Engineer and producer Fab DuPont with the Lauten Audio Atlantis mic
Lauten Audio in San Jose, Calif., announces that it has begun shipping its FC-387 ‘Atlantis’ ($1,599 MSRP) solid-state FET large-diaphragm condenser microphone. The FC-387 Atlantis features multiple switches for three different polar patterns (omnidirectional, cardioid and figure-8); a 3-way gain switch (-10 dB, 0dB and +10dB attenuation); and timbre settings (Gentle, Neutral, Forward).
The FC-387 offers an individually hand-tuned capsule and high-resolution electronics, and promises a blend of full and rich low and midrange frequencies, as well as smooth high-midrange and high frequencies, with a frequency range of 20 to 20k Hz, a minimum dynamic range of 120dB, maximum SPL of 130 dB (0.5-percent THD@1,000 Hz) and a stated impedance of < 200 ohms .
New York City–based engineer/producer Fab DuPont (Flux Studios, puremix.net) helped design the FC-387. “The reality is that we all record into a very clean preamp, a very clean converter, a very clean DAW, coming out a very clean D-to-A,” DuPont says. “Everything is incredibly open and bright and pristine; it’s really hard to make a modern, good sounding record because everything is too bright and everything is very wide open.
Lauten Audio FC-387 Atlantis
“The idea was to put it all in one microphone that would be neutral enough for modern recording, so that when you plug it into a regular preamp it’s all good and it doesn’t sound too bright and annoying. Then it would have several personalities. One personality would be the neutral one, one personality would be a mellower one for bright vocalists. And [it would have] a bright setting too—even brighter than neutral, [so] if you are recording dull instruments you can use that. It’s probably the most versatile mic I’ve ever had because of those three different personalities.”
DuPont has been using the Atlantis mic in his own studio for numerous projects. “I have tracked a pretty impressive amount of vocals through it and it has not failed yet,” he says. “It’s great on female vocalists on the ‘Gentle’ setting. It’s great on quiet folk singers on the ‘Neutral’ setting. It’s really great on far-away drums and stuff on the Bright setting because you get no phase problems, and you get the bite that you need.
“The first thing I did with the Atlantis was the demo for the launch of the Universal Audio Apollo,” he adds. “That’s a pair of Atlantis mics on the drums. That’s also the Atlantis mic on the vocal for the Apollo demo.”
The FC-387 Atlantis microphone will be available from dealers worldwide on June 1, 2012.
For more information, go to www.lautenaudio.com.
