[Review&QnA] Lewitt LCT 040 Match Pair Condenser Microphones, Matched Stereo Pair for Instrument Recordings
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[Review&QnA] Lewitt LCT 040 Match Pair Condenser Microphones, Matched Stereo Pair for Instrument Recordings
About this item
- The definition and accuracy for which the LCT range is known, in a stripped-back design
- Custom-designed capsule is optimized with instant transient response
- An acoustically identical matched pair
- Also sold as a single unit (LCT 040 match)
- Ideal for instrument recordings
Reviews
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Great Inexpensive Mics
I spent several months trying to find a review to help me figure out if I wanted inexpensive (sub $200 a pair) or low price ($200 to $500) a pair pencil condensers. Most reviews are simply product listings with no actual opinions, of the few sites that do provide opinions I've not found any that bridge the gap despite the large number of options exactly at $200. So after trying a borrowed pair of Behringer C-4 mics I bought a pair of Behringer C-2 and a pair of Lewitt LCT 040-Match. Here's my attempt to resolve the review problem.
I'm a hobbies audio junkie and have been mixing and recording my rock cover band for a few years with a combination of Shure PGA58, SM58, Beta58, and a Lewitt MPT 350CM and recently started dabbling in recording a church choir. I generally record through a Behringer XR18 to multi channel for later editing. For ear calibration I hear a clear difference between the Behringer XM8500 and other $20 dynamics and the $50, $100, and $150 mics above. For backing vocals and instruments in a mix the PGA58 generally holds its own against the others, but for solo work it clearly isn't a clean or pleasing as the others. The SM58 and Beta58 are clearly different but as a matter of character not quality. The MPT 350 is dramatically different as a solo mic in that it is clearly a condenser and sounds like it, though a condenser tuned to sound like a stage dynamic. With that baseline here are my thoughts:
Using simple low volume desktop testing where the differences between the PGA58 and Beta58 and MPT 350 aren't all that large the C2 sound similar, though the high end extends a little further and sounds a little brittle. The LCT 040 sound exactly like the MPT 350 for my speaking range, but clearly extend dramatically further up and down the frequency range with typical condenser clarity.
Moving on to the rock context, as drum overheads the C2 were dramatically better than any of the dynamic options. The LCT 040 as drum overheads are clearly better than the C2 when soloed but not obviously so in the mix and any differences were easily fixed with EQ.
The big difference came in the church choir context. Here I'm recording (and live streaming) in a quiet environment where the acoustics are pretty classic "church". Specifically when in the room you can hear a person speaking pretty easily but loose clarity due to the reverberate in the room. Before we started streaming and recording we only put a mic on spoken word and left choir, piano, and any other instruments fully acoustic. Now that we stream we could get away with just a stereo pair on the choir and catch the piano and optional solo from the reverb, but it sounds a bit muddy so we close mic the piano and solo instrument for clarity. I first tried using the C2 as a XY Pair and the LCT 040 as a wide pair. They were level matched at about 48 db of gain on the C2 and 33 db of gain on the LCT 040. In this range there was a lot of noise coming off the C2, specifically something that sounded like feed back that was fixed by putting a -18 db cut with a Q of 10 at each of 1k 2k 3k and 4k with a high cut at about 16k. I still ended up favoring the LCT040 in the mix. The next week I used the C2 in place of the close mics on the piano and the solo cello with the LCT 040 in the XY pair. In this configuration I ran all 4 mic with a gain of 39 db and -5db on the mix for the piano and cello and -6.3 db for the XY with no evidence of the "feedback" self noise from the C2.
In summary:
Would I buy the C2 again? depends on the situation.
* For studio recording, no the quality just isn't there.
* For live use in close mic applications where you don't need high gain, absolutely, you won't hear the difference in quality.
* For non studio recording in cases where you have a full mix, again yes.
* For high gain live use (XY mic on a choir) no, the self noise is way too high with high gain.
In conclusion:
When placing the C2 and LCT 040 on the much better understood range of dynamics mics:
The C2 feels a lot like a $50 mic such as the PGA58, ie dramatically better than the $20 dynamics.
