LA's legendary Troubadour club chooses Audio-Technica microphones
(Dave Molter | Posted 2010-09-27)
For over six decades, Doug Weston's The
Troubadour has been a flagship venue of the American music industry.
The famous club on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood has been
the site of legendary performances by top artists through rock
history, including the Eagles, Elton John, James Taylor, Metallica,
Franz Ferdinand, the Strokes and Guns N Roses, who, like many classic
artists, got their careers going as a result of performances there.
The Troubadour continues to be a vital link in the evolving American
music industry and culture, and microphones from Audio-Technica, a
leading innovator in transducer technology for over 45 years, have
played a key role in keeping it that way. Bobby Crown, (pictured) the FOH Mixer,
Production Manager and System Engineer for The Troubadour for the last
seven years, brought an all-A-T package of microphones into The
Troubadour in 2008, and ever since theyve been the first line of great
sound every night for each artist.
Crown, who at one point was simultaneously an engineer at four of
L.A.s leading venues, including the Whisky a Go Go and the Viper Room
before settling in at The Troubadour in 2003 for what he calls its
magical positive energy, has found the perfect A-T microphone for
every application at the club. Electric guitars and basses benefit
from ATM650 Hypercardioid Dynamic Instrument Microphones, ATM250
Hypercardioid Dynamic Instrument Microphones (on the rear of the amp
cabinet) and ATM250DE Dual-Element Instrument Microphones; acoustic
guitars get great sound and pickup from AE5100 Cardioid Condenser
Instrument Microphone; vocals are captured using the ATM610
Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphone.
Crown has found that the Audio-Technica PRO 35 Cardioid Condenser
Clip-on Instrument Microphone, which excels in high-SPL applications
and is ideal for active stage performance, has become his all-round
go-to microphone for drums and other percussive applications. I tried
it out on the kick now and its an amazing sound, so Ive started using
it on the toms, and the whole kit sounds fantastic, he says. The PRO
35 is a small condenser mic so it has a lot of headroom for the
pre-amp and a lot of bottom-end roundness. You can just bring up the
gain and it sounds great. Its a flat-sounding microphone that lets the
drums sound very natural and takes advantage of the great sound of the
wood ambience of the room. In terms of overall functionality, its the
best multi-purpose microphone Ive ever used.
Crown also uses the ATM650, ATM450 Cardioid Condenser Instrument
Microphone and AE5100 on the snare and the ATM450 and ATM650 on the
high-hat. The ATM450 also works superbly in pairs as a room
microphone, capturing the essence of The Troubadours warm, intimate
sound even as the room itself has evolved, with recently added
balconies and an upstairs bar area.
Every night we have a different artist, and over time the room will
adjust as the size of the crowd changes, but the A-T microphones
remain the consistent thing about the sound, says Crown, who estimates
that hes mixed over 5,000 bands at the Troubadour. We get a lot of
guest engineers in here and Ive found that they really appreciate the
comfort zone they feel when they find out were using the same
Audio-Technica microphones that a lot of them already use on the road.
The A-T mics help in so many ways.
From a press release.
