The story of Audix today is essentially the story of Cliff Castle and FredBigeh. Cliff is vice president of sales & marketing, and Fred is director ofproduct design & manufacturing. Between the two of them, they have perhapsthe perfect combination of skills necessary to design, manufacture, and markettechnical products to an entertainment-driven industry.

History“I went into college on an athletic scholarship and came out a musician,”

Cliff Castle says with a laugh. After leaving school, Cliff went on the road forten years as a bass player. Then he met Fred Bigeh, who had a broadcast engi-neering education and a serious penchant for acoustics and electronics. Theydecided to go into business together, and initially they were the exclusive USdistributors for Audix Japan. The first “pro-quality” product they brought intothis country was the OM-1 dynamic vocal mic’, which was introduced in 1985.This was soon followed by the OM-2. Both of these mic’s were originallydeveloped and built in Japan. A few years later, Cliff and Fred acquired the

Modern Drummer August 2005124

SPOTLIGHT

Wilsonville, Oregon, is a clean and green little city of approximately15,000 that sits on “The I-5,” as Left-Coast residents universally

call the main thoroughfare that stretches from Canada to Mexico. Locatedwithin a few hundred yards of the interstate is a manufacturer that hasgone from “interesting little company” to “big player” status in whatseems like a very short time—although in reality they’ve been working hardat their craft for two decades.

i5: Cardioid dynamic’instrument mic’, forsnare and toms.

by Mark Parsons

Modern Drummer August 2005 125

Here’s a look at a select list of Audix mic’s and accessories that have drumset applications.

D1: Hypercardioiddynamic, for snare,bongos, and similardrums. Features a slightmidrange boost.

D2: Hypercardioiddynamic, for toms,congas, and similardrums. Features aslight mid-bass boost.

D4: Hypercardioiddynamic, for floor tomsand kick drums.Features an extendedlow-end response.

D6: Large cardioiddynamic for kickdrums. Features amassive low-endresponse withenhanced attack char-acteristics.

SCX-One: Small-diaphragm condenser(available in cardioid,hypercardioid, andomni versions). Foroverheads, hi-hats,and cymbals.

F12: Value-priced cardioid

dynamic’ mic’for kick and

floor toms.

Fusion-Seriesdrum packs: Drumpacks featuringAudix’s value-priced Fusionmic’s. (Shown: theFusion 6 drumpack.)

DP-Series: Drumpacks featuringAudix’s pro drummic’s. (Shown: theDP Elite.)

F10: Value-priced cardioid

dynamic’ mic’for snare and

toms.

F15: Value-priced cardioidpre-polarizedcondenser, foroverheads,cymbals, andhi-hats.

Micro-D: Miniaturepre-polarized hyper-cardioid condenserclip-on mic’ forsnare and toms,with integrated D-Vice rim mount.(Cardioid versionalso available.)

D-Flex: Drum mic’universal mount.

D-Vice: Drum mic’mount made to mountonto drum rims.

ADX-51: Pre-polarized cardioidsmall-diaphragm con-denser, for overheads,hi-hats, and cymbals.

SCX-25A:Large-

diaphragm car-dioid con-

denser withintegral cap-sule suspen-

sion and smallbody footprint.For drum over-

heads androom mic’s.

D-Clamp: Drummic’ mount canattach to congasand similardrums.

rights to the company name, and theystarted designing and manufacturingmicrophones in California’s Bay Area.

“It was more difficult than we thoughtit would be,” Cliff says. “We put all ofour profits back into developing the com-pany, because if you don’t have a solidproduct with R&D behind it, then youwon’t make i t in the long haul. Weweren’t driving nice cars back then, that’sfor sure.”

One of the payoffs of this “take thelong view” approach was the develop-ment of VLM (Very LowMass) technology. Some ofthe aspects are proprietary, butthe gist is that by lowering themass of the moving parts of adynamic’ microphone you canget a condenser-like responsefrom it , yet st i l l have theruggedness and low-end beefof a good dynamic.

In 1991, Cliff and Fredmoved Audix operations to thecurrent location near Portland,Oregon. There, they set aboutdeveloping more models in theOM series, as well as othertypes of mic’s. With the adventof the OM-3 and OM-5, thingsstarted to gather momentum.Portland is only a couple ofhours away from Seattle, andwhen the Northwest musicscene took off, many of theartists realized that there was alocal company making world-class microphones.

