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B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Blue Spark
Cardioid Condenser Microphone
From Dragonflies to Kiwis and Cacti, Bluebirds, Bottles and Mice, Blue microphones are unique, imaginative and stylish, with quality and sonics to match. But it has been a few years since we last saw a new offering from Blue that’s strictly for the recording studio. Recent releases took the company into areas of live handheld and instrument mics (the enCORE 100, 200, 300, and the brand-new 100i), USB desktop applications with built-in zero-latency headphone monitoring and user-configurable mono and stereo recording patterns (the Yeti and its new USB/XLR sibling the Yeti Pro), and even Hollywood guest appearances from the new Star Trek movie to recent appearances on American Idol. Lucky for us studio guys, the wait is over. Blue’s first new mic for 2011 is the Spark; there will be other releases coming later this year (see our NAMM report in March 2011 for more details), but for now, we’re going to take a look at this entry-level studio condenser mic and how it performs in studio applications. Yes, you read that right—an entry-level studio condenser microphone... from Blue. Happy days! Introducing the Spark The Spark is a side-address cardioid condenser microphone with a 20 Hz – 20 kHz frequency response, a 28 mV/Pa Sensitivity, a 128 dB max SPL, an 84 dB signal to noise ratio, and a 10 dB A-weighted equivalent noise level. The frequency response graph (provided here courtesy of Blue) shows a broad peak between 8 and 12 kHz, another somewhat smoother bump around 1 kHz, another around 300 Hz, and another around 90 Hz. Summing up: a fairly smooth curve, with a slight high-end presence peak and a very low-end kick. Of course, being a Blue product, it promises some unique features, too. The mic ships in a large square cherrywood box and comes nestled snugly in felt-covered foam along with a specialized shock mount and a custom pop filter. The presentation of this mic is impressive, from the graphic design and layout on the display box to the product manual hidden in an oversize facsimile of
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a book of matches. Not bad at all for an entry-level mic made in Asia and coming in at a very beginner-friendly price! The Spark itself has an all-metal powdercoated orange body with matching chrome caps and a chrome logo. It’s built in a variant of Blue’s familiar “bottle” style, somewhat smaller than the Bottle Rockets, Baby Bottle, or Bluebird. While the double-meshed head assembly is similar in size and look to those mics, the Spark has a 23 mm diaphragm inside of an edge-terminated 25mm capsule. Forgoing a standard compression mount, the Spark’s bottom end is threaded and screws snuggly into its special flying-saucer style shock mount. While it may look and feel top-heavy, it actually is very tight and snug. The Spark’s pop filter is similar to that of the Bluebird, but greatly improved in design: it attaches effortlessly to a small screw hole on the back the Spark’s neck. Hocus Focus On the body of the mic there is a small orange unmarked push button. Blue calls this the Focus Control switch, and in very oversimplified terms—Blue talks about how the internals of the mic work differently when it’s activated, but I am focusing (please excuse the expression) on the audible sonic result—it acts primarily as a 100 Hz rolloff. In many microphones the low-cut/high-pass lives closer to 80 Hz or below, so while the Spark “takes a little more off the top”, so to speak, this does add clarity and indeed gives more focus to the signal. Uses and comparisons I put the Spark through its paces over about a three-month period on a variety of sources, and was especially keen to see how it compared to Blue’s own Bluebird, which I reviewed back in the May 2004 issue of this magazine, and have used quite regularly since. I also tried it side by side with my usual favorite multi-purpose mic, a Shure KSM44. (I reviewed the upgraded KSM44A last month.) In all of these tests, I have tried to be fair in my comparisons and keep the very different prices of the mics in mind. While the Bluebird is only slightly higher in street price than

Recording - April 2011

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