Do Warm Audio WA-19’s Sound Like Vintage D19’s?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ย. 2024
- Join Clay Blair at Boulevard Recording as he shoots out the new WA-19 microphone from Warm Audio.
Clay owns 6 vintage D19’s and has bought and sold dozens over the years. He uses them extensively in the studio and knows them well. They’re one of his favorite mics to record with and for good reason. You will get an in depth review of the mics with lots of audio a/b.
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Thanks for all the feedback and questions! If you want to ask more detailed questions about this video, feel free to join our Patreon and ask me all you like. We also have put this stem session up on our Patreon for download in 32/96 ! Thank you ! www.patreon.com/boulevardrecording
I made this video so that everyone could hear them and decide for themselves. Just like you have! No one sponsored anything. I was genuinely curious. Not even AKG has attempted to make these since the 60’s. And I think it’s a hard task to tackle Warm or not. They’re hand wound pickups on these. Thanks for the comments !
Thank so much for doing this! You rock!
To me they sound different on every source. I don’t have experience w the d19 nor am I loyal to any company per se. But in this video I do think the akg sound better.
There’s more presence for sure in the wa. But for the price you can’t beat that.
Thanks for the video and what great job you did.
Absolutely superb video! Couldn’t think of a better person to do this video than you my friend! Thanks Clay
Thank you my friend !!!
@@BoulevardRecordingthank YOU!!
I always appreciate when someone goes to this kind of trouble and allows all of us to actually hear an unbiased comparison. I am sure this was a lot of work.
It took quite a while. I did it 100% alone too. Cameras and all. I appreciate that comment. I work my butt off but it’s still not good enough for some people ! 😂😊
@@BoulevardRecording ..no, it never is... but, you've obviously forgotten the inevitable, universal truth that, "no good deed goes unpunished"....
Every time I thought the WA19s sounded worse, when it cut to the D19 it sounded the same as I was thinking of. Pretty indistinguishable on drums. What a time to be alive!
Toms sounded identical, but snare and hihat were very different. I preferred the D19s by far on snare and hihat.
My thoughts too )
Exactly my thoughts.
I'm listening on a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770's, and I'm hearing some extra low end presence from the AKG's on toms.......it's subtle but it's there, adding warmth and depth.
Yes! The AKG D19 killed on snar n Hats!!
Floor tom on the akg sounded much fuller to me. Not a huge difference, but like the akg was eq'd or something like that.
Great video comparing the two. I’ve had a few vintage in my collection and used them regularly. I like so many we’re wanting these to be close. Sad to say they are not. The vintage sounded more balanced generally than the extended Warms. I also could not help hearing an odd midrange whistle on nearly every source. Very noteworthy on the snare, guitar and piano. Something like a 1.8 - 2.2 (if I had to guess). I was actually waiting for this video to decide how soon I should get a handful of these and try them out. So thank you but I will be saving that for a later time. These do not scratch my itch unfortunately. Again thank you for the effort put into this video as it’s everything I’d want to hear it on. Cheers.
I heard the same thing. I'll be skipping the WA19 :(
same here...
You just saved me from writing a long comment. You're exactly right. The original AKG does sound more balanced. So glad a bought one last year, they really are great. I got worried when Warm released this as I thought, damn I could have just got one of them! Unfortunately, they just don't make them like they used to 🤷♂️
Great video! I waited ages for someone to shootout the original D19 against the WA-19 🙂. Mine arrived last week and i did a quick video shootout on my channel against some other mono overheads. But i have no original D19...so thank you for this perfect video! When i first heard my WA19 soloed, i was kind of shocked from its sound..my first impression was: thin, cheap, and ugly...but in the mix (i used it as mono overhead between some coles 4038) it really shined. I tested against M201, M260N, SM57 and a WA47jr as mono overhead, and non of them filled the gap i was searching for. I am really happy with the sound, and i like it´s kind of edgy ugly sound. The WA 19 really does not come close to the depth (and resolution) of the original in your video, but like the Warm Audio WA19... it not the original, it has its own sound.
