What’s up gear mortals! Alex Nasla here with another edition of Gear Gods Quality control. Today we will be checking out the LCT 540 Subzero microphone by Lewitt.
Last time we checked out Lewitt’s offering it was their line of drum microphones that featured dynamic and small diaphragm condenser mics which I thought were pretty great! This time I’m checking out a large diaphragm condenser mic, the LCT 540 Subzero.
The first question you probably have is the same one I had – why is it called Subzero? And no, it’s not because they were fans of Mortal Kombat… I asked! It’s called Subzero because Lewitt claims their microphone can pick up sound below the threshold of human hearing, below 0 dB SPL. Simply put, the microphone records with extreme detail and precision. The self-noise on the microphone is one of the most impressive things about it. I’m not sure I have used a mic as quiet as this one, especially when you start cranking the gain up. The microphone also has a dynamic range of 132dB and a Max SPL of 136dB, meaning that while this is first and foremost a vocal mic, it should have no trouble at all recording things like drums. I actually tried them out as overheads and as rooms on a drum recording recently and they were killer! Probably my new go-to stereo room pair for drum recordings right now.
Some other cool features of the mic are Lewitt’s clip-on pop filter. This thing is super cool and convenient. You don’t have to deal with constantly adjusting pop filters like you do with other mics. You just plop it on and you are good to go. The LCT 540 also has a cool panel on the front that has a Lewitt logo acting as an integrated clipping indicator, low cut filters, a PAD for -6dB and -12dB, and for the ability to have automatic attenuation.
So what do I think about the mic? How does it actually sound? I personally love it. I have been using it for a few months now and it has replaced my Micro-Tech Gefell MT71S as my main vocal recording mic, which was double the cost of the LCT 540. There is just a lot less to worry about when using it. I don’t need to worry about the vocalist constantly fiddling with the pop filter. PAD can easily be adjusted right from the microphone. And of course, most important of all is that it’s just a great sounding mic. But the whole point of the demos we do in these reviews is so you guys can decide for yourselves, so I hope that was able to give you an idea of what it’s capable of.
And that’s it for this review! Let me know what you think in the comments below. If you haven’t already, please hit the subscribe button, click on that notification bell and I will see you guys again soon!
