Audio-Technica Mics Provide Added Dimension to WKSU-FM, Newport Folk Festival

Audio-Technica was recently selected as microphone of choice employed by the new mobile studio for the Folk Alley live streaming web radio program WKSU-FM in Kent, OH. Audio-Technica microphones are used for announcement/voiceover applications, live music broadcast, and in-studio guests/performances in the mobile broadcast vehicle, which has been up and running since Aug. 2009, and was part of the team for the National Public Radio (NPR) stream from the 50th Anniversary Newport Folk Festival later that month.

“When we first developed our plans for Folk Alley’s mobile recording studio, we put Audio-Technica microphones on the top of our wish list,” says WKSU and Folk Alley executive director Al Bartholet. “Music and radio are industries that revolve around audio, and having the ability to use mics of Audio-Technica’s outstanding quality makes it easier for us to do our job well.”

Included in the studio’s microphone arsenal are AE5400 Cardioid Condenser Handheld Microphones, AE5100 Cardioid Condenser Instrument Microphones, PRO 35 Cardioid Condenser Clip-on Instrument Microphones and AT875R Line + Gradient Condenser Microphones.

“I’m very enthusiastic about the AE5400s,” says Joe Gunderman, Folk Alley production coordinator and senior producer.  “We have in-studio guests, and in the past, we might normally have used a large-diaphragm with shock mount, but the AE5400 sounds just as great and is friendlier visually to put in front of our guests. We’ve used AE5400s also in the studio and at live events, for recent performances by some really great folk artists – Madison Violet, Solas, The Greencards, Ann Heaton and Natalia Zukerman from Winter Bloom, and lots more. Also, the AE5100s are great too – we use them in front of acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, bouzoukis, mandolins, and more, and they’ve always given us a real nice response.”