I’ve been a fan of BLUE Microphones for some time now with their award-winning studio microphones, but I honestly didn’t know what to think when I heard they were working on a series of microphones for live sound--specifically handheld vocals.  But when I finally got my hands on one the only thing I could say was “WOW”!  That was my initial impression of the “look” and “feel” because I said “when I finally got my hands on one...” Okay seriously, what caught me by surprise was the solid construction of the body, these neither look nor feel cheap.  When you pick up a BLUE Encore you’ll know what I mean... these microphones are HEAVY.  In the live venue, microphones get dropped, stepped on, carts rolled over, stepped on, dropped, dropped again, and stepped on a few more times (do you get the hint?) and sometimes even THROWN!  Not that I recommend throwing a vocal microphone (although it certainly can be therapeutic, none the less) BUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO DO SO... the Encore series from BLUE will hold its own.  Solid construction means nothing if the product doesn’t sound great....in the case of the Encore range, you certainly won’t be disappointed!  I’m a pretty serious live guy using some of the best products in the industry including the Digidesign DShow console and an endless list of microphones.  The Encore range of microphones are now on my live list of MUST HAVE microphones when using wired handhelds.  For this review I’m going to focus on the ENCORE 200 which is a dynamic microphone.  The other two in the line at the time of this review is the ENCORE 100 (dynamic) and the ENCORE 300 (condenser).  The reason I’m focusing on the ENCORE 200 model is I feel this will be the most popular because it’s a dynamic element, however it really sounds and performs like a condenser.

Okay the specs of the BLUE Encore 200 won’t tell you a darn thing about how it sounds but it they are important to know, so here they are.......If the frequency response looks familiar to you, that’s because it is exactly the same as the trusty Shure Beta58.  But notice the weight of the microphone being nearly a full pound.  Yeah---I wasn’t kidding when I said these microphones are solid!

Yes that’s right, the ENCORE 200 is a dynamic microphone that requires phantom-power and that’s what makes this microphone such a perfect choice for live vocals.  There’s a big difference between how a condenser and dynamic microphone works in that a condenser microphone generally will have a smoother sound, however they can also be more prone to feedback due to a hotter output signal.  A dynamic microphone usually works best in areas where feedback can be an issue or you have a screaming vocalist, but have a tendency to lose the clarity on the top end due to how the dynamic design works.  For more in-depth information---just call me, it would be easier to explain this to you in detail over the phone.  With the active-circuit in the ENCORE 200 this dynamic microphone performs like a dynamic microphone yet has the sound quality of a condenser.  The active circuit in this microphone gives the ENCORE 200 that extra “oomph!” that you just couldn’t achieve otherwise out of a dynamic microphone, no matter how else it was designed.  So why not just use a condenser?  Well as mentioned they can be more prone to feedback, but again there is a difference in how the two mics sound---condensers just aren’t ideal for screamers either!

Using the ENCORE 200 what I noticed immediately is just how BIG this microphone sounds.  If I didn’t know better I would have thought this was a condenser microphone when I used it for the first time based on the sound quality, but I also would have thought this was a $300 microphone based on the feel and weight of it.  The bottom-end is so rich and lush that I thought I was using something like a Shure Beta 87A.  One of the issues in a typical live sound scenario is the console of choice may or may not have a microphone preamp that has any character to it.  Because of this many dynamic microphones may lose that “luster” if you know what I mean.  BLUE took this into account with the design of the ENCORE 200 in that when you EQ the sound on your mixer it really is to fit the vocal into the mix.  The problem is that traditionally in a live environment the person mixing will use EQ to try and make the microphone sound better.  While an experienced sound engineer knows this isn’t how EQ is really used, try explaining that to the volunteer who mixes at his church every third week!  The design and sound “character” of the ENCORE 200 is plug it in and sound freaking amazing out of the gate!

Looking at the plot to the right you’ll notice the ENCORE 200 has a bass boost from about 120Hz to 180Hz where the “meat of a vocal” sits in the frequency spectrum. At the same time there are two presence peaks the first around 4kHz for “air” and a small one around 10kHz for overall clarity to cut through and on top of a mix to make sure YOUR VOCAL sits above all else in the mix at all times.