Remic Reshape

Should you buy a specialised instrument mic, or a multi‑purpose ‘pencil’ design? With the Reshape series, you can have both...

Based in the Danish town of Silkeborg, Remic specialise in the design and manufacture of musical instrument microphones. Founded by artist, musician and engineer Thorkild Larsen in 1996, the company’s research has yielded a highly regarded range of instrument‑specific miniature capacitor microphones for grand piano, bowed strings, brass and woodwind. The Reshape RE7100 and RE7200 electret microphones form the company’s first new product line since Larsen’s departure in 2020, and they mark a change of strategy. These two microphones are considerably larger than their predecessors, and their instrument‑specific mounts are sold as separate items, along with a ‘pencil ‘mic’ adaptor that fits into a standard microphone clip.

Black Is Black

Clad in Remic’s classic all‑black livery and sitting at the end of a 2m long black, cotton‑clad cable, the two new microphones share the same form factor: an approximate overall length of 59mm (including the cable strain relief) and a diameter of approximately 8.5mm. The mics’ 8g metal bodies take up the first 29mm or so of their total lengths with their (as best as I can tell) 5mm capsules positioned behind slotted grilles. The impedance converters of both microphones sit inside the cables’ male XLR connectors and are powered by 6‑48 V phantom power.

The RE7100 features a pressure‑operated, omnidirectional capsule that picks up sound arriving from all angles evenly. The microphone’s polar pattern isn’t entirely symmetrical, as there is a +4dB bias towards the front, which won’t cause any issues in its intended applications. The RE7200, by contrast, is a supercardioid mic and thus rejects sound arriving off‑axis, albeit with a slight rear pickup lobe.

Being Specific

Both microphones have a stated frequency range of 20Hz‑20kHz. The frequency response curve of the RE7100 (measured at 15cm from source) shows a fairly flat response up to 1kHz and then a gentle rise to a peak of +6dB at 11kHz, dropping back to 0dB at approximately 19kHz. The RE7200’s frequency response covers the same range, and shows a flat (±1dB) response to 1kHz, followed by a gentle rise to +5.5dB at 7kHz, which then drops to ‑8dB at 19kHz or thereabouts.

The RE7100 can cope with 125dB SPL and the RE7200 can withstand 128dB without exceeding 1% total harmonic distortion (THD). The RE7100’s A‑weighted signal‑to‑noise ratio (SNR) of 68dB equates to a very respectable self‑noise figure of 26dB and a dynamic range of 99dB at less than 1% THD. Similarly, the RE7200’s 66dB SNR equates to a self‑noise of 28dB and a dynamic range of 100dB at less than 1% THD.

Instrument Mounts

The Reshape mounts, which fit both the RE7100 and the RE7200, follow the same form factor and compression mounting paradigm as Remic’s current series of instrument microphones. The biggest difference this time round is that instead of a microphone and its housing being permanently integrated into an instrument‑specific mount, either microphone can be fitted into any mount. This change makes a lot of practical sense in that, for example, a multi‑instrumentalist, recording studio or hire company could maintain a stock of Reshape microphones and mix and match those with mounts as required.

As with their earlier instrument‑specific equivalents, the Reshape mounts for violin, viola and cello are designed to be mounted under the ends of fingerboards, with the double bass mount’s recommended mounting point being under the tailpiece. Naturally, there is no requirement to follow those placings and you may find that your cello sounds better with the microphone under its tailpiece; or that on double bass, mounting the mic under the fingerboard or even under the bridge itself is more to your taste. All Reshape mounts come in pairs, making the pricing a bit less painful.

The CE7000 cello and BA7000 bass mounts are pretty much identical in overall appearance and size to their predecessors and, as before, the major differences between them are their overall dimensions, the number of decorative cut‑outs involved, and the size of their accompanying circular pads that can be fitted around the microphones’ cables in order to hold them securely in position under either the fingerboard or the tailpiece.

The VI7000 and VA7000 mounts, for violin and viola respectively, have been significantly revised to carry the Reshape microphones. As before, the only difference between the two is that the viola mount is larger. The earlier type of mount had a set of laterally oriented grooves that sat in a wedge‑shaped crest that sloped upwards from the back of the mount to the front. These grooves — and the pliability of the open‑cell foam that made up the crest — allowed you to fit the mount quite easily under the fingerboard no matter the angle and distance between the fingerboard and the front of the instrument.

The VI7000 mount fits some violins better than others.

In contrast, the Reshape equivalents are made of a much denser and stiffer closed‑cell foam, and the laterally grooved crest has been replaced by longitudinal grooves arranged in a relatively gentle horizontal arc. This change means that the mounts have to be compressed to fit under a violin fingerboard, making fitment more difficult than before — especially with a non‑compressible metal cylinder occupying half of the mount’s central area and leaving relatively little foam to compress in that area.

