Heil PR-781 Dynamic Mic Review / Test

[@josantore]

It is a Ham Radio Mic We use a Mic that Focused on Mid and High freq Looking for clarity and efficiency the low Freqs take s much more power to deliver and do not carry as much of the voice information. Well that is why this mic is for Ham radio Voice. We can all agree that if it had more lows it would sound more pleasing but would not be as good for trying to communicate with a week station around the world. Bob does talk often about why he designed this and he refers to the Fletcher Munson Curve (ehomerecordingstudio.com/fletcher-munson-curve/) That talks about what the ears can hear and where the information is. The -55 DB output is low so I use mine with an EQ and a small Tube amp to give it a little more spirit. But for cutting through a pile up the lows offer no help 73 ND1C

[@Podcastage]

Thank you for this great information. I'm familiar with the fletch munson curve but hadn't considered that as a possible influence for this microphones design. I have read some work from Bell Labs in the early 50's regarding the important frequencies in intelligible communication. Very interesting stuff. Thanks again for the awesome information.

[@QuickQuips]

Thank you for this. Was thinking of this or a used re320/pr30/md421 for talking on Skype mostly. That clears things up. Going used then.

[@mattk.5258]

You'd probably want a PR40 for podcasting. I have a PR781, but I use it for ham radio.

[@jay-rus4437]

...Exactly...this particular mic was specifically designed for HAM

[@Jon_Pearl]

Great explanation, Jim. I use the PR-781 with an Icom IC-7851...and crystal clear articulation in the voice frequency band is - as you are aware, at the heart of what we're after in amateur radio. 73, W4ABC

[@scoremoore4280]

Jim carrey ah? simple liar liar, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

[@GPSJayDog22]

I use this mic on my ICOM IC-7300 HF and my ICOM IC-9700 rig in SSB mode. I get great unsolicited comments all the time. I get asked "What mic are you using?" They ask if I am using anything else. And, "How can I make my radio sound like that?" Yes, I would recommend this mic. I also use the Heil PR-77. Both these mics work best for my voice using a preamp. I use the ART Studio V3 Tube MP and a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 3rd Gen USB Recording Interface.This lets me use my radio and my computer using one mic. I wish you would do videos centered around Ham radio and the use of mics, preamps and mixers. Wide open content field. Very few videos out there for us. Most are from fanboys who were given a mic by a sponsor and don't give good information. No one gives the detail you do. Love your show, Cheers, N6WIP

[@paulvance5826]

Thanks for your review. This microphone is specifically designed for ham radio use, not for podcast. I am using it with an ICOM -IC7800 transceiver and it is the best sounding microphone I have ever used, cristal clear audio!!!

[@michaelhaney3175]

As an Amateur Radio operator, you did a very accurate test and review. I have a 781 I use in my radio shack, but I keep it away from my video/audio studio.

[@delreynolds822]

I bought this mic for Single Sideband Ham Radio and it works very well with my ICOM 7300. I get great audio reports so I would recommend if you're doing HF SSB Ham radio that this mic is a good choice!

[@morejelloplease]

3:33 this is all you need to know about this mic. if you're a ham, great, if you're a podcaster or do anything else you'll be disappointed.

[@morejelloplease]

@Michael's Production's it's boosted from 2.5-4k, bob is a ham operator and this actually sounds decent on the air. i wouldnt get that for podcasting, etc, maybe acoustic guitar, just depends on what you want to do.

[@morejelloplease]

@Michael's Production's oh sure, i'd use it also, but it'd be running thru my aphex channel. I have a $29 amazon special that does well for podcasts and skype lol. i've had akg's, rodes, all the Ev RE series, etc. mics are fun, i get it. I do ham radio, voiceover and also a musician.

[@edman4828]

I listen to this with headphones and I really enjoyed the sound. Hmmm...you are right about the "CLARITY" - it's all about that. On the other hand, it might work for my podcast...shake things up! Good Reviews as always 👌

[@chuckcurtin]

This is not meant as a broadcast microphone. It was designed for midrange voice for ham radio broadcasting and for that it is one of the best. Full range, not good. I use on my Icon ham radio (transceiver).

