your first condenser, how did it feel?

  • Thread starter Thread starter cordura21
  • Start date Start date

What did you feel when you got your first condenser?

  • Big difference

    Votes: 381 80.9%

  • Not so big difference

    Votes: 37 7.9%

  • Realized you could have get same results with dynamics

    Votes: 27 5.7%

  • other (please specify)

    Votes: 26 5.5%
  • Total voters
    471
I finally used the ECM8000s I ordered on acoustic guitar...and I really did notice the difference. I mean, it was beautiful. The nice big room just went right into that sound...for a second there, I really thought I was Phil Spector...and then my monitors broke. :(
 
I'll tell you guys in a coupla weeks. Bayview is sending me a free SE1000 with my Delta 1010lt offer. They are also including a what looks like a pretty decent version of samplitude. Now the time it takes to get the equipment will decide how much I like Bayview. They said it's all going to ship out on Thursday and I hope I have it in time to play with it all during spring break(It's sad that I want to spend my break in my studio instead of going somewhere warm with lots of skin(I did that last year and will again next)).
 
I do have a coupla ECM8000s and I've used them as an experiment for a possible ambiant mic for live video archive, and for accoustic guitar. They are a bit noisy on (soft)accoustic, but they deliver crystal clear crowd noise.
 
The dead?

I don't know exactly what your talking about.

My mom?
The earth?
 
First...

Oktava MK219. I thought I'd found a cheap Neumann. it's still OK, if you don't use it for more than 5 minutes at a time. Then AT4033. I still love this mic. Clarity and presence. Seems to suit more-or-less everyone, too. Then my wife bought a Solidtube. I know you guys don't rate them, but I think it's incredible. Simply beautiful with more mix presence than something really really present. or something. I've also got a couple of ATM31as, which aren't bad, if a little intermittent at times, and I've just got a pair of ECM8000s, which are just the rockingest value ever. They're great for overheads - we all know that - but I set them up for a test with one on my Takamine, and one for my wife. An utterly anazing result for £50 worth of mics. I was staggered. I'm going to try recording her voice with the Solidtube (for the main body) and an ECM 8000 (for the "airy" highs).

I'll let you know how it goes.

Phil
 
My first condensers were Oktava MC012 and AKG Solid Tube. The Solid tube never really worked for my voice, although I'm told ripping out the internal wind screen and replacing the tube with Telefunken or Sovtek tubes makes a huge difference. I do remember, though plugging in the 012 the first time. My room had not been conditioned much at the time, but it's basically a good room. What I heard was thump-thump Thump-Thump THUMP-THUMP! and then this rumbling, vibrating noise that sounded like a washing machine out of balance. That was my cat Sputnik, coming doun a carpeted staircase, and sitting there purring!- Richie
 
Most here know that I do not own any condensor mics.

Because of the reasons about noise and studio environment that were stated in the above posts, I'll stay with my 441's probably for some time to come.

I'm very satisfied with the way these mics sound and the trade-off's of using a condensor in my environment doesn't warrant me buying a condensor.
 
I went looking for a LD condenser for vocals. I tried everything that GC had for under $500 US. I settled on the RODE NT1000. On that day, in that studio, with my voice, it was the one that impressed me the most. I still llove the way it sounds and have not felt the need to explore any further. Not yet anyway. :)

Blessings, Terry
 
My first condenser was a TLM193. Before that, my best mic was a Beyer M69, so it was quite a jump.

I was recording into a Tascam 234 4-track cassette deck at the time. All I can remember is when i first got it I was so scared i was going to drop it and break it that i was afraid to take it out of the box!!!
 
The question you're asking "your first condenser, how did it feel?" depends on what dynamic you had prior to that condenser buy...

If you had a Sennheiser 441 or Shure SM7 and after listening to all the people who are foolish enough to say "if you only got dynamic, a condenser will improve your sound" which isn't the case, went out and bought a cheap $100 condenser, then you'd hear a big step DOWN in sound.

If you have SM57 and 58 and buy a Studio Projects or MXL or any other good first condenser, (which would be the normal scenario)then you'll prolly hear a great improvement in sound. And after a while you realize it doesn't sound "better" on everything, it is a sound you didn't have before, but you will still need your SM57's and 58's, and on some sources THEY will sound "better".

So normally, yes. You will hear a big improvement i most cases. But it depends on more things than if X is a dynamic and Y is a condenser.
 
I felt used. And dirty.

Seriously, my first condensor (MK-319) was the final straw - proof that my voice just sucked beyond belief. It sounded so much worse than my SM-58. It was all that detail.

I still use the 319 - very warm, sounds great on a good singer. But even the best mic in the world won't turn the turd that is my voice into a diamond. Or even a freakin' rhinestone.

I now record MY voice with a green bullet.
 
I bought a TLM 193 as my first condenser and I remember showing it to everyone I could. I expected to plug it in and everything would sound like gold. A TLM193 was about $1500 back then and I really expected more out of it. I thought I could use it on anything, I was wrong. It's kinda funny to reflect back on that moment in time. I remember calling a friend of mine that I recorded off and on where we would try and improve the sound of our recordings. When he was told I purchased a Neumann he came over in his pajamas. I guess it sounded good to me at the time cuz it beat anything else I had in my collection. The characteristic of a condenser to me was so different but I didn't have the skills to control the sound like I do today. I would compress and EQ the hell out of it until it didn't even sound like the mic I bought.

I still own the mic out of respect for where I came from but it sits in my mic closet collecting nothing but dust.

Have you hugged your microphones lately? <--good bumper sticker idea ;)

--AdamLazlo
 
"Have you hugged your dynamic mic lately?" sounds better to me.
 
I bought a shure pg81 condenser to mic and acoustic guitar, and I'm still rediculously impressed with the quality of the sound I'm getting (of course you have to take into account that I began with a clip on radio shack microphone clipped to the soundhole)..
 
condensors are so damn sensitive that I'm having problems with leakage from my headphone when I record my tenor sax (which, as you might imagine, is fairly loud). This sucks.
 
Yeah, it does suck. As I stated before, because of my room acoustics and environment I will not buy or use a condensor at this point.

I feel for those who have bought them only to find out that they are not only recording the instrument or vocal, but everything else in the mic's range of pick-up as well.

I've been using a Sennheiser MD-441U for damn near everything for almost as long as I've been recording. Can you imagine; a brand new in-the-box MD-441U running into a $375 (1984 dollars) four-track machine? It actually made a difference in the recording from the crappy RatShack mic I started with the week or two before.

I've been stuck on these mics ever since. Every time I upgrade my gear this mic sounds better and better. I still probably have not heard it's full potential yet. The preamp that is going to be a future purchase will get me another step closer. I still don't know which one that will be yet.
 
The 441 sure is one of the finest mics ever built -- even though it's an ugly monster ;-)
 
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