The 'quality' of the midrange is bit of a far stretch, it's definitely a different mic. I think they sounded fairly close on toms, and considering that vintage d19's are often dead from close miking drums I would 100% use them at that. Great video Clay, appreciate the comparison.
Absolutely ! Thank you
I still prefer the darker D19s... on everything you demo'd here. They were noticeably smoother and didn't have that mid range honk. It would have been cool if they had put a high roll off on the the WA19s or something. Maybe the WA19's will push the price of some D19s down. Either way, thanks for doing this! I'll save my money for something else!
Great comparison! Not easy to compare ... a lot of the old D19s sound wildly different IMHO. I already got a pair of WA-19s, didn't have the time to check them yet, but I'm very happy that Warm Audio brought the D19 back!
Cool vid, Clay! I currently own only 1 vintage AKG D19C, but I bought 3 of the Warm Audio Mics a few weeks ago. I only tried it on guitar to quickly test it, and you just filled in the blanks for me ! So now I have four total (including the vintage one) to mic drums with and I think for 200 bucks each it's a No-brainer! At the price they are I may buy 2 more! Thanks for making the vid. Loved how you compared the sound to the vintage in each case. Well done!
Rock on!
Generally encouraging results. The piano was the most dramatic difference. Would be interesting to know if each of the vintage D19s have as wide a variance from each other. Hopefully this means WA will also do the D12. Too bad AKG can't get their act together to do proper reissues on anything.
AKG sounds like records, Warm Audio sounds like it’d need some eq to get sources where you’d want them.
Yeah, but very, very little... I preferred the WA's because they had just a tad more presence. The darker sound of the AKG's, well... I'd end up making that a tad brighter mostly anyway.
Great comparison, this made me crave a pair of D19s, beautiful sounding mics.
whenever Boulevard puts out a new vid its instant watch. was waiting for a proper comparison on these.
it's claymagedon time haha
Really noticeable difference on the snare and hi hats, but… I think I prefer the Warm. The leakage on the snare sounded a bit more pleasing and usable, not as rough and barky. Glad to see Warm Audio getting some genuine love and not being written off just because of their price point. Well done, Clay!
Great job Warm Audio! Please do a version of the D30 next to pair with these 19's. Even more awesome still would be a remake of the Beyerdynamic M380! It's imho _THE_ best bass microphone money can buy. Literally _all_ it gives you is low frequencies and it's got a fogure 8 pickup pattern. So when it's inside the kick, it picks up the batter and the resonant heads and because of it's nulls on each side of the figure 8 pickup pattern, it eliminates the "bouncing basketball" like reflections inside the kick. Also, it has a _VERY_ high output so it can be treated like a line level source and used without a preamp. So you can plug it directly into your compressor and straight to tape/your DAW. Its equally as fantastic on a bass amp although because of its almost exclusively sub/bass frequency spectrum, it needs to be paired with a mic that has more of a midrange frequency spectrum (like for instance a 421 or 57). Which is actually a _strength_ imho because then, you can use/blend to taste the two mics as a more natural form of "EQ." Everyone who's used them, loves them but they are exceedingly rare and when they do come up for sale, run anywhere from $1500 to $2100. Likely more in the near future. I could have bought one in mint condition with its original box, paperwork and sticker from the eBay page of a popular pawn shop in NYC for $1600+tax and shipping but I hesitated and missed out. I _deeply_ regret that decision.
Some of the time I could barely, if at all, tell the difference, but when I could clearly hear a difference, the AKG just blew the wa-19 away to my ears. The wa-19 just lacked depth and seemed to dampen some of the ring from the toms, and it sounded thin on the snare. On the guitar and piano it was more apparent that the wa-19's had a lot more mid range, which I didn't find that pleasing to be honest. If you had some wa-19's you'd use them and they'd be ok, but I don't think I'd deliberately go out and buy some. Cheers Clay !
I bet a bit of positioning work on the acoustic could get the Warm really damned close.
Yea I felt the same way. On everything all I could hear from the WA19 was the honk. The D19s were VERY smooth to me...
