Got a MK319 for free!!!!!!!!

[Jblount]

Yes thats right, today I got a MK319 for free. I am an electrician on a job with 6 other guys, and today we recycled some copper wire that was just lying around the site. I didnt think it would be much until we split the profit of $700.00. I drove across the street to guitar center. I waltzed in with $96 dollars in my pocket and was just looking at mics on the shelf. Then the helpful attendent came up and asked if he could help. I told him I was looking at the MK319, but couldnt buy it today because it was list priced at $99.00. The guy (Mike) said that was no problem. He let me have it for $85.00 out the door. I was floored. It didnt come with the shock mount, it was not included in the original price, and they didnt have any in stock. But I can pick it up thursday for about $20.00.
So now that I got one, share your secrets with using it. Any tips, do's and dont's. What all have you recorded with it? I would appreciate all coments, thanks.
GC is not all that bad!

[OnTheBlackRock]

First off dude... I got an MK319 for 59.99 ... Let a 16 year old tell you a little secret.. There is something called a Wholesale Price and a Retail Price... The wholesale price is what the dealers such as guitar center and mars music etc. pay for their supplies such as the MK319... guitar center since they buy in bulk probably got the MK319's for around 49.99 each mic but to make their profit and pay off what they paid the Oktava dealer they jack up the price to 99.99 (which is the RETAIL price your paying). Next time you go to guitar center just for fun or if you wanna buy something tell him you dont have enough money to put out on something (such as the shockmount for you mic) and say you can pay 10 bucks ... I bet he'll give it to you for 13 .... There yah go.

[Jblount]

Thats ok dude, it was still free for me!

[maestro_dmc]

Dude, you're such a little snot.

Those mic's are discontinued too by the way, so everyones blowing them out right now.

Next time you go to guitar center just for fun or if you wanna buy something tell him you dont have enough money to put out on something

Also the advice you gave him is more or less EXACTLY WHAT HE DID ALREADY! So how smart alecy are you now?

[Jblount]

Thanks maestro,

[Richard Monroe]

Well, too bad they're discontinued, I find the MK319 a very useful mic. It tends to be dark, and I find it particularly useful for scrubbing the piercing highs off one of my main backing vocalists. It's also good for anything that's just too damn bright. We've used it successfully on violin and mandolin for that reason. It's simply an excellent vocal mic for some vocalists. It's not good for everything, but when it is, it is *very* good.. For a sample, my first MP3 is up, and the backing vocal was done with a 319 into a Joemeek twinQ. Sorry it's hard to separate the two voices. Carolyn sticks to me like glue.-Richie

Here's the link:
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=3239/album680

[darrin_h2000]

I got mine at MF for $35.

[Jblount]

I am like when the coyote finally caught the road-runner, he held up a sign that read, "now that I got it, what do I do with it?" That is my question, what are some secrets with using it, it dosnt matter that you can get them cheapier at other places, it basically fell in my lap.

[coplinger]

Originally posted by darrin_h2000
I got mine at MF for $35.

How'd you swing that?? I see they're 'on sale' for $99 at MF now.

[willovercome]

i got mine for $4.00 how does that make his deal any worse? there's nothing worse than someone who feels the need to rain on everyone else's parade.

[BlindCowboy]

DUDE!

Can't anyone SEE the question?!?

Anyways, he got it for $FREE$ which is cheaper than 59, or 40, or 4 or 2. And who gives a flying frog fart if it's discontinued or not?!? I can't even tell you how many mics are discontinued that are still WIDELY USED AND SOUGHT AFTER today.

Anyways,

I use my 319s (2 of 'em) for overheads, micing my guitar cab, and female vocals. It has a crisper sound to it than my other mics. It seems to compliment mids/highs with a little cutoff on the lows that i'm not crazy about. Hell of an all around good mic. Offset it on vocals as kind of a room mic. Nice.

Just play and have fun with your new addition. That shockmount's not worth the $20 though. I got mine and did mods on it to keep the banding together. Unless you've got vibration problems, just stick with the mount it came with.

Congratulations!!

Blind Cowboy...

[cominginsecond]

He didn't get it for free. He could have spent that copper wire money on anything. He could have gotten a B1 or an Audio Buddy or cabling, or, for that matter, 100 tacos. He didn't get a free MK319, he got free money.

Which is still bitchin'.

[BlindCowboy]

What I want to know is what sucker paid for a job that had $700 in extra copper after it was finished?

Or if it was a demolition:

What demo company didn't salvage the wire themselves?

[Jblount]

The kind of sucker that owns a 40K sqft warehouse with several pieces of machinery that total up to well over 1.2million dollars. I am sure, he didnt miss 700 bucks worth of scrap wire laying around!

100 tacos, although sounds tasty, didnt come to mind, where were you at when that money was burning a hole in my pocket, dang.

So you can use them for overheads, blind? I will try that. Anyone else got any secrets? I want to learn to use this mic for all its worth, weither its $2 or $200.

[BlindCowboy]

Ah, it was a BIG wiring job.

Well, now. That makes sense!

[Jblount]

Actually, this is probably the smallest job I have been on in about 3 years. We have worked in a plant that manufactures butter. The tubs, quarts, the sticks, the squeeze. All different brands. The place had about 3000 employees.

[OnTheBlackRock]

a couple ways i use mine are...

right in the middle of the speaker of my guitar amps to catch the whole sound but make it a little darker.. (I have to put most other mics below the speaker but i dont get the "in your face sound")
also I use it as a room mic (sometimes) when I'm recording drums
and another way I use it (I will totally get bashed for saying this) is under my drummer's hi-hat... why dont I just use an SM57 you may ask... well for one reason... the SM57 is a great all around mic dont get me wrong but for my drummers hi-hats he uses a custom made one which the hz scale is alot higher than normal ones you buy in stores (i dont know much about it... my drummer could ramble on about it though) and so the MK319 definitly levels out the highs that come from it.

[willovercome]

i was joking i didn't really get mine for $4. i was just saying no matter how much someone paid for it it doesn't make a difference.

i like the 319 for some acoustic guitars in certain circumstances. some voices sound good through it. it makes a good room mike for electrics.

[Jblount]

This is my first real condensor mic, so excuse me for being ignorant, but what about the settings on the mic itself? What are they and what do they do?

[darrin_h2000]

I got mine for that price because I live near the Musicians friend clearence center in Kansas city, and mine had a slight blemmish. nothing to do with the sound just a bit of a scratch on the body.

[Jblount]

What all have you used it for, Darrin?

[darrin_h2000]

So far I use it for when I want a dark vocal, It sounds exellent on my voice if Im singing a soulful song, or a girl that sounds too harsh in the high range. It has a nice roll-off for that. Ill then use an exciter to restore Harmonics.

Its good to live close to the MF distributer, Ive saved tens and thousands on equipment there.