Superlux HI 10

Superlux Hi-10 on....

...Horns...:
* It handles trumpets ok, but a good dynamic mic like a sm/beta 57 would be a better choice.

* Used on saxophones, its actually quite warm and sound very natural.

* A trombone becomes a bit thicker with this mic, cool for big band.


...Acoustic Guitar...:
* I decided to try these mic's after hearing the acoustic guitar sample on Thomann website.

* To my taste, I got better results using ORTF technique, rather than X/Y or spaced pair.


...Drums...:
* Superlux is marketing this mic as a hihat mic, which it does just as it says on the box.

* As overheads, these can be a little too focused. A little shelving off the top-end, and gain before feedback is quite good - especially for a jazz setup!

* There is not much noticeable difference between a SM57 and Hi-10 on a snare drum in a live setting, but it gives just a little more of the stick, rim and brushes for free - as any good condenser mic would.


...Voice...:
* The Hi-10 might work on some soft female vocals, but it is far from the optimal choice. If this is the only mic you've got - well go for it, but pops are virtually unavoidable.

* As a spoken word radio mic, the Hi-10 might be cool due to the added bass response at a close distance, but as said before - it pops really easily, so the use of a multi band compressor like a Waves C6 is required to get a usable signal.

* This I haven't tested, but maybe it's a good choice as an overhead choir mic - you would probably have to suspend about 15 of these for it to work, but still.. they are really cheap (at the time of writing).

Final notes:

* The proximity effect of Hi-10 is quite fun and usable, as the mic produces a whole lot of more bottom end, than similar small diaphragm mics.

* This is also a very directional mic, so unless it's used on drums, percussion or perhaps a piano - musicians with good microphone technique is required for great results (ain't it always? :) )

- It hears everything and there is no problem for all frequencies!!!
- I used it many times and did a great job!
- At live perfomance, if you set its channel volume to a level a little bit lower than the level that it starts to feedback then you will have so loud and crystal sound which your audience is going to love!!!
- Excellent for all the kind of organs, guitars, violins, trumpets, drums and even for theater purposes!!!
- Depending of the stage and the concert place, for live perfomance, you can low a little bit one or two frequencies, using the parametric eq of your console or from external eq and then you can increase the channel's level even more in order to get an even more strong signal and the sound remains great!
- I managed very easy to get a great strong signal from 8 mandolins using 2 of these mics at a live stage with monitors on stage without feedback at all and the mandolin's sound in the hall was very very strong despite that the mics were about 1,5 meters away from the mandolins! Behind the mandolins were a 50 person choir with some mics, a soloist with a dynamic mic and a keyboard so I had to have a strong signal from the 8 mandolins in order to be heared clearly!!! (The mandolins were situated on the stage at a half circle for every 4 of them so I had 2 teams of 4 mandolins each.
- Its price is too low for what it can do!!!

When comparing equipment, price / quality is always a factor.

For the money, this isn't a bad mic, but it needs alot of gain wich raises the noise floor with it as well.

If you compare it to something 10 times as expensive like a DPA mic, then it gets blown away completely and it's not even a competition. But if you're looking for soms cheap drum overheads, or a mic to record accoustic guitar on the cheap, than this is a very valid option to be considered.

It's not great, but for the money, also not bad. The build quality is descent, this mic can take a beating, and even if you manage to kill it, at this price point, it'll probably won't hurt your wallet too badly.

Running a small recording studio I?m always on the lookout for new microphones to add to the locker. As with most studios the mic selection changes a lot; sometimes I?ve got in Gemini?s, high end AKG?s and other times I?ve got in budget mics like V67GS?s. I?m a firm believer that every microphone has a use; you just need to find its perfect application.

This small diaphragm condenser microphone is very pretty; it features a nice gold coloured capsule and soft touch metal body. On looks alone it?s worth its meagre price tag. The mic comes with a leather pouch, hard plastic clip and foam lined cardboard box.

I?ve experimented with this mic on a few applications. Firstly, on high hats it sounded rather harsh, the top-end was a little to brittle for my liking. Secondly, on acoustic guitar, it sounded quite dark. The low-mids seemed to drop quite a lot and the full bodied sound of the guitar was lost. Thirdly, on voice- don?t use this on voice. It?s only a SD condenser mic so it will naturally have less bass response but with the shrill high-end it makes for a terrible vocal mic.

It?s not all doom and gloom though, on percussion it stands out (a touch of EQ to roll of that shrill top-end) and it also fairs well on guitar cabs. It has its own sound and is a fairly noise-free mic.

At this price it?s worth taking a punt just to add some variety to your mic selection. You won?t be blown away but you might just find that retro sound you?ve been looking.