Mic shootout I did. Joly Modded Oktava MK-319 vs Pearlman TM-47 vs Lauten Atlantis

J

jerotas

New member
I wanted to share the results of my 3 mic shootout for anyone who might find it helpful. I'm singing the intro of a Survivor piano track (yes the Eye of the Tiger Band) so you can hear the vocal very well with a sparse mix.

3 Mic shootout, large diaphagm condensors! by Brian Hunsaker | Free Listening on SoundCloud

I already owned the MK-319, which cost me $420 to buy and mod like 15 years ago. I'm happy with it, but I wanted to see whether the Pearlman or Atlantis was better for my voice than the Oktava. The Pearlman runs $2280 and the Atlantis $1500.

I'll let you know what I chose later, but here are the tests with each mic. For the Atlantis there are 3 files because of the 3 pickup patterns.

Let me know which you find to sound best and worst?

The pop filter that I had didn't fit around the Atlantis, so I didn't use it on any of the mics. Some are more sibilant than others. These are all straight into my MOTU Traveler mk3 with the same compression and reverb in Sonar.

Thanks,
-Brian

Welcome to BrianHunsaker.net
 
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I've got a pair of first generation 319s. They do nothing that would make me want to even consider modifying them? I like the sound, and when I want a warm mellow kind of capture, I'll go to them - so that violin that chops your head off gets the 319s and NOT a 414. What do they do 'wrong', and what does this mod actually do? I'm guessing that it just modifies the frequency response curve? Doing the mod physically wouldn't worry me at all from the process point of view, but I n' quite get my head around the growing trend to modify mics or build them out of kits?
 
rob aylestone said:
I've got a pair of first generation 319s. They do nothing that would make me want to even consider modifying them? I like the sound, and when I want a warm mellow kind of capture, I'll go to them - so that violin that chops your head off gets the 319s and NOT a 414. What do they do 'wrong', and what does this mod actually do? I'm guessing that it just modifies the frequency response curve? Doing the mod physically wouldn't worry me at all from the process point of view, but I n' quite get my head around the growing trend to modify mics or build them out of kits?
Click to expand...

I liked my 319 as well pre-mod. But I had 2 so I figured "what the heck" since I could A/B it before and after the mod, based on the dozens of positive reviews on oktavamod.com at the time. When I got it back, the results were night and day. The mod was so much better, clearer and lots of other adjectives. So I modded the other one too.

I didn't want a dark mic necessarily because this was my main vocal mic. Now that it's modded it's great for everything.

Here's the full description about the mod I found online:

"The Michael Joly Engineering Premium Electronics upgrade features a great-sounding, low noise Field Effect Transistor (FET) impedance converter or "front end". The FET I've selected for this application has fast transient response and impressively low self-noise - the already low self-noise centered at 150Hz actually declines another 15dB in the critical 2kHz-4kHz band where we are most sensitive to noise. Recordings made with your MJE MK-319 Classic PE mic will have great clarity, definition and reach without the noise-based graininess that plagues many condenser FET microphones.

And this suite of upgrades includes all the signature Michael Joly Engineering innovations: single layer headbasket conversion, capsule isolation-diffusion mounting for "bonk reduction" and reduced vertical standing wave interference, capsule resonator modification for clearer high end, field-proven MJE Premium Electronics mods and elimination of low cut and roll-off circuits to eliminate stray capacitance losses that rob HF detail and transient response."

From what I understand, the mic modding trend has cooled down a lot now that there are $500 Neumann clones (Warm Audio). I had this modded back in 2008.
 
Hmmm. I think the benefits of having different mics for different jobs means I’ll keep mine original. I appreciate I could brighten them up and I might even like it but then I’ve lost a pair of mics with character. I’d not have that sinking feeling walking into a lively and overly bright space and not having the right tool. I’m not sure what ‘best’ is so if there was a mod to damp down the bright sound of my 414’s would I do that? No. I always buy mics in pairs for stereo recording even though that’s probably 33% of my work but I pick them to ally for jobs. The old acoustic guitar with old strings works better with a bright mic but that really nasty maintenance needed oboe is a great candidate for the Oktava. I’ve hung on to a pair of Samson cheap condensers because they sound good on female heavy choirs. Each mic in my collection has a characteristic sound I find useful. I won’t be joining the tweaking experiment. I worry that for me, it’s just change I don’t seek? Probably I’m just a miserable old Git!
 
rob aylestone said:
Hmmm. I think the benefits of having different mics for different jobs means I’ll keep mine original. I appreciate I could brighten them up and I might even like it but then I’ve lost a pair of mics with character. I’d not have that sinking feeling walking into a lively and overly bright space and not having the right tool. I’m not sure what ‘best’ is so if there was a mod to damp down the bright sound of my 414’s would I do that? No. I always buy mics in pairs for stereo recording even though that’s probably 33% of my work but I pick them to ally for jobs. The old acoustic guitar with old strings works better with a bright mic but that really nasty maintenance needed oboe is a great candidate for the Oktava. I’ve hung on to a pair of Samson cheap condensers because they sound good on female heavy choirs. Each mic in my collection has a characteristic sound I find useful. I won’t be joining the tweaking experiment. I worry that for me, it’s just change I don’t seek? Probably I’m just a miserable old Git!
Click to expand...

Cool. Anyway, Oktavamod closed down. Not sure who is the best modder these days.
 
