The audio examples available on this page accompany my review of the Soyuz 011 FET (SDC) Small Diaphragm Capacitor microphone from SOS February 2025.
www.soundonsound.com/reviews/soyuz-011-fet
I’ve provided a few examples to demonstrate how this small but impressive-sounding small diaphragm condenser mic sounded in my studio. For all the examples I used the preamps on my Audient ASP8024 — with the exception of the drum overheads which used API 312 preamps. No additional processing was used on any of the examples.
01_Stereo Piano
This is how the 011 sounded on my studio’s slightly creaky upright piano. The mics were positioned pointing directly at the exposed strings on the front of the piano.
02_Acoustic Picked
This is an example of how the 011 sounded when used on a picked acoustic guitar part with my studio's Martin acoustic guitar. The mic was positioned at a distance of around four inches and pointing at around the 4-5th fret.
03_Acoustic Strummed
Much of the low-end was ‘rolled off’ in the mix, but this is how the raw recording of the 011 sounded when used to capture a strummed acoustic guitar part.
04_Drum Overheads
This is a brief clip of how the 011s sounded when used as a spaced pair of drum overheads for a live tracking session with a young Cambridge band called ‘Hardrive’. The slight saturation you may hear is from the API pre-amps running a little hot. It was a nice pairing on the session.
05_Snare Top
I mentioned in my review how the 011’s small size could make it a good option for a snare mic. This is an example of me playing gently, however, and it was close to the limit of what the mic seemed comfortable with SPL-wise with the -10dB pad attached.
06_Hi Hat
The 011s worked superbly as a hi-hat spot mic. In this example, the mic is pointing in towards the kit with the Hi Hat cymbals themselves providing some screening from the snare. They also worked well pointing the other way for a more isolated sound.