moosers
Publié le 19/01/10 à 06:19
(contenu en anglais)
(contenu en anglais)
The RCA 88A is a pressure microphone, and is quite rare at that. It was probably originally a broadcast mic, but I've only tried it out a few times in the recording studio for recording spoken vocals. This is also the only non-ribbon mic that I have used made by RCA that I can think of right now. The mic is really more of an antique now as it has been around for quite a long time and there aren't too many of them left. However, I was fortunate enough to get to shoot one of these out with a few other mics to hear what it sounds like. The mic has a standard cardioid polar pick up pattern and will only pick up frequencies between 60 Hz and 10 KHz, so it only has a limited versatility in terms of what it can be used to record.
OVERALL OPINION
Other than the one that I used, I haven't seen too many RCA 88As out there. I believe that this mic was first made as early as the 1930s, so many of them have died out throughout the years. The mic will do a pretty good job of picking up your voice, but isn't the cleanest by modern standards at all. Since it only picks up a limited width of frequencies when compared to modern day mics, I can't say that I would recommend it for anything other than mid range applications, and namely the human voice. Since RCA is a large brand that has a lot of classic microphones, the I would imagine that even if you did find one of these used, that I would cost a decent amount of money compared to what it was when it was originally manufactured, as I believe this was a low budget microphone even at the time. Having said all of this, if you like old vintage mics and RCA specifically, the 88A will definitely still please you.
OVERALL OPINION
Other than the one that I used, I haven't seen too many RCA 88As out there. I believe that this mic was first made as early as the 1930s, so many of them have died out throughout the years. The mic will do a pretty good job of picking up your voice, but isn't the cleanest by modern standards at all. Since it only picks up a limited width of frequencies when compared to modern day mics, I can't say that I would recommend it for anything other than mid range applications, and namely the human voice. Since RCA is a large brand that has a lot of classic microphones, the I would imagine that even if you did find one of these used, that I would cost a decent amount of money compared to what it was when it was originally manufactured, as I believe this was a low budget microphone even at the time. Having said all of this, if you like old vintage mics and RCA specifically, the 88A will definitely still please you.