Customer Reviews

Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

Superbly flat frequency response means you have a very versatile microphone to apply EQ and processing to.

Run it flat into the board and see how rich this mic makes you sound. It has long been thought that if you want richness and detail, you have to use a condenser mic. The PR40 tosses this rule to the curbside.

Bright and rich like a condenser, but controlled and soft like a dynamic. One of this mic's biggest selling points is the end-fire pattern. It has incredible side and rear rejection. This goes a long way to make you sound better, especially if you're operating in a multiple-mic environment as it allows you to null out room noises and isolate each voice to a single microphone.

I use this microphone for both amateur radio and other voice work.

The mic is in perfect condition, great sound in front of my bass Amp ! customer from canada think about DUTY

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.

When I started doing research for setting up of my first podcast I kept finding myself drawn to the Heil PR-40. After installing it I can say that it lives up to my expectations and then some! A great sounding microphone for multiple needs, but it definitely suits my podcast work. ONE NOTE OF CAUTION, though. I didn't want to spend the insane amound of $ for a Heil shock mount for the microphone, so I went with the Samson. The problem with using that is the fact that place where the cable stem is expected to through to hold it securely doesn't quite fit the microphone(holdr is too small). However, the microphone mounting mechanism that comes with the microphone can easily slip over the long microphone stem if the ring in the bottom of the holder is removed. But this is a great-sounding microphone, ultimately.

Before purchasing this microphone I had read the reviews on Amazon and had also read and looked at pod cast microphone reviews. The Heil microphone came highly recommended and I purchased the M-audio sound -card. On arrival I spent a day on both my Sony laptop and also on an Apple's with Boot Camp using Windows 7. I also tried it with a number of different software types with the microphone producing a very low volume sound. I had to nearly have it in my mouth. On the mac it was different. Installing it purely on an Apple system the sound was okay with considerable boosting. The sound turns out to be fairly pleasant. However in comparing it to a number of the other microphones that go directly into the USB I was desperately disappointed. In fact I think that it may be dysfunctional. When I watched the you Tube demonstrations I did note that they needed to use compression to get a reasonable sound and it's true that I could do it. For those of you who want to use a microphone and connect it to a USB I would say this is not the microphone for you or for me. The M audio box is great with a Rode broadcast mike as well as a Shure broadcast mic. The software that come with it Ableton is terrific. In trying a number of alternatives that I use with Dragon including a Plantronics headset as well as a Sennheiser wireless headset I would say do not bother for podcasts or great sound. Our final selection of a Rode usb mic has been satisfying. It is a truly great Australian product. Who would have thought so? I would have to say that the Rode microphone produces a rich sound and is so easy to use. You don't need to fiddle with an external soundcard and in using it with Dragon dictate it is a mind blowing success. I have used the Rode microphone putting voice onto PowerPoint slides for kiosk demonstration and with significant amplification on big systems it gave simple excellent results and provides a rich sound for pod casts. There was no hiss or hum . At work we have been using the Shure USB Mike and have also found that terrific. Looking at the other reviews I am tempted to send My Heil back as we have so spent so much time on it and its a software hassle to get a good result. Perhaps mine is dud. Probably the only reason to send it back would be as I already have the shock mount and it costs a lot. It does rate so highly in the view of others.

Yet at the end of the day I ask myself why put so much effort into using an intermediary system if you're using USB. There are such good alternatives out there. We tested a number of people blind and they were fully convinced that they could hardly distinguish between the major brands though at the end of the day the choice came down to the USB Rode. In many ways I wanted to write this review thinking that somehow a microphone that worked using an intermediary soundcard system would be better. It has not given me confidence in some of the online reviews. I have probably spent many hours perhaps even as many as 100 playing with the Heil. I've used the others probably a lot less so far but find them very easy. I can say however that there is a considerable value in buying a shock mount. With the USB microphones you can talk from further away and angle the microphone and get an excellent result. No need for a pop filter if you use them correctly.