Lauten Audio Horizon Live Test - The Sands Family Irish folk band

Peter Brigel of Analog Audio recently welcomed The Sands Family Irish folk band into his Irish Pub in Germany. He decided to throw up some Horizon tube microphones to mic their live performance, here’s what he had to say.





Quoted from Peter :

Lauten Audio Horizon Live Test

The Sands Family, Irish Folk, Live at the Cobbler's 16. April 2008 Sound Engineer: David Powles (Pink Floyd, Genesis, Bob Marley, Little Feet, Procul Harum)

This Wednesday I had a very well known Act from Ireland on our Stage, the Sands Family from Northern Ireland. After 40 years on various stages, the band knows how to work with microphones.

I wanted to test the Horizon in a Live-Application, with critical instruments like Banjo, Mandolin and Concertina.

Here is the result:

Tenor-Banjo:
Known for its sometimes harsh and hard sound, this instrument sounds terrible, like a tin can, if you use the wrong mic. Midrange is the problem here. The Horizon made the Banjo sound mellow and pleasing, it rounded up the spectrum and sounded really nice.

Mandolin:
Thin and sharp, either not loud enough in the mix or to upfront, not easy to find a balance between chording and solo-lines, these are the problems here. With the Horizon the Mandolin sounded warm and full, it adds bottom in the low midrange to the original thin sound of the instrument.

With the Horizon, both the Banjo and the Mandolin are easy to recognize in the mix even with lower levels.

Concertina:
This instrument's high range may sound hard, if you play it loud it may produce piercing high notes. Again, the Horizon produces a soft, warm, mellow and pleasing sound.

Summary:
The Horizon works very well with these instruments, they all sound very pleasing and warm, but you never have the impression that there is something missing in the high end.

The Horizon was very easy to handle on stage; with all the monitors on stage feedback was no problem at all.

By intention I used the Hard-Mounts to check the Horizon's sensitivity to footfall noise on a wooden stage. It did very well, much better than the Sure and Beyer Mics that we used together with the Horizons. The Off-Axis rejection was surprisingly good for a cardioid microphone.

End quote


About The Sands Family:
For more than three decades, one name in particular has been synonymous with folk music from the North of Ireland.

The Sands Family - one name comprising four extremely talented siblings - Anne, Ben, Colum and Tommy Sands. Individually and collectively they have played a significant part in the creation of the phenomenal world-wide interest in Irish folk and traditional music since the early 1970s.

And over thirty years later, the Sands Family are still singing and playing to an ever expanding audience, with their unique blend of traditional material and self-penned songs which swing from whimsical to politically serious, from sad to hilarious, from traditional to contemporary – all cemented together with well-crafted and delivered anecdotes and stories and presented with apparently effortless ease.

Taken from http://www.sandsfamilyfolk.com/