Recording Mag Review: DynaCaster

Founded in 2000, the 20-year sE story includes a host of great-sounding, innovative and affordable mics. The latest chapter is an active, phantom-powered dynamic mic with six tone options. Now that’s a dynamite plot twist!

The DynaCaster
At its core, the DynaCaster is a dy-namic broadcast microphone for vocal performances such as podcasts, stream-ing, professional voice-over (VO) work, vocal tracking and gaming.

The compact, durable 2.44″ x 8.66″ all-metal DynaCaster sports the sE black and red color scheme with a clean, modern aesthetic. Like most broadcast mics, it is a front-address design. The DynaCaster features a DMC8 cardioid capsule with an aluminum voice coil and a neodymium magnet based on similar V series designs. This is housed behind a triple-layered pop filter system with an internal shock mount.

This obstruction-free pop filtration system protects well from plosives or unexpected wind blasts. Still, the DynaCaster is also equipped with an optional external windscreen for persistent P-poppers, offering one more layer of protection. This triple mesh housing is easy to disassemble and reassemble for cleaning and sanitizing.As someone who works at a professional VO facility, this is much appreciated.

On the rear of the mic is a collection of recessed tone switches, and the mic features a robust attached swivel mount with an extensive range of motion. This is also where you will find the shielded, gold-plated XLR connectors designed to reduce electrical interference.

DYNAMITE
Where many classic dynamic broadcast microphones are notoriously low-powered, here you can employ +48V phantom power on your preamp or interface and get +30dB of gain added to the signal, thanks to the implementation of a built-in sE DYNAMITE Preamp. This variation of the company’s popular barrel-style in-line preamp employs class-A electronics to give the DynaCaster a boost. Rather than pushing the gain from your microphone preamp and raising the noise floor considerably, this ad-ditional gain boost results in a lower noise floor and better transparency in your overall recording. When the rear DYNAMITE I/O switch is off, the Dy-naCaster remains a traditional passive dynamic microphone.

Tone Shaping
The DynaCaster offers a dynamic range of 20 Hz to 19 kHz with six EQ combinations via the rear recessed slid-ers. Its frequency plot shows the mic to

 be relatively neutral with gentle low-end roll-off from 100 Hz on down, with slight presence peaks at 3 kHz, 6.5 kHz and 9 kHz with equally small dips in between. With the low-frequency EQ, you can boost the low-end 3–5dB from 100 to 400 Hz, offering a more rounded body to your source. Alternatively, it may be set as a high-pass filter in a similar frequency range to remove the boomin

ess if there is too much mud or low-end in your recording.

The high shelf filter is a great option to add upper presence and high-end sheen to your sound with a choice of 3.5 or 7dB boosts at the frequencies mentioned above.

Versatility

The DynaCaster is unique in the world of both broadcast and dynamic mics in general. The added gain for quiet sources and voicing options make it a practical choice for musical instruments like drums and electric guitar as well as voice. As such, I tested it not only on vocals but also on a guitar amp. On my voice, right up on the mic, I kept the low-end flat to take ad-vantage of the proximity effect and boosted the high frequencies to the top position. That was the sweet spot. I found the same settings worked well on a guitar amp, offering a clean, full sound that I would not hesitate to use both in the studio and on the stage. This mic is built to travel with its rugged construction and recessed switches that avoid accidental bumping.

Conclusion
I use broadcast mics on a regular basis at my job and I was not prepared for how much the sE Electronics DynaCaster impressed me. Whether on voice or guitar, it was easy to dial in the right tone to cap-ture a rich and full sound. This mic makes it easy to get what you need and so much more at a great price point.

Massive thanks to Recording Mag and reviewer Christopher Wright for a genuine and honest review!