[@JaimeVives]

Great microphone, I'm musician and I bought Heil PR781 black for ham radio, but I tested for singing and sounds really great. Actually I´m using it for PC recording and video calls. Thanks for this video and regards from Spain :)

[@andrewnigo61]

Ok think I've seen one of the guitarists for Goldfinger use this Mic in their quarantine videos.

[@jalind1]

I second the remarks from James Santore. I am a Ham Radio licensee and a part time sound engineer for a non-profit. I would not use this microphone for general use except where the Fletcher Munson curve was a priority; e.g., Ham Radio SSB or any amplitude related modulation technique to get maximum transmitter power to the intelligibility portion of the voice and Ham Radio FM or any frequency/phase modulation to get maximum intelligibility at a receiver in a potentially noisy or acoustically poor environment. Unlike SSB/AM, the power of an FM signal is constant and not distributed in the modulation frequencies. They have different underlying technical processes, but the net effect is the same for maximum intelligibility. In more general sound engineering, any voice work that needs to maximize intelligibility such as live announcing in auditoriums, stadiums, arenas, and other large venues, a compromise between high fidelity, pleasant broadcast voice, and intelligibility has to be struck with the priority going to intelligibility out to a listener in a very noisy environment. A separate mix for broadcasting the announcing from an auditorium, stadium, arena, or other large venue is likely to be useful since the broadcast feed can duck the venue ambience feed -- a lot more control -- and the listener is probably in a less noisy environment. For live production narrations, general broadcast/podcast, or voice-over, I would use a different mic unless I wanted specifically a Fletcher-Munson curve effect.

[@zachbender7607]

So what Bob Heil K9EID - is basically saying its good for the high end transceivers - eg Icom 7600 7700 7800 OR some of the high end Kenwood or Yaesu Rigs - that are in the multi thousands of dollars -

[@thewilberforce]

I think you missed the mark on this Mic. To be fair, I felt the same way the first time I used it. But with a little bit of EQ and compression (slow release), this thing comes alive. Really. I’d been using a Heil PR 40 and an SM7b prior to this. And the 40 is my fave, I needed a second setup mic and gave it a shot. It’s actually really amazing. And not just a Ham radio mic. It’s very exact and again with just a little adjustment, I love it. Have about 100 episodes of my podcast done with it and I’m happy. Just an FYI and not meant to be a criticism.

[@1OFGODSOWN]

It's the same microphone as the Earlier PR-780 but in a smaller design.Same Element per HEIL Tech Support.They work Great for Amateur Radios for sure.

[@benedictrehiesi5166]

I'm stuck on a choice between two different version of BM-800, one of them with a sensitivity of -34DB±2DB the other one has 45DB±1DB, price and everything else is exactly the same, which one should I go for?

[@PawFromTheBroons]

My Jim Carrey, among so many of them, would be “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”.

[@purrpocalypse]

I'm going to keep hoping for a PR30 review. It's the one Heil mic that is more mid focused and darker. Supposed to sound like a ribbon.

[@LazyMitchell]

VS Edition Heil PR781 vs Neewer (or BM) 800 I would really like to see that one.

[@billvet6]

I have a 781 on my ham radio and it is great.

[@joehoppard814]

Love your videos. Smart, entertaining and informative. Thank you. Please can you review the Aston Origin and the Coles 4038. The Truman Show.

[@KEJA2k]

Alas .. I agree with James Santore, It is a Mic designed specifically for us Ham Radio operators and I get annoyed when reviewers that do an evaluation on a mic outside its intended application. If your review is to be meaningful, please restrict it to its intended use. Yes, it favours the voice frequencies to best be heard though a sometimes noisy and congested radio and through less than usually ideal conditions where having a crisp clear voice punch can make the difference of being the Ham being chosen to communicate with through the clutter half way round the world. By the way Heil makes great mics for just about every sistuation includding podcasts, ie: Top mic - PR-40 if you want a great low end. 73 VE7BXL

[@presenttense1493]

If I could pick one Jim Carrey movie, it would be High Strung (1992). He plays Death.

