AEA N22 (01) PDF Document

Your AEA N22 microphone is a valuable and important investment. Like any piece of recording equipment or musical instrument, it requires common sense and good basic care to keep it working properly. Given simple, basic care, your new AEA N22 microphone will perform admirably for decades.

Although the AEA N22 needs a standard 48V phantom-power source to operate, you should still make sure that phantom power is turned off before plugging and unplugging the microphones. The loud pops that occur when the microphone is plugged in with phantom power engaged can damage speakers, headphones, and ears. Since passive ribbon microphones or other transformer-coupled microphones are particularly sensitive to phantom power, it is recommended always to disengage phantom power before plugging and unplugging any ribbon microphones.

The phantom current draw for active AEA ribbon mics like the AEA N22 is 7 milliamps. IEC specifies P48 power should be able to deliver 10 milliamps per input. Some USB and battery-powered audio interfaces won’t deliver this. Please check the current values available on your unit to ensure the best performance.

Keep the AEA N22 microphone covered when it is not in use. Keeping the microphone covered when it is not in use will reduce the possibility of damage that might result from a sudden gust of air coming from air-conditioning or an open door or window. Place the supplied protective bag over the microphone when it is not in use. For long term storage, place the microphone in its protective case. Minute iron particles, sometimes known as “tramp iron,” are common within our environment. AEA ribbon microphones contain powerful magnets that produce strong magnetic fields. These fields can attract any ferric metal near the microphone that, if they are small enough, can penetrate the outer screening and work their way inside the microphone. Over time, this “tramp iron” can build up sufficiently in the magnetic gap to rub against the ribbon causing distortion, electrical shorts or tearing of the ribbon. The best prevention is to keep the microphone in its case or covered with the supplied plastic bag when it is not in use.

Never expose the AEA N22 microphone to strong air turbulence. Ribbon microphones can withstand very high SPL (Sound Pressure Level) without difficulty, but can be damaged easily by a sudden, strong gust of air or high levels of very low frequency sound waves (like from a kick drum or bass cabinet). This can stretch the ribbon, causing the microphone to start sounding flabby. Sources that may produce strong blast of air, such as the bass port on an electric guitar or bass amp, a guitar being plugged (or unplugged) while the amp level is turned fully up, an on-axis kick-drum hole (particularly with a port on the head), are potentially damaging.

To avoid possible damage, follow this simple procedure when positioning the microphone called “The Hand Test”: put the back of your hand where the mic will be; if you can feel the motion of air on your hand, place a pop-filter between the microphone and the source of the wind gusts or simply pull the mic further back. When recording kick drums or bass guitar cabinets, angle the microphone to make sure that no wind blasts hit the microphone directly on-axis from the front or back.

Never blow directly into any microphone to test it. Not only does this force moisture and dirt into the microphone, strong air movement also can stretch the ribbon and while it may not break, it nonetheless could significantly degrade the microphone’s performance. The ribbon in the AEA N22 is protected by multi-layered screens and grille cloths to provide superior wind protection.

Nonetheless, using the AEA N22 outdoors requires special care to avoid wind which can damage the ribbon. Indoors, however, it is also important to avoid serious air movement from stage curtains, open windows, doors, or air-conditioning systems.

If you should pick up a hum, try rotating or moving the AEA N22 microphone to find a spot where the hum disappears, and try eliminating potential sources of stray magnetic fields. You can use the microphone to find where hum is originating. Rotate the mic for maximum interference and move it back and forth to sense its direction.

The high-performance magnets used in AEA microphones like the AEA N22 are incredibly strong, and a significant amount of stray magnetic field lines surround the microphone. Avoid placing the microphone in close proximity to hard drives, credit cards, analog tape, or any other magnetically sensitive items to prevent any data loss.

For the shock mount to function as intended and to avoid vibration entering the microphone through its attached cable, it is important to provide a slack loop by tying the microphone cable tightly to the microphone stand with a cable tie, shoelace, or string. A Velcro tie will not be tight enough.

Figure-of-8 microphones like the AEA N22 are constructed with positive polarity on the front and negative polarity on the back. Positive pressure on the front side of the ribbon produces a positive voltage on Pin-2, with respect to Pin-3 on the output connector.

In addition to polarity, this is the result of using two wraps of grille cloth on the back and only one on the front.

When using the rear lobe, remember to invert the polarity on your preamp or DAW. This ensures your recordings with the back lobe will be in-phase with other microphones.

Since the AEA N22 is bidirectional, it exhibits nulls at right angles to the principal axis. These nulls produce a “plane of rejection” around the sides, top and bottom of the mic that can be used effectively to reduce leakage. Simply arrange the musicians so that nearby instruments are placed in the “null” of their neighbor’s microphone, and vice versa. Although this does not entirely eliminate the need for gobos, it can significantly reduce their number.

Keep in mind that a certain degree of bleed is not necessarily bad. For some styles and genres, it can, in fact, be beneficial to embrace a little bit of bleed in order to create cohesive and natural sounding recordings. The important thing to listen for is whether or not other instruments that bleed into a specific instrument microphone still sound natural. You will generally find that well-designed ribbon microphones like the AEA N22 capture a natural off-axis sound, which means that bleed from other instruments can contribute to the overall sound in a pleasing way.

The AEA N22’s internal design creates a balanced treble and bass ratio at a close distance to the source. The near-field AEA N22 contains a built-in mechanical high-pass filter that allows users to place the mic right up against an instrument. This is all done without an EQ circuit. It naturally reduces proximity effect while also avoiding the room tone that can cause problems in smaller spaces or iso booths.

The AEA N22 is a near-field ribbon mic and is best used up-close to the source. Its optimal distance for miking is between one and 18 inches (2 cm 0.5 meters) and is perfect for electric guitar and bass cabs, kick drum, acoustic guitar, and vocals. Because the midrange and top-end are not obscured by proximity effect, it also alleviates the need to blend an additional dynamic mic to add more bite. Because it has less proximity effect, it allows you to get right up against the source while still retaining a balanced sound.

The specifications for the AEA N22 microphone’s electrical characteristics are as follows:

The specifications for the AEA N22 microphone’s polar response and transducer element are as follows:

The physical dimensions and weight specifications for the AEA N22 microphone are as follows:

The accessories included with the AEA N22 microphone are: Storage/shipping case, microphone stand clip, custom protective mic sleeve, user manual.