Brothers In EMs...
Local radio presenter and emerging artist sibling choose Mackie EM-91C Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphones for home studio lockdown...
Sam Jones has his own show on Insanity Radio, an award-winning FM and online station based at Royal Holloway University in Surrey. Insanity has been broadcasting to the community since 1998 and to the world since 2000. Sam’s first taste of broadcasting came as an an undergraduate student, studying media at the university, but he retained his connection with the station throughout the course of further studies in Cardiff, where he is now resident. Since March, he has hosted Insanity’s Friday night Lockdown show with flatmate Alex Williams.
Presenting a show remotely has its challenges, but Sam has done as much as possible to ‘studio-fy’ his spare room, excluding as much noise as possible. When the Coronavirus lockdown struck, Sam had already taken the decision to invest in a new microphone, having suffered in the past from a few reliability issues. Looking for great value, great audio and a robust piece of equipment, he decided to go with the Mackie EM-91C large-diaphragm condenser microphone and loved what he got:
“Just taking the mic out of the box gives you that feeling of solidity. I figured that if the audio is as good as the build quality, it’s going to be seeing me through plenty of broadcasting! And lo and behold, it’s excellent. I’ve used a number of different microphones in different settings, including in nicely-appointed studios, some of which cost considerably more than the EM-91C, but in terms of quality and value, it’d be hard to beat. It’s a great piece of kit at a price point that screams out to home-studio users - ‘buy me!’”
One hundred and forty miles away in deepest Buckinghamshire, Sam’s younger brother Tal is working in another studio conversion - his bedroom - on a body of material that is finding favour with a growing number of fans. If the streaming figures for his first two singles are anything to go by, this singer/songwriter/producer could be one to watch. His musicianship and song writing skills are matched by a strong grasp of technology, and as an emerging artist, aside from its devastating effects on live performance, the lockdown has seen a prolific Tal Jones assemble an ever-growing portfolio of self-produced indie-pop.
As a music student and artist, working within tight budget constraints dictates that every investment in his setup needs to reflect great value for money. At the same time, in a tech-savvy world where anything less than excellent audio is not an option, quality counts. Having done his research, Tal followed his brother’s path and opted for the EM-91C. Tal plays and programmes everything on his material, so he needed a microphone that was suitable for vocals, as well as a range of instruments. Mackie state that the mic is “voiced for the stage, built for the road and priced for your wallet”, something the young musician, would agree with:
“The mic itself does everything I need it to do. The audio quality is great and it’s very solid. The fact that it comes with a shock mount and an XLR cable is great as well. The cable locks in very snugly to the mic and the shock mount is uncomplicated and effective. I doubt it could be beaten on all-round value for money.”
Nowhere has escaped the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, but as musicians, presenters and podcasters find themselves seeking home solutions in order to continue creating, Mackie, distributed in the UK by POLAR, offers a range of practical and competitive options. In the EM-91C, the Jones brothers trust.
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