MICROPHONE OF THE MONTH NOVEMBER 2013

The AKG D 25 B is a microphone which was specially designed for Film and Television. From the end of the Fifties, it was used, primarily in Europe, almost everywhere.

Attached to a long microphone stand (called a " boompole") it can be brought close effortlessly above actors to capture all sounds perfectly . It is completely disengaged from potentially interfering vibration, by means of an elastic suspension

The design is very similar to the AKG D 12, from 1953, but is of a higher quality and the frequency range is even wider: D 12 (40 - 15000Hz ) and D 25 (30 - 16.000 Hz ). The D 12, enhances low frequencies extra, the D 25 is more uniform sounding. Both types have an internal capsule which is suspended between brackets made ​​of spring steel. The microphones also both have a special " bass chamber ", an inner space where the bass frequencies can resonate and thereby get extra attenuated. In addition, the D 25 has a filter to cut of the lowest frequencies so it could be spun around even more quiet on a film set or in the TV studio.

This was also the microphone for kick drum and bass(guitar) in many studios such as Abbey Road, at the time of the Beatles. In modern music, it is still used a lot, for bands like Slayer, Alice in Chains, etc., some top producers swear by it.

In Public Address, it was also often used as a bass drum mic, for instance Keith Moon of The Who and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, obtained their thunderous livesound from this mic.

Although the original retail price was almost double the amount of the D 12, currently much less is being paid for it, compared to the much sought after D 12. Therefore I can highly recommend the D 25.

AKG recently released an updated version of the classic D 12 , the D 12 VR ( Vintage Reissue), which unfortunately sounds completely different from the original, whose production stopped in 1976. From 1978 to 1988 there was already a reissue made ​​: D 12 E, which did sound alike.

As a collector , I am always curious about the history and origin of microphones. This comes from the English Pinewood Studios , where in the Sixties production of the James Bond films began. Who knows maybe Sean Connery spoke into this microphone the words : "Bond is the name , James Bond. "