The BR7000 brass instrument mount again follows the same paradigm as its earlier equivalent. Made of natural rubber, its density, rigidity and circular Pac Man‑style profile allow this mount to attach firmly to the bell of a saxophone or any brass family instrument by gripping it in its ‘mouth’. A square‑ish extension, positioned at a slight angle to the mouth, holds the microphone firmly in a tangential orientation that points the microphone into the throat of the instrument.

The PH7100 Pencil Holder lets you use a Reshape just as you would a standard small‑diaphragm capacitor microphone.The completely new mount in the line‑up is the PH7100 Pencil Holder, which, to my eye, resembles a long‑necked wine bottle. Its major feature is a lengthways slot that allows you to drop the mic cable into the adaptor. You then pull the microphone backwards into the adaptor and hold it in place with the small, cable‑mounted foam cylinder that you’d normally jam under the fingerboard of a violin or viola.

Mount Up

Mounting the microphones on my wife’s late 19th Century French violin threw up issues that I didn’t expect. Firstly, I couldn’t fix either microphone securely in place without having to use quite a bit of pressure to compress the mount enough to get even half of its width to remain under the end of the fingerboard. Unfortunately, the compression pressure trapped between the fingerboard and front negatively affected the violin’s character and tone. Also, with around 7mm of mount sticking out from underneath the fingerboard, once the RE7200’s lateral vents were clear of the mount, the capsule ended up sitting too close to the bridge for my liking. I could position the RE7100 flush with the end of the mount, but that created a lateral instability that took a bit of cable repositioning to resolve.

Having said that, the violin mount turned out to be too low to fit securely under the fingerboard end of a more modern violin, although a cut‑down viola mount would have worked perfectly. I think that Remic might want to do some more work on this particular mount. Although there isn’t a viola in the household, there is an octave violin, which the viola mount fitted perfectly. The cello and double bass mounts were similarly simple installations and, as you’d expect, the pencil holder adaptor offered no challenges.

In Use

In terms of their overall sound, both the RE7100 and the RE7200 performed extremely well, delivering a detailed and dynamic sound with superb transient definition from every instrument that I tried them on. Being well used to my own DPA 4099’s +2dB lift at 10‑12 kHz, I thought I might find the Reshapes’ stronger boosts a bit too much. In practice, both delivered an attractive clarity, with the RE7100 being particularly successful. Due to its stronger emphasis in the 3‑5 kHz region, and relatively steep roll‑off above 8kHz, the RE7200 couldn’t really match the open and airy sound of the RE7100, although it did provide what I’d describe as a less flattering representation of the source. Although I’d have no qualms about using the RE7100 on stage, the RE7200 would probably be my first choice in that situation due to its steeper high‑frequency roll‑off and ability to reject ambient sounds. One thing that particularly impressed me about these two microphones was that I never felt that I would have to use EQ to get my instruments to sound like themselves — even on cello and double bass, where both microphones delivered natural‑sounding results with depth and clarity from both instruments.

Both the RE7100 and the RE7200 performed extremely well, delivering a detailed and dynamic sound with superb transient definition from every instrument that I tried them on.

I did find an issue on the violin with the RE7200 where, when positioned too close to the bridge as I described earlier, it appeared to be unable to handle the very high SPLs that are generated in that area, distorting audibly across all strings at normal playing levels. However, moving it to positions either above the bridge or over an F‑hole removed the issue. The RE7100 didn’t exhibit distortion at normal playing levels, probably because it could sit further back flush with the surface of the mount.

Sadly, my trumpet‑playing days lie far behind me so I couldn’t test either microphone on a brass instrument. However, in the absence of a specific guitar mount, I tried using the BR3000 brass mount to hold the RE7100 inside the soundhole of an acoustic guitar, where it worked very well and sounded great, despite its non‑ideal positioning.

Stand‑mounted in the pencil holder, both mics turned in uniformly excellent performances as conventional instrument microphones across a wide range of stringed and percussion instruments, showcasing their versatility and general‑purpose possibilities.

Summing Up

With their instrument‑specific mounts and pencil holder adaptors, the Reshape RE7100 and RE7200 are being promoted by Remic not only as premium instrument microphones for stage and studio, but also as high‑quality, general‑purpose microphones. In both market sectors the Remic microphones will be competing directly with very similar products from more established companies. For example, as a standmounted omnidirectional studio microphone, the RE7100 in its pencil adaptor is the only product that I know of that can compete directly with the DPA 4090 in terms of its capsule diameter, price and performance. Similarly, in the instrument mounted microphone sector, the RE7200 will find itself facing direct competition from Neumann’s MCM System.

Overall, I was very impressed by the sound and performance of Remic’s RE7100 and RE7200 and, in my opinion, each offers the discerning musician and engineer distinctive and great‑sounding alternatives to their competitors at a price point that reflects their quality.