Mike's Mics: TNC Audio ACM-1

Friday, January 22, 2010

TNC Audio ACM-1

This is a TNC Audio ACM-1 ribbon microphone. It has a “long ribbon, short path” ribbon motor design and is manufactured by Shanghai ShuaiYin of China. It's one of many similar ribbon microphones rebadged for different distributors in the United States. This microphone is essentially the same mic as the NADY RSM-2 and the Alctron HRM-1. ShuaiYin’s version is branded the SYR-14 and is identical to the TNC Audio ACM-1 pictured here.

This microphone sounds amazing on horns, especially trumpets and French horns. It’s reminiscent of the RCA 77DX ribbon mic I used in college. It also sounds terrific on baritone sax.

Although the ACM-1 already sounds great in its stock form, the cool thing about this particular microphone is that it’s an excellent platform for modification. Just replacing the stock transformer with one of higher quality will allegedly yield excellent results. That, plus removing the extra windscreen shielding from the headbasket and adding sound absorbing material inside the microphone base can result in a quality of sound that rivals other ribbon microphones costing 10 times as much.

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Mike's Mics

Here, you'll find reviews of inexpensive condenser and ribbon microphones with the emphasis on acoustic instruments. If you’re a pianist, percussionist, clarinetist, harpist, violinist, trombonist, etc., this blog may give you enough helpful information to make a more informed decision regarding which budget-priced studio microphone will work best for you.

Most online user reviews of inexpensive studio microphones seem to relate only to how these mics sound on drums, electric guitar cabs and vocals. There is relatively little information about how these microphones work on acoustic instruments and ensembles.

There are currently only a few companies in China that build most of the inexpensive condenser and ribbon microphones available here in the United States. They are almost always “rebadged” and sold under various company monikers (MXL, Nady, Behringer, Apex – to name a few).

There’s an unfortunate tendency to sneer and bad-mouth any equipment that comes from China, particularly microphones. Some of this is justified as quality control is frequently inconsistent and noticeable variations in the sonic character of these Chinese microphones can be very noticeable between samples of the same make and model.

Inexpensive Chinese microphones certainly don’t compare to the high-dollar “boutique” microphones by Neumann and Telefunken. Nonetheless, the overall quality of these inexpensive microphones is surprisingly good for their price range and many of them prove quite adequate for acoustic instrument/ensemble recording projects.

The question then becomes,” Should I spend $5,000.00 on a microphone when a $500.00 microphone will work almost as well?” Yes, the $5,000.00 Neumann U87 will sound better, but does it sound $4,500.00 better? For many musicians on a tight budget (like me), the answer is almost always no.

If you play an acoustic instrument, this blog will hopefully give you enough helpful information so you can make a more informed decision regarding which budget-priced studio microphone will work best for you.

Enjoy.