Violet Black Knight Sound On Sound Magazine August 2008

Violet Black Knight Sound On Sound Magazine August 2008 By Hugh Robjohns

Violet's suggestion that the Black Knight can be thought of as a general-purpose studio workhorse proved to be a fair one. I was able to capture a credible sound from everything I tried it on - both male and female vocals, spoken voice, cello, upright piano, acoustic guitar (six and 12 strings), hand percussion, as a single drum overhead, and as a snare-drum mic on a jazz kit. If I only had the Black Knight in my armoury, I have no doubt that I could very easily have made extremely satisfying recordings. I'm not sure I would use the mic on a rock snare because of its maximum SPL rating, but on the jazz snare (using brushes much of the time), it was excellent - not least because the swivelling head made it really easy to find the sweet spot on the batter head. The hypercardioid-esque side null worked well to control hi-hat spill, and it also handled the transients very nicely, as it did on the acoustic guitars.

Overall, I was very impressed with this mic. It deserves to do well, because it is a very accomplished and well-balanced design, offering real value for money, and would make an excellent first mic for anyone setting up a home studio on a reasonable budget, easily delivering quality results from any source.

Read more about this review at Sound On Sound and a lot more in our Review section.