Every year the TEC (Technical Excellent and Creativity) Awards honour outstanding achievements in the Pro Audio industry with the distinctive gold trophies indicating not only that a particular product has been acknowledged as the best in class for that particular year, but that for particularly innovative products which do something in a new way, that they have been accepted into the mainstream.

This is certainly the case with Townsend Labs, whose Sphere L22 Microphone Modeling System Version 1.3 has been awarded a prestigious TEC Award (Technical Excellence & Creativity Award) for Outstanding Technical Achievement in the Recording Microphones category at the recent 2020 NAMM show, up against competition from Chandler, AEA, sE and Vanguard. While this is a great achievement for the Townsend Labs team it has a wider significance and arguably represents something of a watershed moment.

Chris Townsend, CEO & CTO of Townsend Labs told us…

“We are so honored to win a TEC Award. I have been going to NAMM for well over 20 years and winning a TEC Award only seemed like a dream. And of course, thanks to all of our customers. Without you, none of this would be possible.”

Erik Papp, Co-Founder and President at Townsend Labs, adds…

“We’d also like to thank our Indiegogo backers who helped us start the company about three years ago. The support and loyalty of these customers extend all the way until now and is a big part of our Sphere community.”

Congratulation to Chris and Erik, but what were they up against in the category? Looking at each of the other nominees in turn:

The AEA KU5A is a super-cardioid ribbon. As you probably know ribbon mics almost always have a Fig 8 response, A super-cardioid ribbon makes ribbon mics appealing to people who might not consider them because of their fig 8 response.

The Chandler TG Microphone is an original take on some old tech, superficially its a standard large-diaphragm condenser but it incorporates a Tape Equaliser circuit from vintage EMI transfer consoles.

The Telefunken Elektroakustik Alchemy Series is a collection of four-tube condensers, two Copperheads, which have a natural voicing and are available in cardioid and multipattern variants and the TF47 and TF51, which have voicings reminiscent of the Neumann U47 and the Elam 251 respectively.

The sE2300 is a multipattern version of the well-known cardioid only sE2200, the sE mics offer amazing value for money, although some of us are not fans of the 2200, but we all agree that the sEX1 is unbeatable especially if you are on a tight budget.

The Vanguard Audio Labs V1S+LOLLI is a condenser microphone system which features interchangeable capsules, much like similar systems from AKG and Schoeps. A significant point of difference between these small diaphragm systems and the V1S is the LOLLI kit, which brings a large-diaphragm performance to a pencil condenser kit.

The things which stands out to us about the other runners in this field is that although they are all products which excel in some aspect of their performance, they are all traditional microphones.

The same can’t be said of the Townsend Sphere L22. If you’re not familiar with the Sphere system then check out James’ review from 2016 below. A few things have changed since then, most significantly AAX DSP support and the variety of mic models offered but the concept remains essentially unchanged - a microphone modelling system which, because it uses two diaphragms and models the off-axis response of the modelled microphone, offers exceptional results. So much so, that the Sphere has won the recording microphone category. Not the mic modelling category but recording microphone category.

This is evidence, if it were needed, that the results obtained from the Townsend Labs Sphere aren’t “good for a modelled mic” the distinction between “real” mic and modelled mic is unnecessary with the Sphere L22.

This reminds me of the debate that has raged for a decade or so, within probably that most difficult-to-convince group of all - guitarists, over whether a modelled amplifier can ever be as good as a “real” valve amp. That debate rages on and will continue to but nearly everyone agrees that a good setting on a Kemper is as near as makes no difference. I think this TEC Award is a wake-up call for anyone who thinks a modelling mic system is in any way a poor relation to a “real” mic that is just not the case. And that’s before we start to talk about the amazing flexibility of being able to decide your mic model and polar pattern after you have recorded your material.