The Bottle Caps are our innovative system of eight interchangeable capsules, each offering the recordist a different tonal characteristic and pickup pattern. From airy highs to larger-than-life lows, the Bottle Caps capture anything from vocal to bass, wind instruments to horns — and everything in between with a level of detail and clarity found in only the most expensive and rare vintage classics. Below is a summary of each capsule with suggested recording applications.

• Superior bright, silky, and intimate presence
• Suggested Applications: Background and lead vocals, guitar, mandolin, percussion; any source where extended top end is featured

 

• Sonic accuracy with extended high frequency response
• Suggested Applications: Nylon or steel-string acoustic guitar, accordion, drum overheads, metal percussion, hi-hat, small pitched percussion such as toy piano or marimba, room or ambient miking, foley and sound effect recording, strings and orchestral recording.

 

• Big, warm sound of vintage ribbon mic
• Suggested Applications: Emulation of vintage saxophone, brass, guitar, or vocal sounds, jazz ensembles and horn sections, muted trumpet, flugelhorn and other low brass instruments, clarinet, overly bright or “edgy” instruments, room miking, acoustic bass, cello and other bowed string instruments, electric bass, clean or distorted electric guitar, pedal steel and slide guitar, whistling, organ.

 

• Very transparent, neutral sound
• Suggested Applications: Female vocals, distant miking of orchestral groups and instruments, banjo, mandolin, resonator guitar, jazz guitar, distorted electric guitar, electric bass, a natural or “folky” tone on nylon and steel-string acoustic guitar, oboe, bassoon and other double reeds, organ.

 

• Sweet highs, robust lows, unique design and sound perfect for ambient recording
• Suggested Applications: Orchestral sounds, classical instrumentation, background vocals, organ, accordion, distant miking of any source, particularly bowed strings, and drums.

 

• Very unique compressed quality, extremely accentuated low and high frequency response
• Suggested Applications: Acoustic guitar, percussion, any highly transient sources, any acoustic sources that need very close miking or extra presence boosting to cut through a dense mix.

 

• “Larger than life” sound — enhanced lows and high frequency presence
• Suggested Applications: Lead vocals, background vocals, voiceovers, percussion, piano, vibraphone, accordion, clean electric guitar, jazz guitar, and distant miking of acoustic or resonator guitar.

 

• Classic vintage detailed mids with airy presence
• Suggested Applications: Lead vocals, background vocals, saxophone, flugelhorn, clean or distorted electric guitar, pedal steel and slide guitar, organ, conventional jazz recording.

 

• The best choice if only using one capsule - crystal clear sound quality and excellent detail for a wide range of recording applications
• Suggested applications: Male & female lead vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, drums, drum overheads, percussion, piano, horns and strings.

 

What is the concept of the Bottle mic systems?

It is to offer the engineer and musicians alike the opportunity to change the timbre of the microphone at the drop of a hat. There are nine interchangeable Bottle Caps (capsules), each offering a unique sonic signature and audio pattern that can be swapped out while the microphone is turned on just by changing the capsules. This allows the user to have several high quality different microphones available for his or her need.

Let's say you are recording an acoustic guitar and using as per our suggestion a B1 capsule. You now can swap out the Bottle Cap head with either a B6 or B7 vocal capsule and you are ready to record the next track immediately. We always think of the artist or engineer's creative opportunity. If you have to play around and plug in a new mic and do the necessary setup to get a signal to your console, analogue or digital audio recorder, it takes time. This can kill the creative environment. Instead of having to purchase several microphones to get unique sounds it's all here in one package. With the complete Bottle Cap selection you can record anything in the highest quality, no matter what may come your way.

How did you choose the sonic character and pattern of each of the nine Bottle Caps?

For 25 years I was a recording artist making albums. I owned a studio and was constantly dealing with the problems that arise in the recording process. Martins Saulespurens, the co-founder of Blue, was always watching me struggle to get a sound from instruments and voices that I felt was right. I would spend hours equalizing mics to sound a particular way. This unfortunately added phase issues to the tracks and I would lose presence in the recordings. Martins idea was to create capsules that could do this without any processing so that it was plug and play. This was all based on our opinion of sound. Just like a songwriter may compose in an individual style we created our palate of sound to paint a sonic landscape.

We chose patterns such as cardioid, omni and figure of 8 where we felt it was complimentary to the recording application. Our B4 Bottle Cap is a small diaphragm omni and its tone is great recording at distance. So we chose an omni mode so that it could pick up ambience. This was useful in orchestration and room micing for drums. Our B0 Bottle Cap was great on background vocals with its extended top end in the upper frequencies, so we choose a cardioid mode.

Our success was evident in the response from engineers and musicians when they recorded with these capsules. This was the basis of the Bottle Caps, to create microphone capsules that would suit the instrument or voice at its very best.

Why are there three Bottle mic amplifiers?

We always feel the best place to start is collecting the Bottle Caps either individually or in pairs. This way you have a versatile system with a range of three different Bottle microphones to work with.

The Bottle mics are designed to meet the individual's needs in the recording environment. Let's say you are recording a vocal that is backed by a piano track. The subtle nuances are extremely important and need to be heard as there is not a lot else going on. Attention to detail is extremely important. We would recommend the top of the line Bottle mic for this application. The tube circuit supported by the high end components used throughout the microphone amplifier are capable of producing the utmost detail and accuracy in a recoding.

If you are recoding a lot of tracks such as a loud rock band, the Bottle Rocket Stage One might be your best choice as either a guitar amp mic, drum overheads or bass amp mic, depending on your needs.

Recording an acoustic band where the details of each instrument need to be heard in an ensemble, we would suggest the Bottle Rocket Stage Two, with its transformer-less circuit. The choice of recording in stereo with a pair of B8 Bottle caps would create a pleasing yet detailed recording.

The choices are endless especially if you choose multiple Bottle microphones in pairs. Depending on your budget you could employ several Bottle Rocket Stage Ones and compliment them with a pair of Stage Two's and Bottle mic. By adding Bottle Caps to your collection there isn't a need that could not be met in the recording environment as the options are endless.

Will you be adding anymore Bottle Caps in the future?

Of course we will! Remember, the way we listen and record has changed consistently throughout the years.

When I first started recording we were mixing our records to work as vinyl releases. We were limited in bandwidth with the lower and upper frequency ranges. The lathes that made the parts to manufacture the records were limited in this area. If your mixes had too much bottom end the level of the vinyl record had to be brought back thus creating surface noise. If the top end was too prominent your record would distort. Microphones of the day were designed sonically to work in this environment.

When digital arrived, those sonic limitations we had to put into our mixes became much less of an issue. The question was now how much bottom and top do you want? It was a revolution in recording. Then came the problem of equalizing the microphones to create a larger tone to work with the new digital technology. This took lots of time and in some ways degraded the recording. The microphones we develop are capable of combining the greatest qualities of those analog recordings with the capabilities of modern digital recording.

Our vision at Blue Microphones started, and still is, to create products that are relevant in today's recording environment. We are always in the mode of looking forward. The world is constantly changing in how we record and listen to audio.

At Blue, we are dedicated to meeting those challenges by offering a selection Bottle Caps that help the musician, artist and engineer to realize their vision.