Cheap chinese microphones vindicated

lexdrummer

lexdrummer

mix mono
I have been surprised by the performance of the all too often bashed chinese mics and have sound files to prove it. Anyone else?

If possible, it would be great for all you folks to post links to your files in vindication that Chinese mics the likes of nady, behringer, mxl and otherwise can be used to great effect.

here is one from me: http://3box3.com/grampahs_hats_sunshine_lady.htm

the page is complete with explanation and setup.

thanks for your participation,

-lexdrummer
 
Where have you been? If you want to get deep into Chinese mics, then this is the place. Some get bashed but some such as Studio Projects or MXL should pay royalties for Dragon for all the free PR they get here.
 
I know. But there are still tons of less than confident replies, averting to "it's no neuman" and such. I just tend to see things in the value of ear and placement with whatever...
If a cats ass could record with the proper placement, I'm on it. No want for anything more.
 
lexdrummer said:
I know. But there are still tons of less than confident replies, averting to "it's no neuman" and such. I just tend to see things in the value of ear and placement with whatever...
If a cats ass could record with the proper placement, I'm on it. No want for anything more.
Click to expand...

Most of the guys saying "it's no Neumann" have never even seen a real Neumann let alone touched one. Generally, you get what you pay for in microphones. I think the Audio-Technica AT40 series is an exception where you get a little more than your money's worth.

On the Chinese mics specifically, I believe I currently own two models of Chinese mics. I have a Studio Projects B1, which I keep for guitar amps only. I have a pair of Groove Tubes GT33.
 
good set. do you have any russian mics (another topic thread)?

listen to dullums aspire recorded with a octava 219 ($249.00) , mp tube pre, rnc.


nice rounded chracter
 
I had an ADK A-48 and a pair of Groove Tubes GT44's. They were pretty nice, particularly for the price. I just do acoustic stuff, and other mics I have work better for that. So I sold them.
 
cheap mics

Its too bad the beatles arent around anymore. All it would take is for john or paul to use one chinese mic in some concert and every dad with the money to buy whatever $4000 mic he wants would start collecting and singing the praise of chinese mics. Honestly i think these days the better equipment you have the worse your songs sound. Kinda like how movies these days look really cool with all the fancy computer shit but the stories and acting suck.
 
planetorange said:
Its too bad the beatles arent around anymore. All it would take is for john or paul to use one chinese mic in some concert and every dad with the money to buy whatever $4000 mic he wants would start collecting and singing the praise of chinese mics. Honestly i think these days the better equipment you have the worse your songs sound. Kinda like how movies these days look really cool with all the fancy computer shit but the stories and acting suck.
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nice analogy. I find digital recording, by it's very nature of mathmatics to be overly exact. I tested this theory with a behringer b1, designed after a fifties model...i can't remember which, but anyway, it lended a rather tube-ish warmth to the track. Straight into the board and then to hard disk in 24/96. I think Uli had this in mind in some measure when he picked the design for the b1. With a good pre you can focus this b1 sound in a busy mix with care. Still has that hint of warmth which is really a wobbling of the frequencies, yet pleasing nonetheless.

so....sometimes throwing a bit of mud in the digital mix is just what the doctor ordered. Thwarting all those busy and accurate bits usually does wonders.

Of course...getting a focused signal on the track and then later dithering back in the noise is cool too, only you don't get a chance to "musically" work with the mud on the mic as an instrument in the creativeness. Thus getting too much clarity can show the deficiencies of the microphone design. Which, by the way, is relevant to upper level and priced microphones as well.
 
deep SPB1 and U87 thoughts...fried thoughts

i have a Ford Escort-SPB1, its no Ferrari-U87.
It gets me to work and back.
i can drive 55mph in my Escort-SPB1 just like a Ferrari-U87.
so in a sense their the same.
so i convince myself I don't really need a Ferrari-U87...
all i need is 55mph, from point A to B= Escort-SPB1, it even uses less gas!!!
maybe it is better!??!!!!
(but its really because I can't afford a Ferrari-U87....)

Why does everyone, who can have any microphone in the world, choose Nueman? are they all just fooled by the marketing hype??? :eek: Abbey Road?? Capitol??? damn thats some serious Jedi-mind trick marketing. :confused:
why? why didn't Abbey Road go with Shure SM57's for their "go to" vocal microphone?? hmmm and how about Sears guitars instead of Fenders and Rickenbackers??? :eek:
was it all just marketing?? my brother whos been playing his whole life to 48, said he just got a Walmart guitar and said "it sounded great." the whole band said "damn that sounds to good to be a kiddie starter guitar!!"

