User manual AEA LA30

[. . . ] Joe Chiccarelli recommends putting your hand where the mic will be, to feel if there are air blasts there from the guitar / bass cabinet, vocalist, or whatever you are recording. If you spot a problem, move the mic or use a "popper stopper" to block the blasts. In a typical Marshall stack setup with your ribbon mic one to two feet in front of a speaker and the volume turned up full, just forgetting to turn the amp down before plugging or unplugging an instrument can be distressing. Ribbons are tough, the LA Philharmonic even uses them outside at the Hollywood Bowl, but care is needed as blasts of wind are a ribbon's worst enemy. [. . . ] The LA30 is designed to minimize such unscheduled trash pickups, but older classics such as the RCA 44 and the Coles 4038 are quite good at attracting ferrous junk or even each other. If too many of these tiny pieces of iron get through the protective screens and into the ribbon gap, they will obstruct the ribbon's movement. Fixing it requires disassembling the mic and trying to clean out the gap. Sometimes a new ribbon is required and this is not covered under warranty. 2 LA30 Short Manual WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?"Nothing else sounds like a large ribbon on strings, horns and voices, " observes Wes Dooley. "AEA's classic R44 series and our neoclassic LA30 offer a truly opulent sound. " It is uncanny how closely what you hear in the studio, while you are placing the mic, matches the control room playback. The versatile LA30 sounds great on a wide range of instruments, including brass, strings, percussion, electric guitar and bass. Whether used on vocals or instruments, its performance is intimate, warm and detailed, yet never harsh. AEA's first ribbon mic, the classic high-output R44 series, continues to gain converts with its natural sound, articulate midrange and forgiving nature. Your LA30 enjoys similar sonic qualities, but is optimized for close-up solo and accent chores. The LA30 is an LRG mic with an aluminum diaphragm that is over two inches long, but only 185 thousandths of an inch wide and 70 millionths of an inch thick. The R44's sometimes overwhelming bass boost begins at six feet (1. 8 M). The original RCA 44 was developed during a time when studios were larger and mics were rarely used really close up. The contemporary LA30 has a more moderate proximity effect that is well suited for close up use. The LA30 maintains an effective figure-eight polar pattern from down in the basement at 20 Hz and on up. In the studio or on stage, such wide-band native figure-eight performance can be useful. A figure-eight has the same directivity index as a cardioid and with the null area being a plane at 90 degrees to the main axis, you have access to a whole new set of tricks. Blumlein and More Two LA30s set vertically coincident and at 90 degrees to each other creates Blumlein's famous stereo configuration. This setup is also a useful studio technique if you want faceto-face interaction but with console control of each musician's levels. You place the musicians at right angles to each other and directly facing the front or rear pickup axis of the mics. The isolation is excellent as the principal axis of one mic is the null plane for the other. Such right angle orientations also are used to isolate guitar and bass amps. [. . . ] 0 dBV/Pa is 1 VAC (Volt AC) at One Pascal (94 dB Sound Pressure Level. ) 0 -5 0 -5 -10 20 Hz 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K LA30 frequency response curves: Upper curve is front, Lower curve is rear, 0 dB = -50 dBV THE BACK STORY AEA has long been a resource for ribbon microphone aficionados seeking repair or replacement of their treasured classics. As collectors began to buy up the supply of RCA 44s through the 1990s, the availability of this wonderful ribbon mic to the studio was greatly endangered. We embarked on a quest lasting several years for the know-how and expertise necessary to recreate ALL the parts for this much sought after microphone. We were exceptionally fortunate to be advised by Jon Sank during this endeavor. [. . . ]