Concrete Cellar has been experimenting with custom studio/music equipment electronic design and boutique manufacturing of guitar effect pedals and now large diaphragm condenser microphones aimed at the project, home studio and voice over market. Each microphone is custom and hand made using various capsules. Microphones shown are prototypes.
The TLC47 is a transformerless large diaphragm condenser microphone build around the K47 capsule. This capsule is known to be less harsh common capsules used in many inexpensive studio microphones aimed at the home studio market. It has a musical presence peak in the 2-4 KHz range that can help make some vocalists be more present in the mix. The aluminum and 2” diameter steel body with custom two-layer grille screen, make for a very robust microphone.
The TLC87 shares the same transformerless circuit design of the TLC47 with the addition of some compensation EQ to flatten the hyped 15 kHz response of the typical K87 capsule. For those that prefer microphones that utilize the K87 capsule this is a good choice. Many find it more defined and articulate in bass frequencies. The TLC87 is built into a sleek 1.75” custom made steel/aluminum body.
Both the TLC47 and TLC87 share the same transformerless FET circuitry refined by Rob Baron of Concrete Cellar to provide either mic with cardioid, omnidirectional and figure 8 patterns and high polarization voltages for high sensitivity and headroom. Quality through-hole components are used when in the audio path. Critical components are hand tested and hand-matched where necessary. The TLC47 incorporates a unique “tone wood” support platform for the capsule that imparts a slight but unique frequency character to the sound. Microphones are individually built by hand using quality parts and traditional tools in Canada. Microphones can also be built using CK-12 capsules with sounds reminiscent of those vintage microphones.
Listen to this recording of Dennis Gerik playing classical guitar. The left stereo channel was recorded with a Neumann TLM103 microphone and the right channel recorded with the Concrete Cellar TLC47 microphone.
Performed and arranged by Dennis Gerik
Sample Songs2022