[@MalvixStudio]

finally, the stickers are back

[@justheathers]

A #STICKER!

[@justheathers]

And The Mask.

[@Emillices]

0:56 "As well as a daring sticker"

[@evanski9489]

Can you test the Innogear MU-007 microphone?

[@laurence_rj6140]

its specially designed for ham radios for the explicit use for dx using ssb nothing else.

[@enriquekahn9405]

Hey, thanks for this and all your other awesome videos. What would you make of this mic for someone with a "muddy," deeper voice?

[@Podcastage]

Give Leo Laporte a listen. I think he sounds pretty great on the mic. I a little gritty in the upper frequencies, but very clear and intelligible.

[@LazyMitchell]

Cable Guy is probably the best move ever made

[@amitabhsrivastava1255]

Sennheiser e835 vs other microphones. Please.

[@brianbiederman6615]

Lol you actually said "if you wanna see what I diddly Dee, check the doobly do" from that one comment

[@laniquilang4179]

Mickle mm us-100 mic please

[@xHadesStamps]

I'd watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" because it's the only one I know about.

[@JRiff-jy3cx]

IDK...it sounds pretty good on your voice.

[@sramsdellwdm]

If you still have this mic. I will buy it off you!!!

[@kebandrews7076]

Sounds great

[@ElectronicsForFun]

dumb and dumber is my favorite JC movie, the mask was pretty good as well.

[@javaman3765]

“The Grinch”…..superb remake

[@wireworks616]

It's a Ham Radio Mic, not styled for the studio.

[@GhostlyCop]

Sounds a bit thin.

[@laurajkirk]

I've never watched a Jim Carrey movie. And, you can't make me.

[@pratimasahu796]

Sir I love your videos can you suggest me some mic in 30 dollars to start a KZbin channel

[@RezaMolavi]

The original Ace Ventura.

[@solomonb5990]

Ace ventura every day

[@jttech44]

The mask, by far. I thought it worked well for acoustic guitar if you need an uninspired muddy guitar to cut in a mix.

[@jay-rus4437]

Taylor Guitars.....

[@brian.7966]

Earthlings ? wow

[@jabnls]

Jim Carrey, eternal sunshine....duh. his best work. Not even a comedy, ironically. His worst movies, when he gets magic powers like God or can't lie, or has a magic mask, why? Best comedy is obviously dumb and dumber. I dare anyone to argue with me.

[@coreyharris3536]

The Dead Pool (he barely lasts 3 minutes) ;)

[@brian.7966]

he is talking to children oh dear.

[@cybermonkey4985]

I’d watch the mask 😋

[@lucasg.alonso550]

The mask definetly

[@aaronmagdaleno2250]

Hi heart pls

[@meh825]

Could you please do a comparison of the Rode Nt1 and the ATR2500?

[@whiskeylung]

Which one is his shortest movie? That one.

[@nicholasgraber994]

it literally looks exactly like a tom mic

[@reggiep75]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was probably the best film Carrey ever made. I'd have to follow up with Man on the Moon in second and maybe The Truman Show after that as most of his 'comedy' offerings boil my piss. If it doesn't boil other peoples piss, lucky for them, but I get plasma bladder when some of his 90's early 00's trash shows up on TV!

