After being a musician/recording engineer/studio owner/repair tech/Grammy nominated, Billboard awarded music engineer and producer for 25 years, I have collected some of the most unique and one of a kind items over the years. I am in the process of letting some go because I’m a family man and my gear addictions have to be split with my daughter‘s doll addictions.
Anyway, I’ve been debating keeping this mic as it is probably my favorite not total copy cat mic in my 100+ mic collection. I have only seen it for sale twice in my life, and I bought the first immediately and never could get a second one. There are probably less than 50 ever made as the builder stopped making mics to sell and switched to high quality tube hardware. He’s a tube genius from his time in the military in Ukraine.
It‘s pretty obvious looking at the components that the mic‘s top priority is a great sound.
From the brass capsule, to the special custom mounting of the capsule shell to the body that prevents body resonance and unwanted vibrations picked up by the capsule.
I know my tube mics and circuit design as I have a pretty heavy ADHD where I tunnel research endlessly on things of interest. Audio engineering is the one interest i’ve never gotten tired of.
So, i spend a lot do time doing what I call ‘goat farming‘ taken from this quote…
“I thought using loops was cheating, so I programmed my own using samples. I then thought using samples was cheating, so I recorded real drums. I then thought that programming it was cheating, so I learned to play drums for real. I then thought using bought drums was cheating, so l learned to make my own. I then thought using premade skins was cheating, so I killed a goat and skinned it. I then thought that that was cheating too, so I grew my own goat from a baby goat. I also think that is cheating, but I'm not sure where to go from here. I haven't made any music lately, what with the goat farming and all”.
- Unknown (an old audio message board somewhere)
- Michael Scott
After plenty of years hearing and studying all the big name mic designs, I got a pretty good sense for who was making the greatest parts during what eras and learned to look for clones that use either true NOS parts, are faithful to the reproduction with time period correct design, or gear that has roots in one of the 5-6 all time greats we keep seeing cloned again and again.
Apparently. Someone else was also working hard at finding the best combination of parts to build a mic.
There is a Ukrainian company called HCL or Hand Crafted Labs.
Currently they make fantastic hardware that’s overbuilt and well priced. Before they officially got their footing, they only made one model microphone which was incredibly labor intensive (capsules are very hard to source), and then the designer switched to making hardware only and HCL became a full company.
Before HCL was fully formed, the main engineer was testing designs.
Many years ago, i spoke to the man, and he would tell me stories of trying to build a microphone that could give you the depth and body of a U47, but also a touch of character like a U67 might impart, but he also wanted the air of a Elam 251.
He was an aircraft engineer for Ukraine building ballistics and rocket engines as well as tank repair. Guy is a beast. Stole a lot of russian parts and tech .. allegedly.
he began with several prototypes and after finally sourcing what all my internet research points to the original Telefunken/Neumann/Gefeil
M7 capsule manufactured by Dr. Siegfried Thiersch and has a NOS Russian military grade long life tube. I tried swapping the tube with GE’s Raytheon’s, Amperex, RCA, vintage telefunkens etc … i think he matched the tube to the mic quite well and I prefer the stock tube, but if you would like me to change out the tube for something else, let me know.
It is not quite a U47 circuit, though built just as robust. it’s almost like the middle between an U47 and a Elam 251, but maybe 80% the strength of both, but 160% of strength total or however the math works.
Basically if you have tried all the major tube LDC’s, and they’re all versions of the same 3 mics… you owe it to yourself to try this one. It’s somehow has a midrange that has a bit of push that in turn makes the lows and highs sound smooth, yet close and not artificial.
This mic has a Brass single terminated vintage M7 capsule considered one of the best of all time. The mic was made with all point to point soldering, era specific with improvements not just to lower cost. it runs full plate tube voltage, and a robust transformer making it an absolute powerhouse. The PSU give the mic everything it needs and is whisper quiet. All the NOS materials used were basically taken during many of the various german and polish conflicts, and this is one of those rare one offs where they got allll the good stuff from Neumann / Telefunken / Gefell.
The name brand isnt there, but imo this mic is an improved upon mic .. like a Wunder CM7 to a Neumann, or a C12 over a C414 etc
It comes with a lockable hard case w custom cutouts, a robust matching power supply with multi-pin cable. It comes with shockmount and I’ll will add a free custom made canare star quad neutrix xlr.. 15ft. Handmade and tested by me. Ask me about other NOS tubes, I may throw one in at no charge some cost as much as 300$ alone.
The mic is in excellent shape, it sounds like a modern mic with plenty of classic vibe. I have neumanns and akg’s and telefunkens and this can hang with all of em. I dislike trying to verbalize what something sounds like… especially in the context of a mic but i’ll try… it has a Neumann U47 familiarity to it, but there’s something to the midrange, almost like a U67, and the top end a little more open.. like a Telefunken Elam 251.
its got a sound that just feels gooood. there’s something special in the midrange that gives it a lot of vibe, but the way it can handle the lows and highs make it feel huge and very intimate while retaining a little tiny tiny agressive midrange But not harsh.. just forward. the vocals feel close to you.
If you like or have all the microphone greats, and you want something that can be another tool at that level, and more importantly, a unique one that pretty sure no one else will have.
happy to answer questions, I ship insured, quickly and safe.
Feel free to make me an offer. … reasonable.
Here’s a write up :
The Faust uses a single-diaphragm gold-sputtered, center-terminated, 7-micron Mylar diaphragm measuring 26mm in diameter for the capsule. Outside capsule diameter is 34mm.
The amplifier circuit uses a 6S3P triode tube, hand-selected for low noise and linear frequency response. The circuit uses discrete components, and is populated by hand in the HCL facility. The basic circuit design is based on the amplifier in the Neumann U-47 with more open tone.
HCL mics, as the brand name implies, are built by hand. Nearly every component of the Faust is made by HCL, including the microphone body, power supply, and circuitry. The output transformer is supplied by Cinemag.
This tube condenser microphone is 100% handcrafted. Every part (with the exception of the tubes and electronic components) is made by hand in our facility. The Faust is our own unique concept that has taken the best from the line of legendary microphones and improved upon those designs thanks to the innovative circuitry, ground-breaking materials,advanced technologies and precision tools inherited from the military industrial complex of the former USSR.
What do others do? Early in our research we tried pre-made mic bodies and rejected them gradually but inevitably. The body of a microphone is a part of a musical instrument just as a guitar body, for example, and the material properties are just as essential as the resonant characteristics of the wood in a guitar. We believe that a mic body stamped of some obscure aluminum powder produces the same "stamped" sound. The industry standard for mass-produced high-end microphones is a cast iron body. This is definitely a huge improvement over a stamped body, but still not quite perfection, since some manufacturers also cast iron their capsules, which negatively impacts the sound. On top of that, due to mass-production, often there are all kinds of lining installed between the capsule and the diaphragm, which also tarnishes the sound. It’s done to keep the cost down. Of course, we’re talking about subtle differences in sonic quality and some might even say we are splitting hairs. But we don’t believe in cutting corners when it comes to making high-end studio gear.
if you want a mic as big as the pros but you don’t want the same 3 mics every big engineer gets. Get this and make them thirsty.
