To our surprise, Stealth is marketed as a dynamic microphone, but it is so much more than that. It includes a built-in microphone pre-amp and it can operate in both active and passive mode. You basically get a stage and a studio mic in one, functioning to the highest standard in both ways, for an affordable price. It’s a home studio artist’s go-to gear.

Packaging.

Black Beauty. Not just the mic itself but the box and handbook that it comes with. A dark and minimal design that complements the neo-futuristic look of the Stealth. To elevate the sci-fi elegance, an Aston cufflink is also included, but since I’m a bit of a punk, I was especially happy for the sticker. It is worth mentioning that a sleek, easy-to-handle mic clip is included as well, which snaps into the slot at the bottom of the mic for a perfect hold.

Stealth in a home studio environment.

We got to work in different studio environments and gear but mostly we use our home studio, which includes a tiny recording booth with far-from-perfect acoustics. Due to the lack of acoustic advantage, we spent plenty of time with mixing the vocal tracks. Firstly, we had to compensate for the room by adding some space, then Krisz did his magic with EQ-ing so it fits the song. At least we got to know our workspace and its abilities, so we have a grasp on how to make it sound best considering the circumstances.

The arrival of the Stealth was a great surprise. We thought that no matter what mic we put into a bad-sounding room, the result is going to be more or less the same, we didn’t expect such a drastic improvement.

The first test recordings were done by myself. Krisz would set everything up as usual - except the input gain, that he had to turn down A LOT - and he’d let me play around.

The recording process became easier as the monitor was coming back crystal clear, I could work with my syllables less carefully than before, and that made me feel more comfortable in the booth.

When listening back to the tracks, the difference was obvious at the very first take: clear and articulate syllables, a much more dynamic tone and sound originality, static noise and murmurs were barely or not even present.

For me it is is obvious that Stealth is able to stand its ground in extreme acoustic conditions, sparing a lot of extra work for us.

Field recording.

Taking a dynamic or even condenser mic to a field recording trip? We do like a challenge. We are not the most experienced field recorders in the industry for sure, but we do enjoy playing with our own samples.

We took the Stealth to the Open-air Museum of Mining and Industry in Tatabánya to test it; more specifically, we went to Victor Lois’ Hangfürdő, an exhibition of peculiar instruments built from all kinds of tools. We used a general FireWire external soundcard, but for this mic you will need a stronger preamp if you are trying to record samples in an open space. We also set it up at home for another sampling session with a slightly different external soundcard, but the result has been the same. Obviously, if one wants to do this with more depth and regularity, one needs a proper portable field recorder, not a super sensitive mic with all the gear that it requires for such a session.