Barkley Microphones

I hate to say it, but they will need to sound fantastic. That distracting big bold logo all in caps is a pretty big turn-off.

I love the BeesNeez logo!

Dear Nick, thank you for your introduction and enthusiasm for my microphones!

Hello all - as life allows I will try to chime in on this forum. There is clearly a large knowledge base, and it is overdue that I join in some discourse regarding the recording industry. I am a *no politics*et and bass player, and microphone builder. In a previous lives I built guitars amongst other things. I got into mic building about 10 years ago - condensers, tube and otherwise, repairing some dynamics & then ribbons. Preamps and guitar pedals I have built and tinkered with since I was a teen in school. I've always had this odd draw to microphones.

I spent a lot of time on the acoustic R&D of this microphone - back and forth with a trusted engineer working in a top studio here, recording examples of many instruments and figuring out areas of the frequency spectrum that were important. We landed on the mids being crucial to how ribbon mics were perceived after the usual "warm" high end - this 1-3khz region is key as this is where a lot of overtone information lives on many instruments, esp tpts/brass. Most ribbons we were testing had a dip here, so it was a design goal to have a well represented mid frequency response.

Through Vinny Wood (Atomic Analog in Iceland) I was able to have a transformer made to spec at OEP. As a side note, you really ought to check out Vinny's work. He is a bit of a genius, and his Special OP6 preamp is simply incredible. OEP (Oxford Electrical Products) are owned by Carnhill; you may know that from the 1980s, Carnhill have been making transformers for Neve's products. OEP are of incredible pedigree, and it is only through my good friend Vinny at Atomic Analog in Iceland that I have a working relationship with OEP - thank you! There is a healthy output from this transformer, and as such the microphone is easier to amplify than some other ribbons - therefore a good SNR is achieved, and most importantly, the sound I wanted was delivered on in spades.

There are a few off the shelf parts including the mount, but anything of importance is built to my spec either by me or for me; I do half the machine work, all the wiring, ribboning/tuning, and they are finished in Cerakote at a local shop. I keep test files & measurements (primary, secondary resistance and inductance) of every microphone built such that I can build a "matched" microphone should a second ever be ordered in the future - while I prefer to build matched pairs side by side, this does allow a client to come back and have a second built and know it will perform very closely. I did this for a few people last year and they were very pleased. This also allows me to repair a microphone back to spec & have no suprises when it is returned, should any issues arise. I offer a lifetime warranty with these mics, and just ask for return shipping to be paid. Thankfully I have only had to repair a few... I think unanimously broken by drummers... no comment

One of my proudest moments was forming a relationship with 10 time grammy winning *no politics*et player, Arturo Sandoval. His current album was recorded on my microphone after a blind shootout in the studio - it is called "Rhythm and Soul" and is up for grammy consideration. I'll place a link below, it is beautoful music, and masterful performing. As a *no politics*et player, I am of course dazzled!

First thing first - Arturo is a terrific person. He is tremendously down to earth, deeply inspiring, has the most incredible ear for music and has absolutely no ego. He could, but he doesn't. A humble, and good man. I have spoken with him on a number of times and all I can say is that the world needs more people like him. Love, respect and integrity. So some Sunday afternoon I get a call from a US number (I live in Ireland, so this is unusual) - on a FB *no politics*et forum I had seen some comments from him asking to speak with me - my client and mutual friend Mark Upton had put us in contact. So I guessed who was calling, but didn't believe it; it was surreal to say the least. We spoke for about an hour, talking about music, recording, microphones, cigars etc... at one point we jumped on a video chat - and Arturo was filled with excitement to show me a new *no politics*et he had built for him. He played for me, extolling the virtues of this instrument, demonstrating several styles and sounds he could play and it was truly special. There are moments when you see with no doubt why someone does what they do. It was early for him, he had worked late, and he played across whatsapp video for me - it was truly special; the man breathes music.

You can listen to "Rhythm and Blues" on all streaming platforms: youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mi3S4AwfroNtqO1D4axMS9BUxGSVMnynE

I figured I would leave something of substance here for now, as I am unsure how often I will be able to check back - keeping up with SM on top of "life" is something of a challenge... but please feel free to email me thru my site, or direct message me through facebook and ask for sound examples or just to say "hey".

barkleymic.com/
www.facebook.com/barkleymicrophones/

A couple links you can check out (and a chance to plug some local artists, whom I admire!):

Acoustic guitars on this album: patrickstefan.bandcamp.com/album/wayfare
Most instruments on this album (save for kick, vocal and I think bass cab): inni-k.bandcamp.com/track/the-hare-the-line

Best wishes,
Mike