Electro-Voice RE320
A dual-personality broadcast dynamic with two sets of manners. The engineer picks one.
Overview
The RE320 is the flexible middle child of Electro-Voice's RE broadcast line. It's a dynamic cardioid, and the company's own advertising copy of the period billed it as "one mic, two personalities." The slogan is accurate. A dual-voicing switch selects between two response curves, so the same capsule can be aimed at a voice or at an instrument without swapping microphones. Pro-Sound (September 2013, p.9) ran the line as a full-page advertisement, describing the mic as "the most versatile dynamic microphone available today, for instruments or vocals, whether on stage or in the studio." That's marketing language, not an independent verdict, but it shows who EV thought was buying.
Under that switch is the same Variable-D proximity control used across the rest of the RE family. Variable-D is EV's scheme for minimizing proximity effect, the bass thickening that creeps in as a performer works close to a cardioid dynamic. Retail copy from the era describes the RE320 as delivering "superb detail, dynamic content and natural tonal performance," with Variable-D pattern proximity control that "minimizes tonal shifts" and "virtually noiseless performance." Whether it earns "virtually noiseless" is a judgment call. The design intent is clear, though: keep the low end from ballooning when a DJ or broadcaster leans in.
Collectors and working engineers file the RE320 as the RE20's more affordable, more switchable sibling. Retail listings of the period put the RE320 at a list price of $355.00, discounted to $315.00. The same listings show the RE20 at a $609.00 list and $449.00 street. So you got the Variable-D family sound and the dual-voicing trick for roughly two-thirds the money, and you gave up whatever cachet the RE20's decades of broadcast use carry. The RE320 also shows up throughout period bundle pricing, paired with podcast production consoles, boom arms, and mic processors.
The dual-voicing switch is what separates it from everything else in the line, and it's why the mic turns up in places a straight broadcast dynamic wouldn't. One curve is voiced for close-miked speech. The other opens the response up for instruments. If you record both, the RE320 saves you from putting a second mic on the stand.
One wrinkle for anyone buying used: the RE320 is a current-production-adjacent model rather than a true vintage piece, and it was sold heavily in package deals with third-party accessories. Period retail listings bundle it with Angry Audio mic processors, Gator boom arms, RØDE production consoles, and custom pop filters, and a dedicated RePop-320 mesh screen was sold specifically for it. So the secondhand market is full of mics that came out of podcasting and home-studio setups rather than broadcast chains. They're cosmetically fine, but ask about the grille and the switch, since those are the parts that see wear.
The RE320 is a competent, flexible dynamic that never quite escaped the RE20's shadow, and it was priced to sit there. It does the Variable-D thing well, and the dual-voicing switch is a real tool rather than a gimmick. It was sold at a price that made it the sensible choice for anyone who couldn't justify the flagship.
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