Photo from the event.
On the evening of May 21st, AES at The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences hosted CRAS alumni Andrew Monheim President of Monheim Microphones and multi-instrumentalist Tate Simms in a tracking session. The session demoed their signature Monheim Channel Strip and microphones like the FET, Thump and Omni. After completing from The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in the early 2000s Andrew went on to work as the Director of Production at Blue Microphones from 2008 to 2010 and Manley Laboratories from 2010 to 2012. He also became the studio owner of AndromiDen Recordings in 2010 and has continued to work there since. In January of 2016, he founded Monheim Microphones with the goal of, "bridging the gap between high quality and affordability."
Starting with the Monheim FET we used three, one on the Orange Guitar Combo Amp, one for vocals and another as the room mic for our 3-piece drum kit. It provided rich clarity on vocals and captured great depth on the guitar and drums. The mic features a custom output transformer and K47 capsule that helped it shine. Also for our 3-piece drum kit, we used the Monheim Thump on the kick that gave us the sound of a FET and sub kick in one and absolutely blew away student's and instructors expectations. The low-end and transients were clear and rich. Lastly, for the drums, we used the Monheim Omni as a mono overhead. Its design is based on a sensitive reference microphone that is reflected in its high-frequency response featuring a bump at 10kHz, that helped to naturally brighten the kit without any adjustment. The final piece of gear Monheim showed off was their channel strip on bass guitar and vocals. The channel strip allowed for a ton of creative manipulation before the signal ever hit the board. The strip features several unique options best described by Monheim Microphones themselves as listed on their website, " Designed as a high fidelity solution for stale/average signals, it boasts:
• High-end tube DI engineered for bass and guitar
• Lowest Tube Preamp Noise Floor on the market
• Seven step, variable transformer saturation
• Stepped High Pass/Lo Cut filter
• Dedicated input and output transformer
• High-precision stepped output attenuator
• 180 degree phase switch
• Variable gain, wide bell, "Motown inspired" tube EQ (with Mid-Pultec-style boost and cut
or "Air Band" options)
• 2x NOS 6H23p-EB tubes (6DJ8, 6922, ECC88 Equivalent)
All gain stages of the tube circuit may be inserted or removed via "Bypass" switch, including the Preamp," ( www.monheimmicrophones.com ). This design allowed phenomenal tone shape of our bass and really brought out the "skanky" snap. For our vocals, we used it to add depth and help the vocals sit in the mix.
To top off the night Andrew shared tips with students on the importance of studio etiquette and the responsibility of an engineer that's also the producer to help their artist be their best. It was a great opportunity for students to pick at Andrew's mind as an engineer, business owner, and CRAS alumni. It was a great pleasure to have Monheim come down and we look forward to seeing them again.
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