AKG 451S

Name: AKG 451S
Brand: AKG

A modular condenser system that let engineers buy exactly the capsule they needed, and made the 451 family a fixture on snare drums and tom racks for two decades.

Overview

The 451S belongs to AKG's modular condenser family. The system is built around interchangeable capsule components, not a fixed capsule-and-body design. DB Magazine (May 1974, p.15) described the C-451 as the only modular condenser microphone system in the audio world at the time, with 27 back-up components available for what the magazine characterized as unlimited versatility. That says as much about AKG's marketing as it does about the hardware, but the modular concept was real and it shaped how engineers used the mic. The system could be phantom powered, AC powered, or run from a battery supply, which mattered in the field.

In practice, the 451S captures transients. Engineers who worked with the 451 family consistently describe it as a bright, fast microphone with a characteristic attack. In a 1986 Mix Magazine shootout (October 1986, p.81) comparing the AKG 451 against the Sennheiser MKH40 on strings, the 451 showed just a little more high end, and both mics sounded very clear in the upper range. The MKH40 rejected off-axis sound better, with less coloration than the 451. So the mic rewards close, on-axis work and punishes sloppy placement.

The 451S earned its reputation in drum rooms more than anywhere else. A widely circulated engineer interview in Recording Engineer describes blending a 451 or 452 with a Shure SM57 on snare. The 451 contributed crack, the 57 contributed punch, and the two were summed together because neither alone got there. The same engineer used 451s or 452s on toms, praising their attack, and placed a separate directional dynamic mic alongside each 451 to trigger gates. Triggering off the EQ'd 451 would open the gate every time the drummer hit a nearby cymbal.

On acoustic guitar, James Farber used a matched pair of 451s (or 414s) in an X-Y configuration for stereo miking. He chose X-Y because it sums to mono cleanly, without the phasing problems he associated with neck-and-body miking. On a symphony pops date in a large park, one engineer deployed 451s alongside Neumann KM84s and AKG 460s to mic each stand individually. In his words, it was a rock-and-roll approach to a classical ensemble.

The 451 also turns up in vocal applications, though it's a less obvious choice there. One engineer told Recording Engineer that he looks for extremely flat microphones for vocals and reaches for anything from a Shure SM57 up to AKG 451s. He favors flat response so he doesn't have to EQ out a midrange peak before the mic can work in monitors. The 451 isn't a dedicated vocal mic, but it's flat enough for the job.

Pro-Audio-Review (September 2002, p.53) covered the reissue, noting that the new version's transducer and pad circuitry were part of the redesign. The reception was warm. A user quoted in Mix Magazine (May 2002, p.6) said the C451B sounded closer to his C 451 EB + CK 1 microphones than anything else he'd heard, and that he would both specify and purchase it. That comes from someone with the original on hand, though reissue comparisons tend to flatter the new mic a little, since nobody A/Bs a reissue against a memory.

The 451S occupies an odd spot in the collector market. A 451S is a tool you can put on a snare drum without wincing, and the modular capsule system means a single body can serve several roles if you can find the components. Buyers should confirm exactly which capsule is included before committing, because the body alone doesn't tell you what you're getting.

This is a bright microphone by design. The high-end lift that makes it cut through a dense mix on snare and acoustic guitar is the same lift that makes it a poor fit for sources that are already bright or for anything recorded off-axis.