I wish you could just post the player version of your samples. I dont like downloading unknowns and that file is like 15 Meg or something.... not to complain but just post a player is much easier and you'll get more listeners.

My download went on and on and I just cancelled it, no offense its an un-known source too so...can you post your samples in a Player format here?
 
CoolCat said:
I wish you could just post the player version of your samples. I dont like downloading unknowns and that file is like 15 Meg or something.... not to complain but just post a player is much easier and you'll get more listeners.

My download went on and on and I just cancelled it, no offense its an un-known source too so...can you post your samples in a Player format here?
Click to expand...

It downloaded in a just a couple seconds for me. I don't know how to do a "player", do you have instructions for me?
 
It's a tiny file and on m y pretty fast broadband it's been downloading for 3 minutes so far - something very wrong with the website I think - server on a dial up connection maybe?

Five mins to get it and they all sound very similar bar the Perlman which was harder and brighter. The rest I could happily live with.
 
rob aylestone said:
It's a tiny file and on m y pretty fast broadband it's been downloading for 3 minutes so far - something very wrong with the website I think - server on a dial up connection maybe?
Click to expand...
No, it's on Winhost, not a personal server.

I would appreciate knowing how to put a player in my post.
 
Well - soundcloud is a really popular way to share music and musicians love it - free accounts work fine, and I use it a lot to send music to people who I don't know what kind of computer they have.

HoweverView attachment church recording clip.mp3

Works for me from the advanced menu - but I'm not sure if that is a post count related 'bonus' feature or everyone gets it.
 
rob aylestone said:
Well - soundcloud is a really popular way to share music and musicians love it - free accounts work fine, and I use it a lot to send music to people who I don't know what kind of computer they have.

HoweverView attachment 106874

Works for me from the advanced menu - but I'm not sure if that is a post count related 'bonus' feature or everyone gets it.
Click to expand...

It was pretty easy so you guys convinced me. Modifying OP but check this player instead.

3 Mic shootout, large diaphagm condensors! by Brian Hunsaker | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
Listening several times, I'm surprised I didn't care much for the Pearlman. If had to make a choice, the Lauten in omni would probably be my first choice. The other Lautens were similar but too much bloom on the bottom. The Perlman seemed to lack body. The Octava would be my second choice.

Probably the Omni with a little lift in the "air" frequencies would be perfect.
 
TalismanRich said:
Listening several times, I'm surprised I didn't care much for the Pearlman. If had to make a choice, the Lauten in omni would probably be my first choice. The other Lautens were similar but too much bloom on the bottom. The Perlman seemed to lack body. The Octava would be my second choice.

Probably the Omni with a little lift in the "air" frequencies would be perfect.
Click to expand...

Thanks for weighing in!

I loved the Pearlman but only for baritone stuff. The low end with "air" sounds amazing. But when I sang high notes it had a color I didn't care for, so I went for the Atlantis. So far I prefer the Cardiod mode of it. Initially I thought the Pearlman was the best, but after listening a few times I started to notice those things and my opinion changed.

The Atlantis seems to me like a beefier, more rich version of the Oktava. Is it 4x better than the Oktava? No, but that's not how mic prices work.

I may or may not EQ my mic. I need to try it through my Audient preamp that has this console emulation thing and see if that does the magic it has with my Oktava. I never needed any EQ on the Oktava.
 
The omni setting had a much more even frequency response than all the other examples. The clarity was better also. You seems to have a lot of low-mids in your voice and these examples all demonstrated that part much more than just the mic responses. It's the sort of thing that here in my room could be controlled with simply mic placement and orientation to the source. If you have a decent sounding room, omni will always be the best choice for a vocalist working away from the mic. Having a pre that you can open up without any added noise is also a plus.

I own a 319 that is an original Russian made one that I bought in 2002. I changed the basket and thats it. It has a sound of its own and can be useful. I have better choices in my locker at this point but I still wouldn't sell the Oktava.
 
cavedog101 said:
The omni setting had a much more even frequency response than all the other examples. The clarity was better also. You seems to have a lot of low-mids in your voice and these examples all demonstrated that part much more than just the mic responses. It's the sort of thing that here in my room could be controlled with simply mic placement and orientation to the source. If you have a decent sounding room, omni will always be the best choice for a vocalist working away from the mic. Having a pre that you can open up without any added noise is also a plus.

I own a 319 that is an original Russian made one that I bought in 2002. I changed the basket and thats it. It has a sound of its own and can be useful. I have better choices in my locker at this point but I still wouldn't sell the Oktava.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments.

I definitely don't have a decent sounding room. I record in the back seat of the car (long story but there is no silence in my house with twin 5YO boys and I can't belt out vocals when they're alseep). I have a foam barrier 180 degrees thing that goes behind the mic to cancel a lot of the reflections.

Also, I was recording about 2 inches away from the mic (obviously I backed off a bit for the loud high notes) because I *want* that proximity affect. I wasn't "away from the mic" at all. My other external Audient mic pre is super quiet as well, so I'll be able to open that up a bit.

Yeah there are a good amount of low mids in my voice. I talk with a deep voice but sing tenor stuff. I'm not sure if I'm a baritone or a tenor. Different voice teachers have said I was each. Go figure.
 
In 'omni' the proximity effect would be less pronounced. I don't know why you would want to be 'on the mic' in omni. But in this case it seems to have produced the best effect. Good luck and have fun!
 
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