AKG Perception 420 large-diaphragm condenser microphone

General

The Perception 420 is one of the more expensive microphones out of the Perception series, but it is worth every penny, as it provides a great deal of quality. It can be used to record all kinds of instruments. The Perception 420 offers a warm and transparent reproduction of the original sound source and is perfect for use on pianos, woodwind instruments and ensembles. Drums and percussion can also easily be recorded with this condenser microphone.

AKG's Perception 420 is a multi-pattern condenser microphone with a large diaphragm and a wide frequency range. The frequency range encompasses 20 Hz to 20 kHz, which is the maximum of what a human can hear. This means that you are provided with a clear reproduction of the sound source, as every frequency (and therefore tone) is picked up just the way you hear it. As the microphone has a multi-pattern system, the pickup pattern can be switched between one of three patterns: cardioid, omnidirectional and figure-eight. When you select the cardioid pickup pattern, the microphone picks up most of the sound from the front and a little from the sides, the omnidirectional pattern picks up sound from 360° around the microphone and the figure-eight pattern (also called a bidirectional pickup pattern) picks up sound in an arc of 90° at two opposite sides of the microphone.

It is a very versatile product, but if the sound wouldn't be any good, it would still do you little good. You won't have to worry about that with this AKG microphone, however: the frequency range in combination with a 20 dB pad and a bass-cut filter ensures that the sound in your recordings is the actual sound that you want to record which means that it has little noise and other annoying ambient sounds. In order to suppress such noises even more, a shockmount is included in the delivery as well. This eliminates handling noise in the recording. AKG have thought of everything and the result can be heard in the recordings and amplifications that the Perception 420 makes!

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