Whether it be podcasting or streaming, it takes good equipment to provide quality content. These types of broadcasts provide a variety of entertainment to the internet and anyone out there. If you are looking to get into this, our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review is for you.
When you want to begin this form of entertainment, you will need to understand the equipment needed for such a task. The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is made for this purpose.
Heil’s latest line of microphones deals with the task of providing quality in your live session. This gives you an overall edge in the competition. With that, let’s get right into the review.
Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone Packaging
Before we discuss our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review, we ought to tell you all the items that come with the product.
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone comes in a small black cardboard package. You will find the logo of the brand all over the box in white.
Let’s see what we got inside.
Inside our package, we have the main product, which is the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone, instruction manual, a small leather pouch and a sticker.
The PR-40 is set on a cardboard plane which is wrapped in plastic. This keeps the microphone in place and prevents it from scratches.
Already attached to the microphone is the adjustable mount that can be connected to a boom arm or desk mount.
With that, we can see the package is small and light, which only holds the necessities it needs for its job.
Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone – Design and Functionality
Now, let’s go over the product’s design and functionality in our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review.
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone features a new black colour from the Heil PR-40 series. It has a champagne matte-finished steel body. On the body, it contains dual mesh screens to receive the incoming sound waves.
Its diaphragm is shock-mounted to completely be free from any mounting restraints that can affect the sound’s quality. The dual mesh screens are each made with different diameter screen apertures. These help in receiving the sounds.
Inside the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone, there is a breath blast filter located within the diaphragm. This provides an excellent response feature for the human voice within the entire vocal range.
The filter also acts as a screen in blocking the “popping” noises when speaking. This removes harsh or sudden noises that you may make when speaking.
Apart from the internal characteristics, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone comes with custom magnet metals. These help in connecting to your boom arm, mic stand and more. This makes it easier to adjust the position of your microphone around your setup.
Our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone offers flawless flat responses from 28 Hz to 18 kHz. This makes it a great microphone for vocals, bass drums, tom drums, guitars and more.
Other than that, it claims to be the broadest frequency range of any dynamic Heil PR series microphone.
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone uses an XLR connection rather than the new USB type microphones. This means you need something like an audio interface for it to connect to your computer.
Although you may need a third party medium to connect this microphone to your computer, it offers amazing quality and is unmatched against any USB type microphone in the market.
Generally speaking, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is a microphone made for providing overall quality in sound. It can be used for podcasting, streaming or gaming setups.
Key Features of the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone
Apart from the product’s physical properties, we now look at the product’s defining features in our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review.
No More Pops
Don’t you just hate it when you’re recording vocals, and you listen to your tracks, you hear too many extra sounds when you speak? The “popping” noise is the most common problem in a recording. It is very hard and tiring to remove during editing.
Luckily for the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone, this problem is solved. The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone features a dual mesh screen and an internal breath blast filter. They both work together in preventing extra sounds from being transmitted into your recording.
With that out of the way, it makes your tracks clearer, clean and distinct, which provides a flawless and smooth recording. You can even use this for your live streams or podcasts. Either way, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is sure to secure the quality you want to provide.
Condenser Versus Dynamic
When we talk about microphones for recording or streaming, there are two types. Either dynamic microphones or condenser microphones are used. It depends on what type of situation you’re going to use it for. Each type of microphones has its specific uses.
Condenser microphones are built to pick up delicate sounds around the body of the microphone. This means that it can pick up even the tiniest of details. This is because they are made to capture higher frequencies.
For dynamic microphones, they focus on capturing loud and strong sounds which usually are drums or loud vocals, especially during a live session. They focus on getting the best output with the given input that is happening at the moment.
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone features the dynamic type. This is because the microphone was made for the purpose of streaming and podcasting. Although you can use it for recording, a condenser would do far better with a good environment.
Our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone specialises in the dynamic type because dynamic microphones are best for live sessions. When you would be podcasting or streaming, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone features a Cardioid pattern that picks up sounds only from one direction.
Having the microphone focused on a singular point can maximise the sound and provide the best quality for your output. It won’t need to pick up other sounds because its role is to capture only one sound: the human voice.
So if you are wondering whether to get a dynamic or a condenser for your podcasts or streams, a dynamic microphone would be the best pick.
A Wider Range
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone boasts that it offers the widest frequency range among other Heil PR series microphones. Its understanding of phasing during plug placement combined with the large low mass diaphragm makes it a competitor among its peers.
It features a frequency range from 28 Hz to 18k Hz. This makes it easier for the microphone to catch loud and strong sounds. You can use this to amplify bass drums and tom drums during live sessions and more.
Thanks to that, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is versatile in most aspects of bringing better quality during a live performance or session.
Specifications
Our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review covers the specs of the product.
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone weighs only 13.5 oz. This makes it easier to bring around and simple enough to adjust.
It has a three-pin XLR connection for its output. Regarding the element type, it is dynamic with a frequency response range from 28 Hz to 18k Hz.
For the polar pattern, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone features the Cardioid pattern. This is common for broadcasting mics as it picks up sounds from only one direction.
Rear rejection for the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is -40 dB at 180 degrees off the axis. It contains an impedance of about 600 ohms balanced.
Apart from that, it provides an output level of -53.9 dB at 1 kHz and a maximum sound pressure level of 148 dB.
Hands-on with the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone
Aside from the heavy details, we head towards dealing with the actual product. In our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review, we not only discuss the product’s capabilities, but we will test them as well.
By that, we try to understand the product by making observations that will provide us with more knowledge.
For the tests, we want to know if the sound quality is as good as it says. Next would be to try the breath blast filter to see if it really can eliminate the “popping” noise. Last but not the least, we will check the range of this microphone.
When testing the sound, we found it to be excellent in providing high-calibre sound. This is due to the quality of the materials within the dynamic microphone. Not only its components but the pattern as well played a major role in the quality.
The Cardioid pattern allowed the microphone to target specific areas where it could capture the sounds. We had no issues when speaking to the microphone as it picked up every bit with clarity.
With the breath blast filter inside, there were no more “pop” noises that came from our mouths. As we recorded and played with the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone, it eliminated those noises from the recording.
This made it easier for us to hear our dictation and provided clearer speech during both the live session and the recording.
Lastly, we checked how much the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone could pick up. We were not surprised that the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone could easily pick up the bass drum sounds. Hence, dynamic microphones are used for those purposes.
What surprised us was the quality of the output. Usually, bass drum sounds, when amped, sound muffled or distorted. This is because the microphone lacks the proper components to handle loud and strong sounds. With the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone, this wasn’t the case.
The bass drum provides a low frequency that is hard to pick up. The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone not only picked up the frequency but also fine-tuned it. This means that it was a clean recording. It was also the same result with the tom drums, acoustic guitar and even the piano.
Overall, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone took on the role of securing the quality of your sounds, whether it be a live stream, podcast or a recording.
Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone Review Summary
Before we come to a close in our Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone review, we will provide the insights we have obtained from observing this product.
The Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is a microphone that is tasked with the job of giving the best output for your live sessions. Whether it be for streaming or recording, you are sure to make use of the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone at your disposal.
Thanks to the wider range, a proper filter and Cardioid pattern, the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone is a microphone made to endure even the most taxing tasks. With that, we truly recommend the Heil Sound PR-40 Microphone to anyone looking to upgrade their setup.
If you are interested in buying this product, then click here for more details.