H
Harvey Gerst
New member
At the time, Chinese mics were pretty new to the American market, and some had (and some still do have) an annoyingly bright, harsh top end. Claims (like the C1/U87 sounding identical) were bouncing around the Internet, and it was probably split 50/50, with some people lavishly praising them, and some condemning them to the bowels of Hell. The truth was probably somewhere in between.
Some of the mic manufacturers asked me to give their products a listen and I did. I found some pretty good mics - and some not so good mics in their lines. All of my "reviews" were for rec.audio.pro, a newsgroup primarily for professional engineers and producers (at the time, it was), and Weston Ray copied some of my comments here, since I was discussing low cost, good value mics.
My first review of a mic was the Neumann TLM103. My "review" consisted of a country recording, where all the acoustic stuff (guitars, mandolins, vocals, etc.) were all done with the Neumann 103.
As some of you older members may recall, Alan Hyatt and I got into some pretty heated debates over the Studio Projects mics, but I found all of their mics to be pretty decent, with the T3 being outstanding.
In the MXL line, I found four mics to be a great value: the 603, V67, V77, and V69. I was pretty harsh about their 2001 and 600 series mics.
With Oktava, I really like the MC012 and that unit with the 33mm LOMO head as well. I thought the 319 was OK, and didn't care for the 219.
Since then, I've recommended the Behringer ECM8000, the ADK Hamburgs and Viennas, the Joe Meeks JM47, and the MXL 960 as being decent mics for the money. But all these mics are just tools; used correctly, you should be able to make a decent recording with any of them.
Studio Projects, MXL, ADK, Peluso, and Rode are pushing the envelope of low cost mic designs. Chinese mics are getting better and better. "Reviewing" mics has always made me a little nervous, since my ears ain't your ears. That's why I've tried to spend most of my time here, discussing basic concepts, mic placements, and when to use what where, without refering to specific mic models and brands.
With a few exceptions, most microphones will do a credible job on most sources - if you know how to use the damn mic in the first place. Is there one perfect vocal mic? For your voice, there are probably 10 great vocal mics, but you'll hafta find them; nobody here can do that for you.
Mics have resonances; so does your voice. How those resonances interact will determine whether a mic is a good match for your voice. Change the key or the style, and all bets are off. Start looking again. It ain't about accuracy; it's all about whether a mic flatters your voice on a particular song.
So yeah, you won't see me on here talking up any mic, unless I think it's a good value, nor will you see me blasting somebody, unless they're making outrageous claims, or making unfounded statements and presenting them as facts.
Some of the mic manufacturers asked me to give their products a listen and I did. I found some pretty good mics - and some not so good mics in their lines. All of my "reviews" were for rec.audio.pro, a newsgroup primarily for professional engineers and producers (at the time, it was), and Weston Ray copied some of my comments here, since I was discussing low cost, good value mics.
My first review of a mic was the Neumann TLM103. My "review" consisted of a country recording, where all the acoustic stuff (guitars, mandolins, vocals, etc.) were all done with the Neumann 103.
As some of you older members may recall, Alan Hyatt and I got into some pretty heated debates over the Studio Projects mics, but I found all of their mics to be pretty decent, with the T3 being outstanding.
In the MXL line, I found four mics to be a great value: the 603, V67, V77, and V69. I was pretty harsh about their 2001 and 600 series mics.
With Oktava, I really like the MC012 and that unit with the 33mm LOMO head as well. I thought the 319 was OK, and didn't care for the 219.
Since then, I've recommended the Behringer ECM8000, the ADK Hamburgs and Viennas, the Joe Meeks JM47, and the MXL 960 as being decent mics for the money. But all these mics are just tools; used correctly, you should be able to make a decent recording with any of them.
Studio Projects, MXL, ADK, Peluso, and Rode are pushing the envelope of low cost mic designs. Chinese mics are getting better and better. "Reviewing" mics has always made me a little nervous, since my ears ain't your ears. That's why I've tried to spend most of my time here, discussing basic concepts, mic placements, and when to use what where, without refering to specific mic models and brands.
With a few exceptions, most microphones will do a credible job on most sources - if you know how to use the damn mic in the first place. Is there one perfect vocal mic? For your voice, there are probably 10 great vocal mics, but you'll hafta find them; nobody here can do that for you.
Mics have resonances; so does your voice. How those resonances interact will determine whether a mic is a good match for your voice. Change the key or the style, and all bets are off. Start looking again. It ain't about accuracy; it's all about whether a mic flatters your voice on a particular song.
So yeah, you won't see me on here talking up any mic, unless I think it's a good value, nor will you see me blasting somebody, unless they're making outrageous claims, or making unfounded statements and presenting them as facts.
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