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05|09
AMSR
BEN BURNS finds a whole lot of
positives in the KMS104 plus.
THE REVIEWER
BEN BURNS is a London-based
freelance engineer- both live and
studio- with credits including Blur,
Dido, Embrace, Happy Mondays,
and more.
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As one of the most respected microphone
manufacturers of all time, Neumann will need no
introduction to anyone reading this magazine.
The KMS104 plus continues a tradition of excellence
established by the popular KMS104 and KMS105 stage
microphones. It's a phantom powered condenser vocal
microphone of the ‘fet 100’ series with a cardioid polar
pattern. Designed for stage use, the mic features an integral
pop filter, effective shock absorption, and a balanced
transformer-less output.
In comparison with the KMS104 and KMS105,
the acoustic properties of the bass response have
been redesigned. In particular, Wolfgang Fraissinet,
President of Marketing/Sales at Neumann Berlin
explains: “In close cooperation with professional
musicians, with the aid of extensive practical tests,
the KMS104 plus has been especially optimised for the
requirements of female voices in the rock and pop field.”
So it's one for the ladies...
The KMS104 plus is supplied with a padded nylon case
and the relevant stand clamp. The suggested retail price
is €495 excl. VAT.
First Impressions
Like previous Neumann stage microphones, the
KMS104 plus arrives in a heavy duty cardboard tube, in
which resides alot of of nylon and Velcro that holds not
only the microphone, but also the stand adaptor and the
user guide.
Neumann says the case is ‘durable enough for touring’,
which I for one will not contest – the quality is as you
would expect. The mic itself looks like a normal KMS104,
except it feels a little lighter (298g to be exact) and has
the word ‘plus’ printed along with the model number.
Mic-spotters may also notice the difference in the internal
foam pop shield when holding the mic up to the light.
The mandatory Neumann badge is securely sunk into
the blackness of the mic body, looking very classy in a
‘cooker from the 1950’s’ kind of way.
If you remove the grille (for cleaning), it suddenly
becomes apparent how much of a pop filter there actually
is. Constructed in two parts, a 5mm thick foam cylinder
hugs the sides of the metal grille while an ‘end cap’,
precisely 20mm thick, blocks off the business end and
catches all the spit of your lovely employer.
In Use
The first time you hear this mic, it is apparent how the
response is ‘tailored for the female voice’, as there is an
obvious bass boost. The proximity effect is strangely subtle
with a sort of ‘constant’ effect, until you get very close.
Then it is slightly more pronounced. Basically, the boffins
at Neumann have found a way of increasing the warmth
of the response, even slightly off-axis and at a greater
distance from the capsule than you would expect. I can
see this mic becoming a favourite instrument for singers
who know how to use mics. With its unique response, I
can see artists working with this once and never wanting
anything else.
High-level stage monitoring, using condenser
microphones on stage, has usually proved challenging
for engineers to deal with in the real world. Then the KMS
range came along and changed the way condenser mics
are utilised on stages.
AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2009
The amount of gain before feedback from this mic is
staggering; I ended up with a single M4 monitor speaker
(with just the vocal) and side fills blasting everything
else – wow. Vocals with the KMS104 plus just seemed
to cut through everything whilst sounding rich and
transparent. A small cut in the 1-2KHz range was needed
for stability in the room, and a further cut in the 125Hz
region helped get the level up, but the graphic only had
two small cuts in total. I didn’t bother with a high pass
filter on the channel, simply because it didn’t need one.
Even when you point the mic directly at the monitor speaker
nothing happens.
In the era of in-ear monitoring, it was only fair to
give the mic a try using wireless IEMs. Usually, if a singer
removes one ear to hear the ambience of a room, it is
possible for 8KHz-10KHz to kick off from the ear-bud
feeding into the microphone. Even with its defined high
frequency response, the KMS104 plus refused to do this.
In fact, the only way to make this mic squeal was to
touch the ear bud to the grille and send so much level
to the in-ears that it would hurt even the deafest of
guitarists. With a good in-ear setup, the mic sounded
NEUMANN KMS104 PLUS
Condenser Vocal Microphone
very warm, with the extended high end providing the
expensive sparkle so many mics lack. With a flat EQ,
the sound was impressive right away, and once valve
compression and a nice reverb were added the vocal
in-ear sound was getting much closer to studio territory
than stage sound.
The ambient pick-up of instruments behind the singer
is always a big issue for the FOH guy, especially if the
artist has a very quiet voice. Trying to get the vocal out
front to rise above the combination of monitors and
backline can be a constant struggle. The KMS104 plus
helps us out by exhibiting reasonable isolation when
it comes to background noise (for a condenser mic).
In small venues where the cymbals of a drum kit would
usually be placed very close to the centre vocal position,
you will get lots of cymbals down the vocal line – as with
any other microphone. Not even Neumann can re-write
the laws of physics, but if you think about it, you get a
very nice ambient drum mic built into your very nice
vocal microphone... Fewer wires too…
‘Cupping’ the grille of microphones seems to be a
favourite hobby for quiet singers – when asked why
they do this, they usually say “so I can hear myself”.
Turning a perfectly good cardioid microphone into an
omni-directional telephone may have its place creatively,
but it won’t necessarily help anyone to hear themselves
any better. All they achieve when they do this, is to
remove the cancellation properties at the rear of the mic
(“the bit that normally faces the big speaker”) and kill the
frequency response drastically. Around the 2.5KHz mark,
however, will be heard very well by everybody unless the
monitor guy has planned for this eventuality. Like any
microphone, the Neumann exhibits the same properties
when cupped. This mic is definitely not for Eminem.
I have to say that this mic does sound great on a thinner
or female voice. The richness and texture are emphasised
by the natural response of the microphone. I tried to force
plosive sounds into the mic, but the filter works very
effectively, blocking out any unwanted rumbling ps and
bs. Even when blowing hard it’s difficult to get a dramatic
tornado effect, which stand up comics will not like but
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