Out Into The World“On one of my trips to LA in

the early ’90s,” Cliff Castlerecalls, “I met with Dave Rat, who ownsRat Sound—one of the large touringsound companies. He was working withmany of the big Seattle bands, as well aswith The Red Hot Chili Peppers. We lethim try our newest mic’ at the time—theOM-7—and he flipped. After extensivetesting with his monitor rig, he found thatit outperformed his other stage mic’s interms of sound quality and gain-before-feedback. He started using our mic’s forlead vocals with all these groups.”

Cliff grins, adding, “We knew we were

getting somewhere when the cover ofTime magazine in October of ’93 was ashot of Eddie Vedder singing into anAudix mic’!”

By the mid-’90s, Audix was firmlyestablished as a manufacturer, with theability to design and build prototypesquickly. This allowed them to experimentwith application-specific microphones,which led to the debut of the D series.This was perhaps the first time any manu-facturer had come out with an entire lineof microphones designed from the begin-

ning as drum-specific mic’s. (More aboutthem later.) At the same time, Audix alsodeveloped several large- and small-diaphragm condenser microphones, aswell as their highly successful Micro-series.

Design And PrototypesAs we started our tour of the Audix

production facility, they were in theprocess of turning out a batch of D6 bod-ies. One of the production rooms con-tained a pallet of raw 2" aluminum bar

stock on one side, and hundreds ofgleaming new D-6 bodies on the other.The interesting thing is what happens inbetween.

Dave Weesner, Audix’s director ofmachinery, works on the physical designof a microphone, from the initial comput-er drafting to the production process. AsDave walked us through the design andmanufacturing process, it was apparentthat the employee philosophy at Audix is“total involvement.” Many of their tech-nicians are cross-trained in several

aspects of production, whichgives them a real sense ofinvolvement with the productsthey’re making.

The design process beginswith a drawing. Says Dave, “Itcould be anything from aquick sketch to a fairly elabo-rate drawing. Usually thereare several variations for anygiven microphone idea. Oneof the nice things about hav-ing our entire process in-house is that we can turn con-cepts into prototypes rightaway. So when we have anidea—or several variations onan idea—we can build themall.”

But before machine meetsmetal to make a microphone,Dave has to tell the machineswhat to do. First he creates adetailed computer drawingof the mic’ body, and then heuses some elaborate softwareto turn the drawing into a setof instructions for the CNC(computer numerical con-trolled) machines that actual-

ly make the mic’ bodies. Once this isdone, the prototype process can contin-ue.

Once Audix has created several differ-ent prototypes, how do they decide whichversion ultimately makes it to the pro-duction line? By a process known as betatesting. The mic’s go out to various engi-neers and artists who use them and reportback with their opinions. As an example,the D6 was tested by the sound engineersfor bands such as Blink-182, Pearl Jam,The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Galactic, and

Modern Drummer August 2005126

Bass player-turned-microphone manufacturer Cliff Castle

Mar

k P

arso

ns

Audix CorporationPO Box 4010

Wilsonville, OR 97070

In Canada, C-Tec tel 604-942-1001fax 604-942-1010

®Audix Corp 2005.All rights reserved.

Audix and the Audix logoare trademarks of Audix

Corporation.

FOR A DEALER NEAR YOU CALL: 800-966-8261TEL: 503-682-6933 FAX: 503-682-7114 www.audixusa.com

Performanceis everything!

OM-5From the minute you hit the stage to

the end of your second encore.

The Audix OM-5 has got you covered.

Every whisper, every scream, and every

word in between.

Your Audix OM-5 delivers your

performance flawlessly.

Without a hint of distortion or

feedback.

For the performance of a lifetime,

Nothing should come between you

and your audience.

Except, of course, your OM-5.

Imagine a complete recording studiothat’s set up in a room the size of a largeclub, and that also features a full-sizestage complete with drumkit, mic’s, mon-itors, instruments, amps, and a profes-sional PA system.

ProductsWhen it comes to microphones, Audix

pretty much covers the field, both onstage and in the studio. They offer vocaland instrument mic’s, in dynamic andcondenser versions. Of special interest todrummers is the fact that over half of themic’s in Audix’s lineup are either drum-specific or have drumset applications.

The drum-related lines include the D

series (five professional dynamicsdesigned for drums), the i5 dynamicinstrument mic’, the SCX-1 and SCX-25small and large professional condensers,the Micro-D clip-on condensers fordrums, the Fusion Series (value-priceddrum mic’s), the ADX-51 (electret small-diaphragm condenser), and the CX-111(large-diaphragm studio condenser). (Seethe sidebar for details on these mic’s.)

