Willie Green Checks Out TELEFUNKEN’s New TF11 MIC

Prolific producer Paul “Willie Green” Womack has been putting his new TELEFUNKEN TF11 microphone through the paces at his successful Brooklyn recording studio. He also recently returned from TELEFUNKEN headquarters in Connecticut where he produced and filmed 30 minutes in their recording studio and sound stage for the 2021 WinterNAMM Show.
“I like to create new music and new sounds,” says Green, “The TF11 has that solid legacy of Telefunken but this is a new mic and I wanted to hear where the company was going. By visiting their manufacturing center, I could see firsthand how their mics are put together so meticulously. My first impression is that the new TF11 sounds very polished, and it sounds like a modern microphone. TELEFUNKEN has such a long history of so many great mics, but this one has a progressive, refined sound, which is what I was looking for, especially for the hip-hop and R&B I do.”
With production credits that include Wiz Khalifa, Donnie McClurkin, The Roots, Billy Woods, ELUCID, and more, Willie Green has established himself as one of the top producers and engineers in independent Hip-Hop and R&B.
“The top end is bright and not hyped, and it's open and airy, the way you want, especially for modern R&B,” Womack explains. “You want that top end on there, but for things I would usually do for an R&B or a pop record, like boosting EQ to brighten it up -- I don't need to do that with the TF11. It just sounds that way right out of the box, which makes the whole process easier for tracking, and then of course, all the way through mixing. I'm having to work less to get the right sound.”
Womack thoroughly investigated the lower frequency response of the TF11. “When you work with some of these mics that have all of that bottom in there, I wind up trying to clear out some of that low end and low mid, especially if I'm doing a pop thing and I'm stacking a lot of vocals. If I want to warm it up, that's what a tube pre-amp or a tube compressor would be for. This TF11 has a nice, full low end, but without so much that when I'm stacking vocals, it starts to bloom too much. It really is nice and balanced down there.”
A lifelong passion for hip-hop music gained its first serious outlet while Green was attending Berklee College Of Music in Boston. He would graduate with a degree from the Music Production & Engineering department, as well as a burgeoning reputation in the Boston underground scene as a talented beatsmith and solid engineer.
“One of the things you notice right out of the box, when you pick up the TF11 up, it's a heavy mic. It looks and feels like a professional tool. It's got a beautiful blue finish -- it just looks like something that is of value and is a serious microphone. But it’s surprisingly affordable, and that's really nice. The eye test matters to certain artists when they come in. They see that TELEFUNKEN badge, they see the build quality, and they know, ‘Okay, we're doing a real thing today; we're making a real record."
Currently residing in Brooklyn, NY, Womack is a member of the AES Board of Governors, and is an active educator and lecturer. Working from his studio, The GreenHouse Recording Co., Willie Green is a leading voice in both music creation and audio education.

[@BeatsBangcomtv]

I went with the TF11 instead of a TLM103. I just wanted to use something different with the same quality level. I run it through an Apogee Element 24 and the results are impressive! Crisp and clean with a touch of transformer saturation.

[@chrisw5742]

Can you get it sounding like an elam 251? Perhaps a touch of eq and it is there?

[@BeatsBangcomtv]

@@chrisw5742 If you run it through a 1073 "styled" pre and a Tube Tech CL 1B "styled" comp, I believe you can get pretty close. As this seems to be the signal chain of major artist using an Elam 251.

[@chrisw5742]

@@BeatsBangcomtv ahhh yep makes sense. Thanks :-)

[@kadencemusik]

song is fire, mic sounds great

[@CRISSBLAZINY]

The song is fire. Where i can find it?