Adk z-mod mics

What was it?

That sort of makes sense.
i think the ADK z-mod is modeled around one particular capsule. I thinks its the 67 capsule. And then the parts and capsule are tuned to sound complimentary  to the model it is representing.
I think a chap called Kevin Dale does the work. Not 100% sure of all this info but its what i have gleaned from a few weeks of research and if someone corrects me i would really appreciated it. 
How come we have not heard much of Kevin Dale’s work as a tech? There are other techs like Billy Pratt - upton, vintech  that i have heard of doing capsule work but not so much from Kevin. Any one had any outstanding work done from these guys.
I did take the plunge and bought a Z-mod 251. I kind of love 251 mics and want to get an intimate knowledge of all the makes and sounds of different varieties of 251 styles.

The "story" I remember is whomever was hired to design the capsules themselves, used "Physics" to solve the problem, whatever that means. Some sort of research and theory that allowed them to get close to the curves they were after, using a novel or proprietary style of capsule design. Like where to put the little holes in the backplate and so on.

The GK-12d and GK-251d are still edge terminated ("AKG"), as they should be, and the GK-67d, GK-47d, GK-49d (all the "Neumann" ones) are center terminated, as in the vintage parts.

You would have to ask one of the big dog capsule people about the more deep, nitty gritty details of the acoustics of these things. I don't think that stuff is common knowledge, or easy to explain.

They appear to have five different capsules, evidenced as Guitar indicated by the fact there are both edge and center-terminated caps.

adkmic.com/pages/about

"By consulting with such golden-ears (or bat-ears as we think of them) such as Chuck Ainlay and Michael Shipley we were able to find the optimal signal path for each of the five fine-tuned capsules."

"Instead of excessive EQ filters and tricks to make a microphone sound smooth, ADK Custom Shop and 3 Zigma spent five years fine-tuning capsules."

I've seen Kevin's name/posts for several years on the forums. I don't get the impression he is tweaking capsules, but is likely the one making some internal changes/transformer swaps based upon custom requirements of a client. He's been Larry's right-hand-man for a while.

I've found both Larry and Kevin to be very helpful. I'm pretty sure if you have specific questions about capsules, internals, etc. that one of those two gentlemen will provide the answers if you contact them directly.

That whole “physics guru” thing was out of their ad copy. Just marketing I’m pretty sure.

ADK doesn’t make their own capsules, they buy them from an overseas maker (like lots of other mic brands). The CK-12 they use isn’t a full on replica like Tim Campbell or Eric Heiserman make, with the exact back chamber situation of the originals. You can’t (to my knowledge) mass produce those. But the one ADK is using is indeed a nice capsule.

The whole "CHINA" idea is a huge black box to me, I have no real idea what happens over there, or between here and there.  That's a lot of people.  All I'm relatively aware of is that they've made massive strides in their manufacturing quality in recent years, which has given them a large economic influence, but I don't want to get too political.  The point is there's people over there who really know their stuff, audio wise.  As far as I can tell.

The Serrano 87, and this is posted in the public thread, uses a selected (of course privately sourced) K-87 capsule that is so close to the Neumann a lot of people in that thread were getting really excited about the comparison, and buying them.  I think that's pretty cool.  My selfish question is "where can I buy this capsule," but I guess I'll just have to do my own research or buy something ready made, like more ADK, Maiku, or any of the ones that have popped up.  I wish more of this information was public but I also realize that peoples' incomes are related to certain types of part sourcing.

People were talking about the CK-12 in the Heiserman 251 thread recently.  JJ Blair gave props to Tim Campbell for his expertise with the chambers and all of that.  You kind of want to say $400 or whatever it is, is a "good deal" for something that complex, with that many small parts.  I'm sure I'll buy more capsules someday.  But yes I am very happy with my simplified and yes somewhat easier to buy ADK capsule.  My punk rock attitude says it's more than good enough for me.

It's really interesting that Soyuz actually hand builds some capsules, they don't use automated machines.  People actually do a lot of hand work, super precise tolerance kind of work, it's no wonder those mics are also as expensive as they are, the top of the line ones.

I was in Shannon Rhoades shop a while back too.  He has this like, two ton lathe machine in one room, a gold evaporating machine in the other room.  It was utterly fascinating.  I hope he's doing alright these days.

Pardon the long post, the 251 thread got me hyped up.  Microphones are by far my most favorite piece of audio gear.

I’m not gonna say anything I’ve been told in confidence but there’s a whole story there. But just to stick with what’s available publicly, ADK is getting their capsules from overseas, Guosheng is arguably the best designer/manufacturer in China, and it’s happened a couple of times where 3U comes out with a new capsule variant and shortly after that ADK offers a mic of that voicing (like Kevin showing me their new, at the time, C800 voiced mic right after Guosheng came out with that capsule).

And again, I think using Guosheng’s capsules is a credit to a mic, not a debit.

Thanks, Ragan I'm going to head over there and look for gold nuggets.

Guitar I'm honestly surprised you haven't delved into 3U yet! I feel like that would be right up your alley. Insane value for the money and one of the best-kept secrets in pro audio IMO.

I'm sometimes tempted to sell my M149 and grab every 3U voicing available. Or even just a few of GZ's "premium" tube mics.

Cool, thanks!  I've looked at them off and on, but never jumped on one.  One of those impossible differences is sound clips online vs. your own actual use, so I should probably just pick one or two to try out here in person.

I found that thread, too, and I'm sure if I get into it enough it will create some hype in me.  I already have a ton of mics here (I don't know, something like 40, or 50), but there of course will always be room for new contenders and things that are different enough to merit a place.  It would also be fun just to try one out, take one apart.

I've also heard 3U was involved with many of the Warm Audio capsules.