[@randyab9go188]

As a ham operator I can agree with you that the 781 mic used in a recording setup would not sound good. The bandwidth of most Single Side Band transceivers that hams currently use is from about 300 hertz to 2.1 kilohertz. Anything above or below those frequencies tends to fall off rapidly. People that still use AM signals on the ham bands will have a broader frequency response and can make use of a standard broadcast or high quality full range microphones. The Hams that use AM Modulation try to mimic the sound of a commercial AM broadcast radio station and a lot of times they succeed and sound very good indeed. Bob Heil is a big fan of the Fletcher Munson curve. This curve was developed by Western Electric in the 1930s to find out what the optimal frequencies were to increase intelligibility on telephone conversations. If you want to see how a lot of Bob Heil's mics are designed look that up. He likes to boost the audio at about 2 - 2.5 kilohertz to increase the intelligibility of the audio which can make it sound shrill. As a matter of fact he did make one microphone that had two elements. One that sounded good and full-bodied, the other one was very shrill but it would cut through the interference and the person on the receiving end could make you out over the interference. The audio could definitely get through where the full-bodied mic was unintelligible. Keep up the good work and if anybody would like to see what amateur radio is all about, visit this website: www.arrl.org Randy AB9GO

[@ve3akv]

The most popular selling Amateur Radio of all time, the iCOM 7300 comes in at 100Hz to 2900Hz which is 2.8k wide and well within the suggested 3k wide setting on a crowded band. While the 7300 is a great bang for the buck, it is limited in playing the big audio game. As Dr. Heil as proven on so many videos, the PR-781and it's punched up 2k to 2.5k range is what the ear actually senses as understandable words, your voice can be detected by a DX station that might be running a compromised station.

[@BigDaddyLinux]

obviously Pet Detective would win hands down

[@MikeBroderick33]

Dumb and Dumber, of course.

[@Husky_cdn]

im an odd ball bruce almighty

[@usandoceanslivenews7056]

Bruce Almighty.

[@drakedoesart]

The mask for the win

[@LongshanMusic]

off-axis rejection is pretty amazing. too bright though.

[@lilb8730]

0:38 was that from one of your comments...

[@702Pros]

Dumb and Dumber without question, or maybe and this is a BIG maybe, Ace Venture -- both comedic genius! So on to my question, I'm not sure if you have a video for this, but I was wondering if you have a good starter kit suggestion for moving to xlr. Currently, I have a setup which supports both xlr and usb, it's an Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB (does both XLR and USB). It sounds pretty good, however, I want to upgrade everything: the mic, the arc stand, phantom power, xlr recorder, and of course software. Also, I want to note, I'll mainly be using you the mic for screencasts and podcasts. Any suggestions would be great! Scramby eggs are gooood - Justin

[@murraystechtime8530]

I pick "Man on the Moon" as my choice because I really liked "Taxi" ... Good video, but I can't afford a $300 CD mic. I'll have to make due with my Neewer NW-7000...

[@PileOfEmptyTapes]

Bandrew, just saying, but your off-axis test could use a more constant mouth to mic element distance. The way you're doing it usually gives minimum distance at the front and maximum distance at the back, skewing results. Granted, it's not always easy to determine what the effective pickup point is, but this might be the Achilles heel of your otherwise well-executed reviews.

[@authorjimlynch]

Where in the dobledo do I find what you did in post? I can never seem to find it?

[@PileOfEmptyTapes]

It's in the text shown at the bottom of the video (which he's adding in post) right when he's saying that. "Int: 2i2, Gain: ~2:00, Audio Boosted: +6 dB, ..." - this bit.

[@Liowen]

I dunno to me it sounded ok, but I am sure for the price there are better options out there in the market. As for Jim Carrey movie I would have to go with Man on the Moon, I feel he gave a good version of Andy Kaufman in that film.

[@zezesilver]

I was gonna say The Number 23 but after taking a look at the comments, I feel intimidated

[@hehehehe9240]

Could you do a review of the Arozzi Sfera USB Microphone

[@mrtheluckybucket]

That laugh at your own joke warms my soul.

[@Fiddleback]

Transceiver = Both a transmitter and a receiver. So yes, HAM radio would be a transceiver. Also, The Truman Show.

[@johnhmaw]

The Mask, no, The Truman Show, no wait................

[@Fiddleback]

Bravo, sir. Bra. Vo.

[@Kragatar]

Check out that diddly daddly doobly doo.

[@StevenEnglish]

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective! Runner up, Eternal Sunshine.

[@Kragatar]

Dumb and Dumber for sure.