This is amazing, thanks for taking the time to make!! Have never owned a D19 so this was super informative and fun to hear. Great examples too, each one was revealing in a different way.
thanks for this. will definitely get a couple of these. Although I have to say, they do sound so much different to the vintage ones 😀
The top end has a completely different character altogether, almost makes no sense comparing them.
Thanks for the ton of work that clearly went into this.
Great vid man. Agree with this. They don't have that filtery mid range thing going on exactly but to be honest I don't think that's a bad thing. The top end is ace and most things sit really nice with them without too much faff.
Wow. That really covered a lot of territory. Thanks so much. Off to get a couple.
Thanks for taking the time to make this Clay! I just purchased a vintage d19 and it arrived broken. The thing looked stunning but was useless. This might be one of the few instances where Warm's "close enough" mentality really is just that. That said, I've sold the handful of stuff I've bought from that company. None of it sounded great imo, and none of it came close to the real deal. But it makes sense that they'd be able to make a decent dynamic mic.
Coles Vintage Picks in Nashville MAY be able to repair it. But that’s the risk you take with buying these things they’re temperamental if not babied through their life
Also check out Richard Land at Land Audio Services. He was the lead AKG repair tech for like 2 decades before they were bought by Harmon. He's repaired a number of my AKGs, modern and vintage.
@@nugznmugz he does condenser repair. There's maybe 2 people on this continent that will work on a D19 because of how delicately they're built and none of them make any guarantees.
@@BoulevardRecording I got lucky. The sale was on reverb and the guy had mentioned in the ad that it "sounded great". So it was a matter of recording a sample, then sending the mic back to him. And I used it as an excuse to pick up a pair of NS-10 to compare to my CLA-10 and NS-40m speakers. So it ended up working out :-)
Thanks for sharing and i just cut a record all WA-19s on drums! Totally blow away how close with compression you can get the old school vibe. The fidelity is to me the difference fresh new mic to 50-60 year old mic.
Great job and thanks for sharing. I own officially 3 now Ha ❤❤❤
Put anything into a Fairchild and it makes you smile 😊
Thanks for making this Clay, I just ordered 3 of them. Looking forward to the mics.
Thanks for the video Clay … you’re right they do sound good for the money but they are voiced slightly differently imo . The acoustic guitar and piano really showed the difference in the mid range …. But as you said a decent mic for sensible money
Thought they sounded good albeit with slight nuaced differences- only major jumpout was on the acoustic where the warm sounded a little more nasally. I have an old AKG D202es that sounds great on acoustic and was very on par with your D19 here.
The only part of the kit that I thought the AKG sounded objectively better was the snare. While the WA is a slightly different flavor, it sounds damn good on those toms and even better on the hi hat
They sound good !!
Thanks for this video. I was shocked at how different they sound. Then I realized that the Warm sounds better, so kudos to them. The vintage mics sounded warm which was nice, but had a ringing that I couldn't ignore. If they're all like that, then I'd take the Warm any day.
If you think the Warm sounds better you should pick another profession
@@nicefish10yeah i mean, the eq curve on the WA is noticeably less musical sounding.
I agree with Clay, regardless of how close they are to vintage AKG’s, I think they are an awesome alternative to the typical 57s etc. I think these may end up being awesome mics for live sound as well…
Yes! Thank you. Whole point of the video
NICE! AKG's def have a bit more Low/Low-mid info but the warms sound a little faster... it's nice, espec. on OH/hats...
Great demo, thanks Clay!
My pleasure!
The only major differences I’m noticing is on the brass snare and the acoustic guitar and I don’t see myself using either on a snare or an acoustic anyway. Great vid.
they're subtly a bit different but through the UnFairchild either way it sounds lovely! idk why but maybe Warm tried to replicate the curve of a tape machine loool cuz through the 660 it sounds more "vintage-y" to my ears. whatever that means...
theres definitely a difference, I'm not sure if its that much of a difference though. I think I still lean AKG for the smoothness. Good shoot out!
The AKG’s are really fine mics!
Clay! love these gear reviews /beatles videos.