The LCT 040 feel more akin to the $150 to $200 dynamics.
Both are a valuable part of your mic locker. If you have unlimited budget you won't miss the C2 but if you have a real world budget the C2 are great for filling in the rest of the locker around the stars.
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Surprisingly Excellent Microphones!
Wow. These are a nice matched pair of small pencil condenser mics. I have a large collection of mics that range from the $1000-50 range. I had read a review about these mics on another site, and thought for the price they might be nice as a second pair of overhead mics or to use for stereo acoustic guitar takes.
I was impressed with these the first time around. Their build quality is very nice, they are exceptionally light but sturdy. No more needing to have a heavy duty boom stand for heavier mics on overhead drums!
They sound detailed also. They are not thin or bass heavy or mid scooped. They are very true to sound, with a slight bump in the upper midrange to high frequencies. However, they certainly do not sound thin (which was what I was afraid of before I tried them out). I havent used them as overheads yet, only acoustic guitar, and while they don't beat out some of my other mics for their sound (albeit much more expensive mics), they do sound very very good. Not to mention how lightweight they are and just easy to set up. I would definitely recommend these to anyone. Sweet sounding mic's here!
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Matched Pair - January 2020
These are amazing!
For the money you cannot go wrong.
As overheards for crystal clear cymbals or mounted to tom's to pick up the overall kit, these are great.
Match them with a Shure mic clamp and you're cruising.
Needs 48v, comes with a decent case and looks real nice with the wind screens on them.
Don't delay!
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Wow ... Very impressed
I've been working with a lot of microphones in my life , but this one at this price ... it's crazy.
It sounds really great, best than others much more expensive, with more years and reputation in the market.
Unbelievable
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Great Pair of Mics
These are great affordable MATCHED small diaphragm condensers. I've used them as drum overheads and on acoustic guitar and am very pleased with how they respond. They are so small and compact and sound great!
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Awesome for recording guitars!
Great microphones for recording guitars and experiment with panning. This pair makes guitar sound huge in the mix but you got to get the XY mic mount to use it. Love that it includes a carrying bag.
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
These microphones
I'm using these microphones as overheads to mic a six piece drum kit. They're placed in a spaced pair configuration approximately 42" from the center of the snare drum. The kick and snare drums are close-mic'd. I'm really impressed with the detail and overall sound of the kit with this setup. The Lewitt LCT 040s do a great job of picking up and presenting the varied sound sources from the cymbals and hats to the low end of the 16" floor tom.
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Awesome Overhead Mics plus Value
Excellent Value for overhead Mics and combined with my QSC Touchmix-8 Digital Mixer makes me a very happy camper. My Paiste 2002 cymbals sound magical bright shimmery silky clean , Enjoy !
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match | Verified Purchase
Great
This works very well, great actually. I pair this with my Shure XLR connector time my pc, get since and direct recordings of my acoustic guitars.
★★★★★
style: LCT 040 Match Pair | Verified Purchase
Super buy
Great pair of mics. A little soft on the high end. I use them as overheads with a M/S in front of the kit. Works great.
Question & Answer
Question :
Does it come with wind screen?
Answer :
Yes two little foam wind screens.
Question :
Do they come with cables?
Answer :
No, these mics do not come with cables on this listing
Question :
Will it work with iPhone 11
Answer :
No it needs phantom power. Not the type of mic you want to use with a phone ..look at ik multi media for a Iphone mic.
Question :
Is this one awesome for overheads? do i really want the air ones? i have "air" buttons on my 18i20 interface... do i get "double air"?
Answer :
Air Jordan! The "extended high end" is hard to notice, honestly. Yes, they make great overheads
Question :
How are these for recording voice talking in a noisy environment like a coffee shop? I will be doing some minor voice analysis using Goldwave.
Answer :
I haven't used them in this application, but I have used them for overhead drum and close high hat micing. Based on what you're trying to record, I wouldn't use condenser mic. They are more prone to pickup ambient noise. Try a tighter patterned (hyper cardioid or super cardioid) dynamic mic. I prefer Audix OM 5 but a Shure SM-7b or Sennheiser 945 would work too.
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