Additionally, Audix offers half a dozen“drum packs” featuring their D series promic’s and their Fusion series affordablemic’s. Also available are three innovativedrum-specific mic’ mounting systems: theD-Vice, D-Clamp, and D-Flex mounts.

Future PlansSo, what’s new from Audix, and what’s

coming up around the bend? “For drum-mers,” replies Cliff Castle, “we recentlyreleased the i5, and we’ve been gettingvery good feedback on it. And we’re re-formatting our drum packs to give drum-mers better options when it comes to buy-ing one set of mic’s for the entire drum-set. We’ve also made some modificationsto our SCX-25, which is a great overheadmic’. The updated SCX-25A is just nowstarting to ship.”

Audix has also just released the CX-112, an updated version of their large stu-dio condenser, and they’ve got some newminiature mic’s in the works. Andalthough they don’t want to say too muchjust yet, keep your eyes open for somevery high-end condenser products from

them in the not-too-distant future.“We’re always pushing the envelope,”

says Cliff, smiling. “We love creatingnew designs and making new products.Fred and I are constantly on the lookoutfor a new challenge.”

Marc Wilson is in charge of the sophisticatedelectronic testing given to

finished products.

Audix mic’s are put to practical tests on the company’s sound stage.

Modern Drummer August 2005 131

Electronic QCMarc Wilson handles quality control

for Audix, which involves electronic test-ing of finished products. Every micro-phone is checked before being etchedwith its brand and model information andthen shipped. The test consists of a com-parison analysis, in which the finishedmic’ is compared to a known reference,and the resulting frequency response isanalyzed on a computer screen. The prod-uct being tested must be within very closetolerances of the reference in order topass this stage.

There is also a similar test for phase, aswell as a vocal test (primarily to checkthe mic’s proximity and polar pattern).Additionally, Audix has developed anautomated station where microphones canbe tested and then laser-engraved, all byrobot. From there, the mic’s are packedand shipped.

What’s Inside?All of the above explains the design

and production of the physical product.But what about the internals, and mostimportantly, the sound? For that, we metwith the other leading light of Audix,Fred Bigeh. You might expect the direc-tor of product design & manufacturing ata major mic’ manufacturer to be a “suit &

tie” guy behind a desk. Fred is wearingjeans, a T-shirt, and running shoes. (Bothhe and Cliff Castle are runners.)

Considering the way Fred conducts hisbusiness, those running shoes are a prac-tical choice. During our visit he wasbouncing around the facility from depart-ment to department, checking on thingsand “talking tech” with the staff. Fromlistening to him discuss acoustics andmicrophones, it’s clear that this is a manwho spends a large part of his wakinghours thinking about new mic’ designsand better ways to manufacture them.

Fred led us on a whirlwind tour of thesteps involved in creating a mic’ capsulefrom scratch. We looked at coil winders,magnetizers, and some very high-techrobotic machinery (of Audix’s propri-etary design) that can assemble a capsulewith extreme precision and minimaladded mass. To ensure that every stepalong the way is optimized, Audixemploys measuring equipment usuallyfound only in laboratories. They alsohave an anechoic chamber (a completelynon-reverberant room) where they per-form detailed acoustic tests on their newdesigns.

Before a product goes out into the fieldfor beta testing, it gets a thorough work-out in Audix’s 5,000-sq. ft. sound room.

A D6 microphone body starts out as aluminum bar stock… and comes out of the CNC machine as a finished product.

Audix makes lots of prototypes before settling on a final design. All of these i5 prototypes led to the finished versionshown in the product sidebar.

Tower Of Power. It’s still the kick mic’

of choice for several of those test groups.

After the mic’s are put through the

wringer by the beta testers, they go into

production. That’s where we came in,

watching bars of solid aluminum being

turned into D6 bodies. And how does this

happen? Mostly through the magic of

CNC.M a n u f a c t u r i n g

On a standard milling machine, the

part is fixed and the tools turn. On the

machine that makes the Audix D6 bodies,

both the part and the tools rotate, with

movement possible in all directions.

There are sixty tools housed inside,

which the machine can change auto-

matically in order to drill, cut, grind, mill,

and shave all in one complex operation.

This allows the machine to turn out a

completed D6 body every few minutes.

Audix considered outsourcing the pro-

duction of this mic’ body to a precision

machine shop. But the cost of just the body

alone would be higher than the current

dealer cost of the complete microphone.

The Audix manufacturing facility looks more like a science lab than a factory.

Dave Weesner (left) supervises Audix’s machining operations. Fred Bigeh (right) is director of product design &manufacturing.

Audix

Manufacturing