Hi Hats sounded better on the WA19 because the WA’s are thinner and brighter. Toms didn’t have the same punch. Neither did snare. Would love to see Warm Audio do a D12/D20
Or a D30! A version of the legendary and long discontinued bass monster, the Beyerdynamic M380 would also be absolutely fantastic.
I must say the times the D19 sounded different (most of times), I prefered the D19. I think on toms they were pretty similar. Thanks for the comparison!
Thank you for the video, I waited for this comparison! They do sound very close. Not identical, but still pretty decent mics for 200$.
Good stuff Clay! 😉👍
I always appreciate a/b comparisons with classic gear and their modern more affordable recreations. For the price, regardless of how close they come to the originals, Bryce's gear is a very solid QPR. Your point of what would 60yr old D19's sound when they were new is very relevant.
On close toms I really had to concentrate to hear a difference, and it wasn't really appreciable imho. On darker muted toms there's no reason to put up your fragile originals. The WA's were very nice!.
On cymbals and snare the difference was pretty obvious. I prefer the originals, but, in the context of a full mix would the WA's work just as well?. I think so.....they might sound like what the originals would sound like after EQ'ing ?.
On gtr and piano I think they just sounded different. Whether the WA's or D19's sounded better is a matter of taste and context. They each brought out something different in those instruments. I liked both. I think the more forward upper-mid of the WA's will require less Eq in a full dense mix.
I've never had the opportunity to use old D19s. Like everyone I know 57s and 421s pretty well, so the WA could be a nice change of color. For $200 it's a good buy 👍
John this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for.
Another great & detailed demo Clay. I thought the warm mic sounded hollow in the mids in comparison with the richer & smoother D19s… what did you think? Wonder how a sm57 compares?
Thanks 👍 your videos are great. Keep them coming!!!
The WA-19 has a weird spikey high mid range compared to the D-19. It's almost like it it has a resonant low-pass filter or something. The D-19 sounds more open and doesn't have that annoying high mid resonance. I'd definitely choose the D-19 over the WA-19, but it's nice to know that someone makes a copy of the D-19 that you can buy new from the store without having to worry much about the price.
I might be going mad, but does anyone feel like the saturation is vastly different?! It sounds like the WA19 have more sustain to them and you can hear this especially on the piano and acoustic, would make sense to why the hi hat sounds closer on the snare mic. I’m gonna pick one up now. Drum OH here we come. Thanks for the video.
Great video! Thanks Clay ! Unfortunately, WA19 has a very boosted band around 4.8 kHz. This needs to be cut -12dB, at Q20. Additionally (+5dB) approximately 60-70 Hz and 2.75 kHz (+1.5dB). This move is very close to the original.
I bought a pair of these when they first dropped. I intended to use them for recording myself, but I run live sound regularly and have been throwing them on different sources starting with drum OH’s and was surprised by how usable they were. On snare it wasn’t that different than a 421, but better than a 57. On a tube amp I liked it much better than a Beta57 and the Sennheiser e906. I prefer the Beyerdynamic M69TG for the same price for amps.
I have an AKG d224 and I much prefer that on most sources to these mics, but like the D19’s it is nearly twice the price.
In the end I’d recommend it to someone wanting to branch out from an SM57 or e609, who still wants a warranty and peace of mind that it will work for a while. Ina few years we should see a ton of these on the used market and at $120 they’d be really great.
Great video, thanks for doing this.
And I must agree that the Warm sounds plasticy in comparison, on pretty much every take here.
I really wanted to like it, but everything between 500 and 2k seems screwed. The leaner bass response would have been fine with me, but the mid range is where it's at in my book.
Thanks for the comparison! I have to say that I'm little bit disappointed with the Warm WA-19. AKG D19's sound perfect, like a record in your test. While with the WA-19 I feel strong urge to EQ out the midrange honk. And maybe add some low end too. That floor tom sounds so much better and massive with the AKG. That being said, I might still give the Warm Audio a try. Thanks again!
HUGE pass on the warms for me!!! Thanks for making this vid!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really well constructed video! Definitely a bit more presence on the WA-19s, but as you say, did the D19s sound different when new. Did you find that the presence could be tamed easily?
