For
over forty years, Wes Dooley’s passionate belief that audio production and
replication is a science has influenced AEA with a well balanced sense of
creativity and technical expertise. With this in mind, AEA (which stands for Audio Engineering Associates) has developed a
reputation for designing products which help resolve the myriad problems that
recording engineers encounter during the recording process. In fact, a little
over 15 years ago Dooley got involved in audio forensics, working on dozens of
cases across the country doing forensic work in enhancement and authentication,
audio and video recreations – all of which have furthered influenced his audio
production designs.
Dooley and AEA has prided themselves on
developing portable recording tools including multi-channel microphone arrays,
MS stereo processors, stereo phase displays, and various microphone stands.
However with the re-introduction of the R44 ribbon microphone in 1998, AEA has
been known as the source for
practically everything involving ribbon microphones. Studio engineers and
technicians clamored for this microphone – and at one point, the R44 microphone
had been used by half of all the movies produced out of Hollywood! What studio engineers love about
AEA’s ribbon microphones are that they often deliver such a pure, natural sound
that they give listeners the feeling of actually being in the recording studio
– while offering a figure-eight pattern on the microphone, which allows
recording engineers to focus on the sounds they want and need to record.
Certainly their later models, such as the R84, R88 R44C and R92 offer
variations on the original ribbon microphones manufactured by RCA and other
companies in the 1940s; however, they offer modern technological advances such
as integral shock suspension which reduces the extraneous noise that may be
created by the microphone stand, various levels of wind blast protection
depending on the usage. Generally, their microphones are in the $900-$1,500
range. Also AEA is the exclusive distributor of Coles' microphones outside of
the United Kingdom, as well
as the only facility outside of the United Kingdom to stock parts and
perform repairs on Coles' products.
Currently, an individual consumer can’t
purchase AEA microphones directly through their website but AEA links the
individual consumer to information on contacting authorized dealers. Currently
there are about thirty authorized dealers of AEA microphones throughout the United States
in or near many of the country’s metropolitan areas.
