BEESNEEZ OLIVER, CARDIOID TUBE CONDENSER MICROPHONE

OLIVER COMES FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER

CRAFTED COMPLETELY IN THE BEESNEEZ FACTORY

by Mark King for proworkshop.com

Oliver cardioid-only vacuum tube microphone

The Oliver cardioid-only model is one of the lowest priced microphones offered by Beesneez but it's packed full of great stuff which makes it sound fantastic.

The build quality of the microphone is impeccable and it feels very solid in your hand. The entire body is milled from a single tube of brass. The bottom of the microphone is a beautifully plated and heavy machined part with the 7-pin XLR integral in the center.

Oliver power supply, connector side

Oliver power connection and control side of power supply

This is a tube microphone so it requires an external power supply to make the microphone function. These power supplies are by no means universal so each microphone has its own unique box to make it go.

Beesneez make their own premium large diaphragm capsules in their Australian factory

THIS MIC SOUNDS VERY NATURAL -What you hear is what you get
At first that may sound overly simple but more than any other mic in our kit the sound which this microphone delivers is the closest to real, un-hyped and extremely natural of any on hand.

If you listen to a sound in real life, and then listen to it mic'd up with the Oliver, they sound the same. Other microphones modify the sound in subtle ways which may be desirable or not so good, this is why we like having lots of microphone models to choose from so we can pick models that complement the source we're recording.

Loud sounds up close will overload Oliver but all you need to do is pull him back a bit and it's back to Mr Natural.

AKG 414B-ULS next to Oliver for size reference

We're using the Oliver Cardioid Tube Mic in a Rycote USM shockmount, we like this mount because it can accommodate a variety of microphones in our collection. This simplifies changing microphones because we don't have to unscrew the mount from the stand, we can leave several mounts on stands and know that we can accommodate a variety of mic sizes and shapes.