Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone

by Heil

Product Features

• Generating element: Copper-wound dynamic with neodymium magnet structure
• Body: Steel body with zinc die-cast bottom ring
• Frequency response: 28Hz to 18kHz
• Impedance: 600 ohms balanced
• Output level: -53.9dB @ 1,000 Hz

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000BQXOEM
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,927 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #48 in Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Microphones & Accessories > Dynamic Microphones > Vocal
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 13, 2004

Product Description

The Heil PR 40 represents completely new dynamic microphone technology designed for a wide range of professional applications such as sophisticated recording, live sound, and commercial broadcast. Producing the widest frequency range available in a dynamic microphone, the PR 40 outperforms most condenser microphones, and can withstand huge amounts of SPL. At the same time, it maintains the 25 year Heil Sound tradition of superbly natural voice articulation.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Microphone I've used October 18, 2009

By M. Rahim

Amazon Verified Purchase

I waited a year to shell out the money for the PR-40 and it was worth it. Its an amazing microphone. I use it to record lectures for my anNasiha podcast. I highly recommend you buy the Spider Shock Mount along with the PR-40. There really isn't anything more to say about this mic. I haven't tried the RE-20 which seams to be in its class but from what I've experienced working with this mic I'd highly recommend it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Microphone for Voice February 11, 2012

By Socrates

The microphone I was using (for voice-over) prior to buying the PR40 was a Blue Yeti. Now while that is a great microphone I don't exactly have the best recording environment so I had to put it in a portable "vocal booth" (essentially a foam box). Even then the Yeti would do what condensers do and pick up noise other than my voice. I wanted to eliminate that unwanted noise and that portable booth so I started looking around for a solution. Dynamics seemed like my best bet and fortunately there are a number of great broadcast dynamics out there. Why did I choose the PR40 over, say, a RE20/SM7b/MD 421-II? Well, let's get into specifics.

Extended frequency response. 28Hz-18Khz. My voice predominantly resides in the lower frequencies so I wanted to capture as much of that as I could while still not being overly muddy/bassy/muddled etc. I also don't have a whole lot of high end so it's nice that the mic can capture what little I have while also amplifying it (Heil mics have a "articulation bump"). The PR40 amplifies everything from around 1.5Khz to 12Khz. This is both good and bad. On one hand I believe this (along with that extended low end) is why the sound provided by the PR40 is compared to condensers. Broadcast dynamics typically have over-hyped lows and mids (think of radio voices). This bump is bad because it amplifies the frequencies where sibilance lies. Mouth noises might also be made worse by it. However, when you find the right distance (odds are no more than 6 inches away) it captures speech beautifully. Run it through a tube preamp if you want to make it even sweeter. Speaking of preamps...

You're going to want 60db of gain. You can make do with 40db but you're going to be talking right up on that mic to get decent levels.... This can easily make your recordings far too bass heavy. I'm using a Shure X2u with my PR40 and if I want to get a good signal to noise ratio in a noisy environment I've gotta talk within a couple inches of the mic. I should also mention that you shouldn't talk directly into the microphone without some kind of pop filter or training to lessen the force of your plosives. While the mic does have integrated pop filters they don't work magic like you find with a RE20. It is possible to talk within a inch or two of the mic without popping though, just talk across it rather than directly at it.

As a parting bit of information I will say that the PR40 offers good off axis rejection. I have to worry less about airplanes, the sounds of people talking, birds, etc. and can just focus on recording. It's actually very liberating not needing to pause every time an airplane passes overhead. Ideally I'd just buy/make a silent space so I could then be free to pick a microphone that best suits my voice, but until then the Heil PR40 is a great solution. Read more ›

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another "thumbs-up" review! June 3, 2010

By Andrew Henderson

This mic rocks. I mean REALLY. It has the detail and presence of a condenser microphone, but the "ignore the background noise" response and nice proximity effect that you get with good dynamic mics. My favorite dynamic for my vocals.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Value, Excellent Choice for Podcast or Voiceover June 8, 2012

By Paul R. Potts

I've been recording podcasts on and off for the last six or seven years and have set up a home studio for amateur music recording. I started out using a PC or Mac laptop with a BLUE Snowball and a crappy USB headset mic: both worked, but I'd frequently get dropouts and glitches as audio buffers were lost. I did learn a lot about how to apply EQ and compression, but it became clear that if I wanted a quality sound, I'd need to look elsewhere.

Since then I've used several other kinds of mics for singing and voiceover, including some Russian-made Oktava condensers (the MK-219 and 319) and a ribbon (an ML-52), a Neumann broadcast mic (the BCM-705), and some miscellaneous dynamic microphones. I run them into an Apogee Ensemble with its prosumer-level preamps. All of them have aggravated me slightly.