[@ThePurpleSwordfish]

I, too, would pick The Cable Guy.

[@Podcastage]

PurpleSwordfish you’re the first person to agree with me!!! You win an all expenses trip to Medieval Nights where we will battle to the death.

[@garrettcarroll5808]

Diddly. Dee

[@1dullgeek]

Jim Carey movie is easy: Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. Second place: The Truman Show

[@Podcastforthewin]

This mic actually works very well with your voice Bandrew.

[@zaidyusoff126]

thought so too...

[@RobertLinthicum]

I do not like sibilant microphones . . . I use a PR40 a lot and am going to check out your review of that. It seems a bit "shrill" to me as well.

[@Podcastage]

Robert Linthicum Robert. The pr40 is also very bright and can sound shrill, especially on brighter voices (like myself). It works alright for Leo Laporte because of the tone of his voice, and I’m guessing it’s also because he broadcasts over radio sometimes, and that extra brightness helps. Maybe I’m just a bit too sensitive to the higher frequencies, but I just prefer mics that are easier to listen to.

[@RobertLinthicum]

Thanks for that. The PR40 sounds to me like a mic with a low-cut (high pass) switched turned on, though it has no switches. NPR loves the U87 with the low-cut on so dialog can cut through all the noise its listeners are typically dealing with.

[@insanejughead]

WTF ever, that mic sounds amazing! Would you consider making a raw audio file sample available for us to listen to on our monitor speakers, unfucked by youtube, that is? The Truman Show, above all others.

[@waddupnvck]

PLEASE DO THE SENNHEISER MK4 OR MK8. I WOULD LOVE YOI FOREVER

[@danmagoo]

Thanks for doing this. I have wondered whether this mic would be a worthy way to get the Heil experience at a fairly low price, but I did wonder about the effects of it being designed for ham radio, where a big concern is to cut through static and noise. And now you've showed us.

[@Vertshark]

Ham and... CHEESE!

[@Jarhead6]

Good honest review!

[@buzzman4860]

What is a Hamshack you ask. The Hamshack, that's where it's at. (Queue the B52s) The Hamshack is a lil ole place where we can get some baay-con. HamShack Baaay-bee. I now need coffee. Bye

[@insanejughead]

Buzz Man Hahahaha! My morning has been made. Thank you.

[@LooneyJuice]

Actually, from what I can hear, this mic does sound like a very good "unprepared space" podcast/streaming/vocal mic. The background noise rejection is really good from what I can tell, so if you're in a room with lots of reflective surfaces or a bit of noise from maybe PC fans or an AC unit, assuming it's not directly in front of the mic, it should do a great job even without any PP. It could lend someone that extra bit of production value if they're stuck in a really crappy-sounding space. Additionally, the clarity/presence boost should bode well in the aforementioned cases too. I totally understand the objections, but I also hear some of the potential for niche situations. Thanks a lot for the review, much appreciated!

[@PileOfEmptyTapes]

I'd say this guy is not as directional as the AT BP40 he reviewed 2-3 days ago (or other comparable radio mics like Heil PR40, Rode Podcaster). Admittedly there's a bit of a price gap, too. But yeah, if anyone can use some ambient noise rejection, it's probably hams, especially those operating on shortwave. Transceivers with a typical 100-200 W of output have fans, PAs of 500 W to 2 kW do for sure, and the average ham shack tends not to be acoustically treated.

[@Up_All_Night]

The Mask.

[@buzzman4860]

Lol.you diddly did it. You diddly did.

[@12799MaDeuce]

diddle-ee-dee doo-blee-do Hi Flanders

[@Sonofabyss]

Ace Ventura

[@ryanwilson5936]

Most definitely “The Truman Show”.

[@EasyPost99]

The Mask

[@mouthstick-gaming]

Easy choice: The Truman Show

[@xombiegeek1987]

I'd have to go with The Truman Show to answer the "Jim Carrey" question. "...and in case I don't see you.....good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight." - Truman Burbank/Jim Carrey