recordinghacks

Lauten Audio FC-387 Atlantis

Multi-Pattern Condenser Microphone

The FC-387 Atlantis is a large-diaphragm, three-pattern, FET condenser microphone. The Atlantis is the product of a collaboration with engineer Fabrice Dupont, whose goal appears to have been to create a great microphone for loud female vocalists.

Brian Loudenslagen

What I am most impressed about Fab is that he is always brutally honest and never sugar-coats his opinions. It was during conversations with him that I made a challenge to myself; I wanted to design a microphone that Fab would love, one that would be part of his first choices at the beginning of a session! Over the past year I’ve had the opportunity to work with Fab and create that mic. It’s been challenging with a very rewarding end result.

The R&D process yielded three different sonic “sweet spots,” according to designer Brian Loudenslager. Rather than select one of the three, he decided to provide all of them, making each selectable via a switch on the rear of the microphone body:

• Gentle: provides maximum control of bright or peaky sources and sibilance
• Neutral
• Forward: designed to brighten dull sources

A second switch on the microphone allows selection of any of three polar patterns: Cardioid, Omni, Figure-of-8.

A third switch enables a feature that originated on the Lauten FC-357 Clarion: a 3-way gain control that offers both a -10dB pad and a +10dB Boost setting. The pad, implemented by adding a capacitor to the capsule, is useful for recording loud sources. The boost is useful for quiet sources where downstream preamps might not have enough clean gain to produce an adequate signal level, or to minimise the color imparted by the preamp.

The Atlantis uses the same 38mm edge-terminated dual-diaphragm capsule (described in company presentations as a “31.25mm capsule,” although this refers to the diaphragm diameter) as the LC-381 Oceanus. The material and thickness of the diaphragms has not been revealed.

The capsule is powered by an onboard DC-DC converter, allowing the mic to produce a stable polarization voltage even when the phantom power supply varies.

The mic’s output circuit is transformer-coupled. The Atlantis uses the same transformer as the Clarion.

The mic was announced at Winter NAMM, January 2012, and is expected to begin shipping in Q2-2012.

Permalink: Lauten Audio Atlantis

The mic was released in 2012.

Specifications

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
Omnidirectional (16 mV/Pa; 20 - 20,000 Hz) Cardioid (16 mV/Pa; 20 - 20,000 Hz) Bidirectional (16 mV/Pa; 20 - 20,000 Hz)	Pad: -10dB (Via Switch) Pad: +10dB (Via Switch) Filter: Gentle (Via Switch) Filter: Neutral (Via Switch) Filter: Forward (Via Switch)

Capsule Dimensions	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Diaphragm diameter: 31.25mm Capsule diameter: 38mm	200 Ohms (Low)	Max SPL: 130 dB Self-noise: 12.0 dB(A)

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
1020g (35.98oz)	239mm (9.41'')	n/a	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power Phantom voltage: 48v

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