Remic D5400 Mic & Artist Announcement

The Story Of How It All Started

While playing electric bass on the 2-Tone Tribute Tour back in 2018 with The Special Brew. The head sound engineer mentioned Remic Mics to me. He knew I played upright bass & really liked using them in a live situation.

He sent me a link to the artist programme that they run. I saw quite a few familiar faces on there & decided to enquire & conduct some research.

I was accepted into the artist program & then work got a tight grip on me, I forgot about the mic!!

Cut to lockdown II - Wales. I'm playing a lot more double bass with the Jazz Quintet- The Bakery & my current mic set up just wasn't cutting it anymore.

I emailed Nils & enquired to see if my artist status was still active......It was!

With some more up to date research I chose the Remic D5400 (Studio/Live) for my double bass.

Disclaimer. This article/review isn't paid, engineered or edited by Remic. I did receive the mic as part of the Remic Artist Programme.

The Mic

I opened the package & was instantly met with a quality hard case. Very sturdy & traditionally stylish too!

With the installation instructions on the case I was set to go. Opening the case revealed a pouch which held the mic.

Picking up the mic for the first time & examining it, I was very pleased. The soft covering on the cable akin to a shoelace stops the "clattering" of heavy rubberised cables hitting your bass dead in it's tracks.

The soft outer layer of the mic feels very sturdy but, will not damage the bass with installation due to the soft covering.

Following along the mic we find the anchor. Which acts as both a counter weight & "wedge" just to give you the added security and safety or harnessing the mic securely.

Overall, very very light but robust, excellently manufactured & smart looking.

Installation

How easy could it be? Very easy! I watched a few videos on how to install, along with the instructions on the case. Firstly I decided to mount the mic under the fingerboard. I placed the mic in position along with the anchor.

Job done! I trailed the cable over the upper bout/shoulder temporarily. In this position it didn't interfere with my playing or look out of place either.

Other installation places to try & use are - under the bridge & under the tailpiece. I'm really looking forward to trying the mic placement in these areas, but I'm vey happy with it under the fingerboard.

Sound & Usage

I plugged the mic straight into one of my audio interfaces. I wanted to get a realistic clean sound without a pre amp or eq to start.

The mic has plenty of headroom with a very nice natural sounding timbre. It is sensitive, more so than my previous double bass mic but this is a joy not a problem.

Although I will be using this predominantly in the studio, I will try it out live in a small, quiet ensemble. I think it would work very well.

My double bass is a flat back thin line bass with quite high string height from the fingerboard.

For my initial trial off the mic I stuck to playing pizzicato in 1/2, 1st & 2nd position to get a real feel of what this mic can handle in the lowest registers.

Following this I played higher up the fingerboard to see what it could it do!

The timbre, volume & overall sound of this mic is superb! Very clear & defined notes coming through, along with (depending on positioning) rounded wooden tone. With some basic eq the bass sings & cuts through very nicely. String noise comes through along with any other knocks or scrapes you make, which I find useful to improve as player & keep everything nice & clean. So make sure you're comfortable & won't be moving around too much.

Overall the build quality, ease of installation/removal & superb sound of the mic set it miles apart from any others I've used. I will be using this mic mainly in a studio/session setting, but will be looking forward to trying it out live in a quiet Jazz setting.

I would like to thank Rob, the sound engineer who told me about Remic firstly. Also thanks to the Remic team. Especially Nils the artist manager of the Remic endorsement program.

You can find out more about Remic Mics on their website here

The in-depth specifications of the D5400 can be found here

Phill.