We receive a number of press releases from manufacturers. Most are informative and helpful, and whenever we see something we think would interest you, we pass it along. We also get occasional press releases that are pretty useless as well. Frankly, I don't care what microphones Aerosmith endorses.

But here's one piece of information I almost threw away. A news release from EV from several years ago mentions that "The 'World's Loudest Band', heavy metal group Manowar, and their sound design technician John Stillwell, heartily endorse the EV series of N/DYM microphones ..." It goes on to say that "Manowar set the sound record, listed in the 1987 edition of the Guiness Book of World Records, when they reached volume in excess of 160 dB." (Yipes!!!!!)

Let's see, that figures out to be about 26 dB beyond the Threshold of Pain (an appropriate name, don't you think?) ­ the sound level at which the listener begins to feel physical pain in their ears. Gee, wasn't that an admirable pursuit!?! Come on, now. Liftoff of a Saturn rocket is around 190 dB. Attending one of Manowar's concerts would be akin to toasting marshmallows at the business end of a 747. Oh, my! No word if that record has been broken since.