Hey now! Cool Stealie ⚡️⚡️⚡️
The WA-19 sounded very different - especially on hihat and cymbals - but not necessarily better...the akg feels more balanced and round. Considering the differences - even through my laptop speakers, I wonder if there are cheaper alternatives out there doing a similar thing without the 60s eyecandy and therefore mojo pricepoint...
sounded very different when playing minimally, but when you were really going for it most of the meaningful differences disappeared. not surprised that the WA-19s sounded brighter usually since they claimed to be going for a "when they were new" sound, not trying to copy already 60 year old mics. even so i dont think it would take a lot of work to make the WA sound like the AKGs. they have a very similar character despite the differences
Vocals would have helped a lot but on the drums I pretty much always prefered the sound of the vintage D19s. They just sounded smoother with a little bit more of a sense of depth. Listening on NDH 30 headphones
sounded more different than i was expecting actually. still gonna buy a pair cuz i hate 57's and use 635a's a lot (but theyre omni) so this will fill some gaps for me. also how often do u see a 200dollar mic now? i dont own any warm stuff
In the first toms example, both sound pretty much the same. But as soon as you switch to the "hats and overhead" example, from there on out through the drums examples, there's no low end or presence in the mic whatsoever compared to the AKG. It's as if the polarity got inverted, but that can't be because we're only hearing a single mic source so there's nothing to cancel out, right?
Then in the hi hat example, the top end sounds so muffled on the WA-19 compared to the AKG. I'm really confused whats going on lol...
It is crazy that the D19 at piano immediately sounded like Beatles piano.
100%
The WA's aren't bad, per say, but they are significantly brighter and the low mids are less detailed and full. I really dislike the trend of modern mics sounding so bright and thin out of the box. I prefer something a bit darker with detailed mids that will take high end EQ really well. In my experience, it is easier to add good high end with an EQ, than to take away too much that is baked into the sound.
I wish they sounded more like the vintage ones, because I feel like 3 db on a shelf at 5 or 10 khz would match the old to new in a general way, and I hypothesise it would sound better on drum OH, piano, and snare, but when untouched, gives a better guitar and tom sound imo
Nice compares. I don't think these sound close at all. On toms it was less noticeable but everywhere else you can really hear the difference. The D19's are rounder on top, midrange is nice and the lowend def extended. The WA-19s are brighter with a sort of boxy midrange and less lowend.
Well, they are certainly both microphones.
pretty good. The vintage sounded better on snare, I could hear a little pinch in the mid range from the WA but that could just be slight placement differences. In a mix, no one would really be able to tell and if they could, they think too hard about stuff like vintage microphones.
Well they sound great both, but different. Also, don't know if it was because of the extra top end or mic placement, but the akg seemed to reject a lot more of the hihat
Thank you!
I like the WAs a lot on drums. Some subtle differences, some more pronounced, but most of it won't matter in a mix.
The guitar was nice. I think the WA actually sounds better in a solo context, the accent notes were more pronounced and the high mids were more in your face. In a full arrangement, the D19 sounds easier to work with.
The only place I wasn’t huge on the WA was the piano. It lacked attack and just kinda sounded washy and pad like. Cool for a vibe, but not what I look for in traditional piano sounds. But with a little dynamic eq, it could probably get there.
A real EV R series 10-18, 635A or most any AKG D series would all be preferable and affordable alternatives to the wa19. The 224 still flies under the radar and may be the best dynamic ever.
Wanted to say hi! Cheers!!
WA-19 has a harsher upper midrange to my ear.
WA -19 is very mid heavy on piano. Also sounds like the WA-19 has a looser pickup pattern. Interesting.
Both ❤
The wa-19 seems to suffer on close-miking. To me the d-19 sounds naturally a touch "compressed" when pushed, probably because of the way the transformers react, getting a touch saturated and a bit bigger, while having more of a top roll-off that seems to get accentuated when sources get louder.
