Cheap Condenser's

Maybe it's a regional thing. Where are you from 2infamouz?

I'm not saying it makes the phrase right, but I wouldn't raise an eyebrow if someone said it here.
I would, however, raise an eyebrow if someone said they "could care less".

I'd be more worried about what the cheap condenser is, or owns. :p
 
Bobbsy said:
It's a bit of a generalisation to refer to "Chinese microphones" since the gear made there can vary from pretty poor to truly excellent.

At the bottom feeder level, there are factories making millions of diaphragms which they sell to anyone paying. Your American or British or European mic may well have exactly the same Chinese components inside at 10 other mics. Also, some of the cheaper mics may bear a distinct resemblance to several manufacturers. We had a post in here last week about a "new" Chinese mic that turned out to be a paint job and sticker different from ones already on the market.

However, at the other end of the market are companies like sE Electronics. They design their own mics, don't sub contract to anyone else and make truly excellent products. Chinese or not, they make world class microphones.

AT? Their higher range mics are made in Japan. Funnily enough, they just say "other oriental factories, not China" for their cheaper mics.

As for the phrase "brighter sound" personally I'm after a brighter sound. I find the popular big dynamics to be dull and lifeless. If you don't like the word "bright" how about "detailed"? "Harsh" I avoid but "bright" I actively go looking for. It just goes to show the difficulty of trying to use words to describe sounds.
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Understood. I respsect your opinion and your experience. (wish I had your background in sound!) I guess my main reason for diss'ing chinese mics is I have never used one that ended up with the recorded voice sounding exactly or closely like the person's real voice. Many folks don't like C414's for voice, but when I play back a C414 recorded voice, it sounds far more real and natural and true to the source than any other mic I've had in my hands. I'm not rich, so I've never had the big gun mics in my house, but I've had several small budget "well under $1k" mics, condensors and dynamics. (I've always wanted to try the sE mics!) I think it is easy to hear differences, usually undesirable differences imo, between identical tracks recorded with chinese mics vs american/japanese/austrian/german/australian/etc/ made mics. Granted it's much more difficult to tell one from another when listening to a final mix. And I understand about the actual sources of the individual components maybe being the same chinese factory......and maybe not, in some cases! But when you compare raw tracks side by side, same singer using different mics with all other settings and components being the same, you can definitely hear the difference. And I have never ended up preferring the tracks that were done with chinese made mics. When the "versatility" question enters into the picture, the differences become even more obvious. Record some vocs with a nice AKG or a nice AT and some chinese $89 dollar mic, compare side by side. Then record some guitar cab and some live violin with the same mics and compare side by side. See if that doesn't start to sway your opinion.
 
soundchaser59 said:
Well, then don't ever look sat your band mates on stage and say, "That wasn't half bad!"

I know I like to toy with words, and I like to split hairs, but trust me on this one. Teach yourself to quit saying that. If that phrase doesn't leave room for vast "misinterpretation" then I don't know what does. We have worked very hard and gone thru some intense "discussions" to get our band leader to stop saying that. It's like telling someone, "You are not insignificant!"
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Lol okay i can understand that. TBH i rarely say "its not half bad" just happened to type it here...


Steenamaroo said:
Maybe it's a regional thing. Where are you from 2infamouz?

I'm not saying it makes the phrase right, but I wouldn't raise an eyebrow if someone said it here.
I would, however, raise an eyebrow if someone said they "could care less".

I'd be more worried about what the cheap condenser is, or owns. :p
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I'm from Michigan (US).
 
2infamouz said:
How do you guys feel about cheap condenser mics? I have this weird notion that only dynamic mics should be relatively cheap, and tend to steer away from cheaper condensers, but I recently tried out a CAD GXL3000BP (its like ~$120) and was actually quite impressed with it. It has more features than most of my more expensive mics....Hi pass, 10db pad, and 3 different polar patterns and the sound isn't half bad. It's a little bright for my taste and has a strong proximity effect, but nothing good mic'ing technique and a little EQ can't fix.

Anyone else tried this mic or other lower end condensers that they've been impressed with??

Review if you wanted to check it out:
CAD GXL3000 Large Diaphragm Multi-Pattern Condenser Microphone Review
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You're right IMHO, it is a very good mic for the money. I bought one several years ago and have used it for vocals and for a room mic on several different sessions. I turned a friend onto them too; he's a jazz sax player who records his live gigs with a pair of them with great results.
 
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