The 219s sound "boinky," where you can hear a lot of tinny reflections from the microphone housing, and the tone is a little abrasive. The 319 is better, but it's awkward mounting a front-address condenser in such a way that you can get your face into the mic and still be able to look at papers on my desk. And even with acoustic foam and rock wool sound-absorbing panels on my studio wall, and an sE Reflexion filter, and a home-made foam isolation box around my computer, it picks up a lot of background computer noise, even when the computer is in the "null point" directly behind the microphone. I've had to use a noise-reduction application routinely, Izotope's RX, and that works well but it is a little tedious.

The Neumann, which should have sounded excellent for broadcast applications, was really "spitty," with no "balls" -- the bass response on male voices isn't beefy, and I had to mess with EQ a lot; I just didn't like it.... The expensive Neumann condensers have a great reputation but their dynamic broadcast mic just wasn't worth the money at around $700.

The ribbon is interesting but it has a lot of self-noise, and needs a huge amount of gain -- I think ribbons can be used to good effect for voiceover, especially if you are looking for a vintage effect, but they are a bit tricky to use.

Anyway, I bought a used PR-40 to try out. This mic sounds great. I haven't tried it for singing or recording any instruments, but if you're looking for a real broadcast-ready voice sound, this thing with a good preamp and about 58 dB of gain ought to do it for you. I'm using it with the Izotope Alloy channel strip plugin and the combination sounds great. For the Bloodthirsty Vegetarians podcast I record my side and my friend Rich does the post-processing and that sounds great too! Google "Bloodthirsty Vegeterians" -- I am using this mic for my side starting in episode 184.

Keep in mind that you will need a high-quality preamp capable of putting out maybe 55-60 dB of clean gain. Without a good preamp, no mic is going to sound good. I don't mean some made-in-China M-Audio thing... use that stuff if you _really_ must, if price is your absolute most important consideration, but realize that your _preamplifier_ is probably the point in your signal chain where the dollars spent are most effective. I'd much rather use a high-quality preamp and cheap microphone and A/D converters than vice-versa.

You will need compression to get a consistent level. If you don't know what that is and how to use it, you aren't ready to get good results with this mic, although it would be a good mic to learn with; just realize you won't have a "professional" sound until you have a properly configured compressor, either a hardware compressor or a software plug-in, on the signal. This is true whether you're trying to sound like a big boomy FM DJ or just get a clean level that can be heard well on earbuds or a car stereo for, say, reading an audio book.

This mic does not need phantom power -- this is a true dynamic mic.

Oh, and unlike condensers that are often side-address, you talk into the end of this one, like the broadcast-standard Electro Voice RE-20.

Note that while the mic itself is only in the $300 range -- a real bargain, and they are assembled in the USA! -- the price is a little deceptive, because to use it as a proper broadcast mic and get the best use out of it you will probably want the Heil broadcast boom and mounting piece, and the suspended shock mount, and definitely a pop filter, preferably one that fits the shock mount like the Popless VAC-PR40. All that mounting gear together will probably exceed the price of the mic itself. You don't need exactly this configuration -- I don't have an overhead boom yet and I'm using a standard mic stand -- but you will want some kind of pop filter, and most ordinary pop filters aren't really made to fit over the end of an end-address microphone.

And of course although this mic is not _extremely_ sensitive to background noise you will still want acoustic treatment in your studio, and you'll want to keep your computer as quiet as possible.

Anyway, that's about it -- honestly, if you've taken care of all the other variables: the acoustics of your studio room, a pop filter, computer noise, a clean preamp, good outboard or in-box compression, and decent analog-to-digital conversion and you can't get a professional radio-voice sound with this mic, then I strongly suspect the problem is you! Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Mic I have used. May 1, 2010

By L. Gallo

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great mic for podcasting and any recording. The sound is rich and full. This matched with an M-Audio Fasttrack Pro is a great combo. Best money spent on all my podcast gear hands down!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Podcast / Broadcast Microphone Bang For The Buck October 23, 2012

By Darren O'Neill

I have a home studio that I use for a variety of purposes. I record podcasts, music and voice overs and take sound quality very seriously. When looking for the perfect microphone to do the job I wanted, two microphones kept showing up at the top of just about every list. The first was the Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone and the second was this microphone, the Heil PR-40. I went with the Heil for one important reason, it's about $100 cheaper than the Electro Voice RE-20 and provides the identical quality signal.

The PR-40 is an end firing microphone and is very good at rejecting off axis noise, making it a perfect choice for broadcast or podcasting. While the PR-40 uses a screen system with 2 different mesh screens and an internal filter to keep sibilance and plosives to a minimum I've found that it really does still need a windscreen or a pop filter to make sure these annoyances don't make their way into your recordings.

I know it can be hard to try microphones before you buy, but I always recommend people do it if you can. Everyone's voice is different and some microphones will be better suited to some voices over other microphones. If you want to get an idea of how this microphone sounds you can check out the "This Week In Tech" podcast, hosted by Leo Laporte. Leo, as well as the guests in studio, all use the PR-40 for the show.

The bottom line is I love this microphone and highly recommend it to anyone doing voice work.