammys on it than any other producer or engineer — bears repetition.

Intended for insert use, the plug-in includes large Input and Output faders and meters, and a toolbar with presets and undo etc. at the top.

Rather than different effects, it comprises six profiles aimed at particular uses, each of which enables EQ, compression and Echo (reverb) in varying combinations and with various parameters and ranges depending on the intended use.

Controls are pared-down, simple and often alter multiple parameters simultaneously ‘under the hood’. You can’t see exactly what they are doing, and that is somewhat the point. Here, Schmitt selected and restricted the effects and their parameters, ranges and settings to gently guide you in an appropriate direction to achieve the results he favoured — and that his signature sound was based upon. Leapwing has implemented these moves in a neat and stylish animated interface, making it a breeze to achieve great sounds.

Profiles

The Mix profile offers a pair of fixed-frequency boost-only EQ bands: Sub and Air. Then there is a three-band compressor, with linkable controls, each affecting threshold and ratio differently, with ratio varying depending on level and frequency. There are separate band gains, and simple LEDs to indicate gain reduction. It sounds smooth and subtle, and it’s superb for enhancing the master bus when mixing.

There are also profiles for vocal, bass, brass, piano and strings (although oddly not drums). Bass provides just three settings: Compression plus Body and Air Levels. The compressor slider affects multiple parameters and sounds great on bass guitar. Body and Air are effectively bass and treble, but Al’s secret sauce means that these interact with each other in a pleasant fashion. And the bass profile adds level-dependent harmonic distortion of up to 10% for a lovely warm sound. Vocals, piano, brass and string profiles include luscious reverbs, where you only choose from three types (which are different in each profile) and how much.

Each profile provides between one and three presets as starting points. Parameter ranges never extend to bonkers, this is for achieving musical results. I love the approach; there are no complicated user-configurable setups — this is a fully finished design where the limitations focus you towards achieving amazing sounding tracks.

Al Schmitt (1930-2021)

Obviously, it wouldn’t be right to have run this review without noting the sad passing of the man whose name it bears at the end of April. As we point out in our tribute to Al Schmitt on p50 of this issue, he was a legend in the business, a master of his craft and respected as one of the best engineers of all time by a great many people. While this is indeed the first piece of software to bear his name, it is not the first time he has assisted DAW-based music makers. 2019 saw him collaborate with ToonTrack on its Decades SDX expansion for Superior Drummer 3, a bespoke sample collection that was recorded by Al for the software makers at what became his second home, Capitol Studios in LA, and features fives distinct kits spanning his musical taste.

That takes the options from the big band and swing sound he was latterly synonymous with — including brush and stick options — to the more AOR sound of his productions and mixes during the 70s and 80s, including snares used by Jeff Porcaro in his Toto days on Rosanna and other tracks. The session was also engineered with seven additional room mics in the studio, so can be used in mixes for speaker setups from stereo to 9.1.

While we’re talking about his work, it’s also worth pointing in the direction of Al’s videos for Mix with the Masters, which see him impart a lot of his wisdom across several hour-long videos and more. His ‘Recording a Band’ and ‘Deconstructing a Mix’ sessions are well worth a watch, and offer a real insight into his thinking — and the process (and processing) that Leapwing have attempted to put in a bottle here.

VERDICT

PROS Sounds terrific; easy to use; beautifully thought-out

CONS No dedicated drums profile

www.leapwingaudio.com

The Leapwing 'Ones'

AWARDS 2020 NOMINATED

REWARDING QUALITY AND INNOVATION

Apart from it being Al Schmitt’s only foray into a signature plug-in, it is also Leapwing’s. The company's other software is dedicated to single task audio processing. RootOne is a subharmonic generator, DynOne a five-band parallel compressor; CenterOne provides control of the phantom centre of recordings and allows adjustment of its level independently, while StageOne is a stereo field enhancer designed to add width, depth and transform mono tracks into stereo.