Review - LCT 240 PRO vs LCT 440 PURE

Vocals

On a quick spoken word sample, the outcome was, for me, the same. I prefer the LCT 440 PURE’s smoother and more malleable output, but the LCT 240 PRO works pretty well too. Both would make terrific podcast microphones – the LCT 240 PRO’s more cutting sound might actually work well for those who are not prepared or willing to fiddle with eq in post.

I’ve been using the fantastic LEWITT LCT 640 TS in stereo mode as my microphone of choice for drum overheads for the past few months. The instrumental booth in my little studio boudoir is tiny and a big drum set can be a squeeze. With the LCT 640 TS, placed over the left shoulder of the drummer from behind, I get a fantastic, no compromise overhead sound and save the space that using two mics would occupy. For this example, I placed the LCT 440 PURE on a short bracket, parallel to the LCT 640 TS to see how it would perform as a mono overhead.

Very well, it turns out. Sorry for not having tested the LCT 240 PRO on this, but it was a busy session and I just couldn't squeeze three microphones in there. 

Though it’s hard to compare a stereo track with a mono one, it seems to me that the LCT 440 PURE is in a similar ballpark with the LCT 640 TS, with the same ability to capture the full spectrum of the drums with detail that is clear and natural and most importantly never straining or harsh, particularly on the cymbals. The drums are played by the brilliant London drummer Tom Clarke. 

Percussion

Next, I recorded some congas and bongos with the new mics. They both worked really well, listen for yourself.

Again, I prefer the more linear capture of the LCT 440 PURE, because I could shape it the way I want it when mixing, but the slightly more cutting rendition of the LCT 240 PRO leaves nothing to be desired.

Acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar was quite a revelation – on this particular guitar (a Guild D-150) I actually preferred the zingier, slightly more forward capture of the LCT 240 PRO.

That surprised me since I was expecting the more cutting voice of the LCT 240 PRO to bring up maybe too much grit and string noise, whereas it proved to be perfect.

My wiser self would steer me towards the LCT 440 PURE and a touch of eq in the mix, but maybe it’s the inner nerd rather than the wiser self.

If you are primarily interested in recording acoustic guitar both of these mics would be great budget choices, with the 240 PRO giving ready to go results and the 440 PURE something to satisfy the mix fiddler.

Electric guitar

Electric guitars and LDCs can be a marriage made in hell - I’ve mostly used ribbons or condenser on my amps – having said that since I had my two LCT 550s and the LCT 640 TS I’ve been less shy at aiming condensers at a speaker, since the LEWITTs capture a lot of detail without that white noise harshness that can be so annoying on guitar tracks. I had good hopes for the LCT 440 PURE, and, I admit, less so for the LCT 240 PRO, but they both surprised me.

On this clean track the recording chain is Jazzmaster > Celmo Sardine Can Compressor > Malekko ID 600 Dark (for a touch of delay) > Fender Deluxe Reverb.

Sounds great, there are differences between the two but I would be happy with both.

On this fuzzy guitar example the chain was Jazzmaster > Zvex Fat Fuzz Factory > Celmo Sardine Can > Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret Mark III > Fender Deluxe Reverb.

Again both sound, really, really good to me. I’d go for the LCT 440 PURE because that’s my taste but I’d have no problem using either.

Conclusions

So, which one to get? If you can spare or save the extra 120 Euros, I'd go for the LCT 440 PURE.

It’s a mic for life that will earn its keep even when you will have pricier numbers in your locker. Like its more expensive LEWITT siblings, it captures a sweet and solid audio picture where all the elements of the source are there and can be sculpted to suit the mix.

Using a photographic analogy, it’s a bit like working with a RAW file rather than a jpeg that has been already processed and compressed for you. It’s not quite as refined as the more expensive numbers in the LEWITT range, but it allows you to achieve similar results for quite a lot less money. It responds beautifully to eq and I can see it delivering in just about any situation it would be thrown at in a project studio.

Having said that, at 149 Euros the LCT 240 PRO is a fantastic entry level microphone.

If your budget is monumentally immutable you can rest assured that there will be nothing in your recordings that will make people think “cheap”. It works well on many sources, excels on acoustic guitar and is built as microphones costing several times the price. 

We’re living in good times - when it comes to gear at least – just a few years ago this level of performance for this kind of money would have been the stuff of dreams…

Photo Credits: Andrea Rocca
Sound Samples: Andrea Rocca

About the Author: 

Andrea Rocca is a composer who is specialized in film and contemporary dance theatre music. From 2004 to 2010 he composed extensively for UK television, with works for Channel4, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 5. In 2010 he scored Luigi Lo Cascio’s award winning theatre production La Caccia and the contemporary dance production Frames for Toronto based company Zata Omm Dance Projects. To date his feature film work includes the British feature The Hurting, Francesco Martinotti’s Branchie, Marco Risi’s L’Ultimo Capodanno and Tre Mogli, and Gianluca Tavarelli’s Liberi (Break Free), which run at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. His score for Luigi Lo Cascio’s La Città Ideale (The Ideal City), which was premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival – where it won the Arca Cinema award received widespread critical acclaim. He is currently doing preliminary work for a new film which is scheduled to begin shooting in late 2017.