Brooklyn folk-bluegrass trio Damn Tall Buildings told us about their Audio-Technica mic love...
Damn Tall Buildings: Our favorite piece of gear is our trusty AT4050 microphone. In our live shows, the three of us stand + play around it in traditional Bluegrass fashion, and we’ve found it is one of the most dynamically responsive mics we’ve ever played with. I say with, because at this point it really does feel like another band member thanks to how much it plays a huge part in achieving the band’s sound, both on stage and in the studio.
Like with all large diaphragm condenser mics, it takes a bit of tuning/ringing-out to find the sweet spot (s/o to all the sound engineers we work with at all these shows). But once that is locked in, it becomes a seasoned dance partner, sonically-speaking. We’ve definitely found other condensers to be harder to wrangle, especially in the high-end. The AT4050 has a smooth presence across the freq. range and a special clarity in the middle range.
It’s our go-to in the studio as well. For basically everything! We do a mix of multitracking and live group takes and the AT4050 never disappoints in how it captures whatever it’s hearing so beautifully. In nearly every setting, this mic has proven to us time and time again that it can handle everything we throw at it with amazing accuracy and sweetness.
Damn Tall Buildings' The Universe is Hungry album is out now.
Photo by Annie Zegers
