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Peluso Microphone Lab's P-24
Stereo Large Diaphragm Condenser Tube Microphone
By Barry Rudolph
The Peluso P-24 is the result of a two-year collaboration to design and build a large-diaphragm, stereo microphone that closely follows the design philosophies of AKG's legendary C-24. For those who dig deep, the P-24 uses two gold, edge-terminated, dual-diaphragm 32mm P-CK-12 capsules that are historically accurate and interchangeable with the vintage AKG CK12 brass capsule. Same as the vintage C-24, the P-24 uses a single, dual-triode 6072AM with one triode section for each capsule. Sourced from EI NOS or a Svetlana, the 6072A is a military-grade version of a 12AY7 but with matched triode halves and a lower noise spec.There are no solid-state output buffer/amps used, and the internal circuit board is made and hand-wired in-house. There are two T14/1 output transformers made by Tamura and both are enclosed in a mu-metal can with additional shielding between the them to reduce crosstalk. Like the AKG C-24, the two capsule assemblies are positioned one above the other, same as the C-24. The upper capsule can be rotated in 15-degree increments up to 180-degrees, relative to the fixed, bottom capsule. The upper capsule turns on a hollow, vertical axial tube that routes the connecting wires to the capsule. The Peluso logo at the base of the mic marks the front of the mic and when the upper capsule is rotated to 0 degrees, it is physically aligned with the bottom capsule with both facing front. The P-24 weighs 1,058-grams (2.33 pounds) and measures an impressive 269-mm long (10.59-inches). The kit includes a 16-foot, multi-core connecting cable, shock-mount, power supply and a large foam-lined carrying/travel case. The power supply has a pair of nine-position polar pattern switches for remotely selecting the polar patterns individually for the upper and lower capsules, called Output 1 and Output 2. Any polar pattern from omni-directional to figure-of-eight can be set for the top and bottom capsules individually. In this way, any stereo microphone technique is possible. You may use it as mid/side with a front-facing cardioid and a side-facing figure-of-eight, an X-Y coincident pair using cardioids set to any angle, or as a Blumlein pair that uses crossed figure-of-8 patterns.
In The Studio And Starting Off With Guitar My first use of the P-24 was to record an acoustic guitar in a small iso-booth using the Blumlein technique. The P-24 is a big and heavy mic, so I brought in a large floor stand and boom with sandbags placed on its base. I positioned the mic about 1 meter (39-inches) in front of the guitar right where the neck joins the body. I used a pair of Wolff Audio Sunset Sound S1P "Tutti" Mic Pre-amps set to about 35dB of gain and fed two mono audio tracks (not a single stereo track) into Pro Tools. When those two mono tracks are panned hard left and right, you'll get a wide and expansive sound with no specific directionality--the sound of the guitar is everywhere in a realistic presentation as if you were standing in front of it. Moving the P-24 closer in and reducing mic pre gain did increase the bottom end (due to proximity) and closed down the stereo width. I liked the center focus of the guitar's sound. I also like the P-24 for recording acoustic guitar with vocal at the same time. I used X/Y stereo pattern to record a Martin D-28, adding a Shure SM7dB dynamic mic for the vocal. For acoustic guitar, the guitar's low frequencies were present and dynamic. However, recording vocals with a stereo mic can be problematic if your singer moves about in front of the mic. I could hear timbral changes of the voice in the stereo field--especially on headphones. Having the facility to change polar patterns quickly proves invaluable for experimenting using different stereo techniques when recording everything from orchestral instruments to ensembles, to drum kits. Realistic and Powerful Drum SoundFor drums, I placed the P-24 overhead and centered equidistant between the snare drum and the floor tom and in front of and just above the drummer's head. I tried X/Y cardioids first, then Mid/Side when I wanted control over the stereo spread later on, and also the super-wide Blumlein technique. All techniques worked wonderfully and there was no clipping ever heard even when my drummer played hard and loud. While configured in a X/Y coincident pair and with the drummer playing, I changed the patterns from two cardioids to figure-of-8 patterns. I did this in real time right on the downbeat of a chorus. I just loved the widening out of the stereo drum imaging. In Blumlein the imaging greatly changed with more specific localization and detail of the kit's components--toms, L/R cymbals, hat etc. I was only able to do this "cowboy" trick because there were no pops, clicks or gaps heard when changing these pattern rotary switches. If the multi-core mic cable were longer, the power supply could be located in the control room to do this from behind the console. A longer cable could also be useful for orchestral miking and/or hanging the P-24 from the studio's ceiling. (A custom-length cable up to 100 meters long can be ordered) While placed horizontally over the kit, it can be hard to tell where the capsules are aimed. I started by turning the whole mic in the shock mount so that the bottom half was aimed as I wanted. Then I used the white pointer/cursor on side of the top capsule assembly to rotate it to where I wanted--but I confirmed where the capsules were pointed by having my assistant "snap" the upper and lower capsules. Works great! Vocals Recording lead vocals affords the opportunity to use both capsule at the same time with both set to cardioid. I fed their outputs to separate signal chains. Again, I used the Sunset S1P for capsule 1 followed by a single channel of an API 529 stereo limiter compressor for the verses. Capsule 2 was connected to an all-tube Retro Instruments' Powerstrip Channel. While monitoring in mono those two completely different vocal tracks/signal chains summed.(I was lucky!). I had clean limiting /compression from capsule 1 for the verses, and the Retro Power Strip gave me a mellow, tube compression for the much louder-sung chouses. Since the singer was very quiet in the verses, this worked out well. When mixing, I managed to make the transition (from verse to chorus and back) sound seamless. Great Tool The Peluso P-24 makes it easy to experiment with any of the classic stereo techniques easy using a single microphone. There is no worrying about phase and level differences as you might get when using two separate mics, and your recordings will take on a three-dimensional quality immediately. Recommended highly.
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