Today, Mark Pirro of Placid Audio joins us for a feature interview and we review one of his more recent products: the Carbonphone.

Mark discusses his music career as bassist for the Polyphonic Spree and Tripping Daisy. He also explains the conception of his first mic, the Copperphone, and how it lead to the birth of his microphone manufacturing company, Placid Audio. Placid specializes in FX or narrow-bandwidth character mics. Mark shares a few stories from his career thus far, including a security mishap at an airport involving a Copperphone.

In today's segment, we review one of Mark's mics, the Carbonphone. We try it on several sources, including bottom snare mic, and a supplementary mic on guitar and leslie cabinets. We also test the included tone box by cycling through its various settings when using it in conjunction with a condenser microphone.

Carbonphone on Snare Bottom
Carbonphone below snare
Tonebox for the Carbonphone

5 positions selectable via a rotary dial

Snare top: Lauten Torch

(cardioid capsule)