Podcast Microphone Review: AKG Perception 100

Mark Montgomery
September 2006

Life keeps getting better for semi-pros, who need inexpensive solutions with professional results. The AKG Perception 100 is a large diaphragm condenser microphone that can hold its own, even against models with significantly higher price tags.

The Perception 100 is a no-frills voice-over microphone. You won't find a built-in low-cut filter or a multiple pick up pattern selector. In fact, no bells or whistles have been built into the body of this microphone. But what you do get is a very sturdy and heavy body that feels like it can take on more than what a typical producer can dish out. The sleek brushed metal look is nice touch and the metal wire mesh helps pad plosives and sibilants (the sounds that tend to "pop" and "hiss" the mic). Depending on the type of shock mount you have, the larger diameter body can make it challenging to insert in-between the elastic webbing. The Perception 100 does comes with a nice stand adapter, so you won't be left without a way to mount the mic to a mic stand. (The mic stand shown is not included.)

While the body has very little to offer outside its strong build, underneath the shell is where the most important hardware lies.

The Perception 100 has a 1" large-diaphragm pick-up element designed with a cardioid polar pick-up pattern. This means you'll be able to pick up more detailed tonalities from your voice from directly in front of the mic. Both the pickup pattern and the sensitivity of the large diaphragm make this an ideal microphone for voice-overs or even recording instruments. It's also capable of handling sound pressure levels up to 135 dB, which will help to minimize distortion at high volumes.

This microphone is made for getting up close and personal and your voice-overs will sound like the narrator is sitting right there in front of you in your living room.

It's also important to note that the Perception 100 is a balanced XLR mic that requires 48v phantom power. Make sure that your mixer, or whatever device you'll connect this mic to, is capable of delivering the needed juice.

Hooking up the Perception 100 in our sound studio side by side with another professional AKG large diaphragm condenser mic that has an outstanding reputation (and premium price tag) reveals the true nature of this mic. When we recorded and mixed the same dialogue on these two mics we did find our high-end professional mic outperformed the Perception 100 in richness and fullness of tone. However, that's just what you can expect from a microphone that costs 4 times as much.

There is absolutely no shame in the sound quality of the Perception 100. Its real strength lies in bright tones. A look at the published frequency response patterns supports these findings, with a bump of several dB in the high frequency range starting at about 5kHz and ending near 15kHz.

If you want voice-overs that sound clear and bright, this microphone is definitely going to deliver. You may not, however, get the rich, deep tones without making some slight adjustments to the equalization during the audio phase of post-production.

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