Point Source Audio Series8 CO-8WL omnidirectional microphones have been chosen by the audio team at London’s Kings Place for use on a wide variety of events. The new mics are being put to use daily across a wide range of applications, ranging from corporate presentations to live music and recording sessions.

‘The adventure with Point Source Audio started out with us looking for some new lav mics,’ says Kings Place Music Foundation Audio & Recording Manager, Gerardo Marrone. ‘We had always used a different brand in the past, but we decided to try something else through our long-term supplier, Autograph Sound. We were looking for something that could work just as well but be more contained within the budget. They sent us a lot of options from various brands and quite a few models from Point Source Audio.’

After assessing the options, Marrone opted for the Series8 CO-8WL. The IP57-rated waterproof lavalier microphone has a low-profile (4mm diameter) but delivers characteristics expected of larger-format microphones, with optimal gain before feedback and 136dB SPL handling. Other elements, such as interchangeable connectors and variety of colour options, make Series8 lavaliers a flexible tool for an event space.

It was the sound quality that really set the CO-8WL apart from the competition, however: ‘I fell in love with how natural the omni capsules were sounding for lavaliers,’ Marrone says. ‘The less you stress a capsule to be directional, the better it sounds, and you avoid that very annoying level drop when people turn their head and go off-axis. As a live sound engineer, that is very relieving.’

The initial choice was made with corporate events in mind, but they have quickly found use in further applications. ‘I don’t only use it on a traditional lavalier application for conferencing for panels on stage, I use them for anything that requires zero amplification in situ, such as interviews,’ Marrone confirms.

The next stage for Marrone is to explore mounting options, to see how they may benefit Kings Place users: ‘We actively look at different types of technology to try and do things differently,’ he says. ‘People use Kings Place as an experimental location because we offer them a different approach to live shows and sound perception.’

Marrone clearly believes that the CO-8WL mics have been a good investment: ‘I am completely satisfied with the Point Source Audio mics,’ he concludes. ‘It started out as a budget option but I came to the conclusion that I can actually use them for way more projects than I was expecting.’

See also: d&b Soundscape enables Sound Unwrapped