Audio Technica AT2041: Mics for the Guerrilla Audio Engineer

Audio Technica AT2041 Studio Pack
Photo from: www.sweetwater.com

I got these beautiful babies over a month ago through my girlfriend's connections in the states. It took me over two months to make the arrangements. I originally made the transaction through www.musiciansfriend.com. I tell ya'- their service sucks. I availed of the two-day shipment to the person's address (Big up to Ogie Feliciano for the effort and patience, many thanks and blessings to you) who was leaving for the P.I. in week's time. I found out that after a couple of follow ups, my orders were still in the warehouse! Ogie eventually left, he then made arrangements with a fellow Davao native who was leaving a few weeks after to take care of transporting my gears. I decided to cancel the transaction at Musician's “Friend”(More like nemesis), and opted to purchase them from another online music shop www.zzounds.com. Much more reliable and fast. They were sent immediately, no delays and the online shopping site was much more user-friendly. Makes me love America with these effectiveness.

Big up to Eric Sancho for lugging my gear all the way from the US. I had to pay an excess baggage fee of $150.00 as he had tons of stuff with him. It was worth it though! Many thanks!

The moment I got the Audio Technica AT2041, I started tinkering with it. It's got two mics in the pack. The AT2020 condenser mic for vocals and the AT2021 condenser mic for instruments. They are both phantom powered(requires no external battery, but works on a 48v power provided by your mixer or Digital Audio Workstation or DAW). I worked with them for a few hours. My, do they do wonders. The verdict: Professional sounding recordings for the Guerrilla Audio Engineer! They are built tough and work really good, I personally like the little AT 2041 – It made a cheap and battered acoustic guitar sound like an Ovation.

These are great mics – no doubt. The AT2020 didn't come with a shock mount(That thing that prevents recording those lil' tremors), not to worry as I constructed my own Guerrilla-style mount below PHP1,000.00 ($24.00) – considering they cost a lot more than this if you got them from a shop. I'd rather use some good ol' Pinoy ingenuity. More on the construction later on, I will post a step by step, DIY Guerrilla Audio Engineering Gear tutorial. I even made my own pop filter. Ah, the Net I tell you...

I suggest you purchase chords of great quality(With them XLR thingies, they look like happy faces) to go with this.

My waking hours are spent thinking of playing and tinkering with my new gear. I hope I get to find the best time to produce some work. I would love to let you guys know what's up. So get those comments and feedback coming. If your searching for some advice on the best gears on a 3^rd world budget, or even those gears you are willing to sell one of your kidneys for – just let me know ayt!

I.J.
Beautiful Eyesore, Connoisseur of Life