The opposite happens with the wa-19 (it seems that it gets brighter on louder sources and "flatter"). All that said, like with a km184, that presence boost makes absolute sense once you get some distance between the mic and the source. They're nearly indistinguishable as a mono overhead, which is, you know, the point of the recreation. I'd buy (and will) one wa-19, just for that.
Relatively affordable, too. Shame they dont come in sets of 3 for the toms.
Is there any improvement on battery for the watch 7?
I charge every 2 days
Awesome! Could you pls share where you get those drum mufflers from?
tandemdrums.com/products/drops-set-of-4
@@BoulevardRecording Thank you!
It definitely sounded like the high-pass filter was engaged on the WA-19 in a couple of the examples because the difference was drastic.
Well it wasn’t.
I’m wondering if you eq matched the tracks how close they would be. They have different frequency response curves.
At some point I plan on doing that !
Any group coming through Boulevard Recording would be crazy not to use this setup on drums. You're already 90 percent there in terms of "getting a sound" for a bitchen record. Maybe also try some of the tube preamps on-site; could mix it up from song to song between console preamps and the REDDs, etc., or mix and match.
Indeed. There's a reason Emerick - after hearing drums summed mono through a 660 - never again thought of trying any other signal chain.
Warms actually sounded slightly better than D19s paired with UnFairchild.
I wish more people would go for that drum sound ! Most are too obsessed with control…. That’s the one beautiful thing about those albums, they committed and didn’t look back
didn't get the midrange right on the warm's
I hear more low mids in the AKG
the D19's sound better... and the difference isn't small...
The D19 has a sort of ‘focus’ particularly on snare, that the WA does not have.
If you’re going for the vintage sound, I would say buy one or ever how many do you need but if you want better sound for half the money just get a SM 57 you will be much happier
Vastly prefer the vintage ones here. The Warm aren’t bad, but I really don’t think they sound anything like the original.
Interesting video as always. I must say in my experience Warm audio products have been bit unreliable and prone to failure. But that's just me.
A lot less low end on the wa19's will do better in a home studio
Imo The mics are to far spaced apart to make a fair camparingson when close micing. For sample the hihat one mic was pointed more on the bel and one on the rim
Eh that’s an illusion my friend. I do this for a living. I tested positions, I took care of the phase, I made sure they were getting the same. But like I say to many people, feel free to make your own comparison video! Thanks for the comment. I’ve recorded these hi hats a few hundred times maybe even 1000. I know how they sound. It’s a very fair comparison.
Those hi hats sounds TERRRRIFIC..... 🤑
Proving once again there’s no substitute for the real thing. These sound bright and boring and I’m not surprised. It was difficult to make them back then and the transformers coupled with the now unobtanium (and extremely delicate) moving coil diaphragms were magic that cannot be duplicated. I’d buy one of these over an sm57 but it sure ain’t a d19
Quite a difference on piano.
They look the part, but sounds completely diffrent
On a mobile phone you can hear a big difference.
D19s sound clearly better to me. Unfortunately. I was hoping for the wa19s to hold up
they sound a bit mid scooped
problem is that every d19 you can get these days sounds super different.
Not really enjoying the midrange character of the Warm. Seems pretty far off from the AKG. Most apparent in the drum OH/hat example.
There is a huge difference here . I don’t know what everyone else is monitoring on (Me: Genelec 8050 thru Neve console)….the bottom end difference is more. Ppprofound. Than the top end. The Warm just sounds cheap. Like Al of ther crap.
Wow the AKG IS BETTER
On second listen...not much difference?
Not the same unfortunately.
Not afraid to say it, I liked your D19's better.
brave!
Slightly disappointing. The D19s sounded much smoother-in solo. I wonder how they would each hold their own in a mix. Again, what did a new D19 sound like back in the day, too? I’m sure you could get the WA19s extremely close with some EQ, but that kind of defeats the point. At the same time though, most sources eventually find some EQ applied during production anyway, so… It’s a toss-up. Definitely thought the AKGs sounded better solo.
I’m going to work on an eq conversion make sure you sub to the channel I’ll post it in my shorts this week!
The only thing that is similar is the look…