PreSonus PRM1 Reference Microphone

With PreSonus®’ PRM1 Precision Reference Microphone and the company’s free Virtual StudioLive™ (VSL) mixer-control software with Smaart® Measurement Technology, StudioLive 24.4.2 and 16.4.2 digital mixer owners can have a complete, powerful, and affordable, audio-analysis and correction system.

A measurement, or “reference,” microphone is special type of condenser microphone that is designed to provide an accurate reproduction of a room's sound characteristics for use with audio-analysis tools, such as real-time analyzers (RTAs) and spectrographs. While measurement microphones can be quite expensive, the affordable PreSonus PRM1 delivers high-quality results.

Because measurement mics do not color the sound, we would not employ a PRM1 to fatten up a recording of our CFO’s reaction when he saw our proposed marketing budget for this year. But it’s the right mic for tuning a sound system to reproduce those sounds accurately in a room.

The PRM1 employs a 1/4" pre-polarized electret-condenser capsule and delivers a linear frequency response between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. Like most measurement mics, it has an omnidirectional polar pattern. Sensitivity is rated at -37 dB/Pa, EIN (A-weighted) at 26 dB, S/N ratio at 70 dB, dynamic range at 106 dB, and maximum SPL at 132 dB SPL.

The mic has an all-metal chassis and comes with a clip, foam windscreen, and hard case.

VSL’s Smaart System Check Wizards step StudioLive 24.4.2 and 16.4.2 users through the process of viewing the frequency-response trace of a venue, calculating and setting delay-system timing, and verifying output connectivity. To use them, you need to connect a measurement microphone to the StudioLive mixer’s Talkback input. That’s where the PRM1 comes in. With the PRM1 mic, a StudioLive mixer, and VSL with Smaart, it’s easy to do tasks that once required extensive engineering know-how.