Yamaha copied Martin guitars note for note in the begining.
I can't afford a Martin, but have loved my Yamaha for many a year.
It stays in tune and I can record it with a microphone.
So its as good as a Martin.

chineese mics...what does that term mean?
i didn't know molecular structure was different overseas?? :confused:

and Those Crappy MP3 things...!! kinda like our old scratchy record player that had fold out speakers. Records would skip so bad, we had to tape quarters on the needle arm to keep the needle from jumping,
so we could pretend we were the Beatles playing I FEEL FINE! back then we just used wooden yardsticks as the guitar and a broom handle was the microphone! doh!! :)


:rolleyes:
 
spin it like it is coolcat!

I think it is at thelisteningsessions.com that, after all this great equipment and microphone display which is a gold mine for any would be upscaler to sift through for sounds...there is a file with a metal band playing a metal chair of all things which created a signature snare drum sound.

metal chair + sm57 ... $115.00
not having to deal with "Who's fired for taking the Neuman out of it's shock Mount!"
-priceless
 
lexdrummer said:
spin it like it is coolcat!

I think it is at thelisteningsessions.com that, after all this great equipment and microphone display which is a gold mine for any would be upscaler to sift through for sounds...there is a file with a metal band playing a metal chair of all things which created a signature snare drum sound.

metal chair + sm57 ... $115.00
not having to deal with "Who's fired for taking the Neuman out of it's shock Mount!"
-priceless
Click to expand...

That would be the St Anger tribute, and I think you're missing the point. The point was that Metallica's St Anger sounds like crap, and the snare sounds like a garbage can or steel chair or something, so Matt Smith, in making fun of the album, recorded an actual steel chair as a snare sound. It's a joke. And it sounds like crap. On purpose.
 
TheOneTrueMatt said:
That would be the St Anger tribute, and I think you're missing the point. The point was that Metallica's St Anger sounds like crap, and the snare sounds like a garbage can or steel chair or something, so Matt Smith, in making fun of the album, recorded an actual steel chair as a snare sound. It's a joke. And it sounds like crap. On purpose.
Click to expand...


oh man i laughed my ass off at that song!!!! after i heard it, i went and listened to Metallica's St Anger, and damn the steel chair almost sounds BETTER than Lars' snare!

anyway, back on topic, i own a couple of Oktava MC-012 which i guess would be a chinese version of a russian mic, and they have served me well as drum overheads. can't say that i've used em for much else, but they do the job quite nicely. good enough for me to not want to upgrade them any time soon. :)
 
lexdrummer said:
I find digital recording, by it's very nature of mathmatics to be overly exact. I tested this theory with a behringer b1, designed after a fifties model ...i can't remember which, but anyway, it lended a rather tube-ish warmth to the track.
Click to expand...

That's a great mic to test your theory out with. Come to think of it, whenever I hear stuff tracked with a Behringer B1, all I can think of is "warmth" and "tubes."

I think Uli had this in mind in some measure when he picked the design for the b1.
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Yes, I'm sure the great mic designer, Uli Behringer, had this in mind.

With a good pre you can focus this b1 sound in a busy mix with care. Still has that hint of warmth which is really a wobbling of the frequencies, yet pleasing nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Yea ... the first thing I want to do when I pull out a really good pre is to use it on something warm like a Behringer B1. This "wobbling of the frequencies" you refer to, though ... is really more like the wobbling of my brain as I read your posts.

so....sometimes throwing a bit of mud in the digital mix is just what the doctor ordered. Thwarting all those busy and accurate bits usually does wonders.

Of course...getting a focused signal on the track and then later dithering back in the noise is cool too, only you don't get a chance to "musically" work with the mud on the mic as an instrument in the creativeness. Thus getting too much clarity can show the deficiencies of the microphone design. Which, by the way, is relevant to upper level and priced microphones as well.
Click to expand...


Where do you get some of this crap? What does this even mean?

.
 
noisedude said:
LMAO @ Cressrock! :D I can only see this thread going downhill from here. :D
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How on earth can it go down any further than it already is?

We've got Uli Freakin' Behringer designing his own 50's style microphones, for cryin' out loud.
 
chessrock said:
How on earth can it go down any further than it already is?

We've got Uli Freakin' Behringer designing his own 50's style microphones, for cryin' out loud.
Click to expand...
Erm .... he did say this:

I think Uli had this in mind in some measure when he picked the design for the b1.
Click to expand...
I think we've got Uli Behringer picking ready-made designs for microphones. Whether he thinks that's from designers at Behringer, or whether they're at Mackie, Genelec, Roland or dbx where he picks the rest of his designs from, is impossible to say. :D :D
 
lexdrummer said:
Thus getting too much clarity can show the deficiencies of the microphone design. Which, by the way, is relevant to upper level and priced microphones as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The stunning accuracy and detail of Schoeps and Microtech Gefell mics (among others) truly reveals the deficiencies these mics have.
 
sdelsolray said:
Yeah. The stunning accuracy and detail of Schoeps and Microtech Gefell mics (among others) truly reveals the deficiencies these mics have.
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George Neumann was a big fan of muddy low end, scooped mids and brittle highs. Look it up! That's what he was going for! To bad he was such a failure.
 
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