Mics to stay away from.

[littledog]

Oops!

I just saw Ray's smiley faces at the bottom of his "what joke?" post.

I guess he gets it after all. I think I was blinded by the giant confederate flag. Whassup with that anyway, Ray? You want to bring back slavery, or just hate us Yankees?

 

[chessrock]

You guys are weird.

.

 

[BigRay]

Oops!

I just saw Ray's smiley faces at the bottom of his "what joke?" post.

I guess he gets it after all. I think I was blinded by the giant confederate flag. Whassup with that anyway, Ray? You want to bring back slavery, or just hate us Yankees?

In a general sense, northern folks get under my skin. the attitude is hard to stomach. Southerners(in a general sense) try to be friendly. Notherners are rude and arrogant(generally speakng) that is how I see it anyway.

slavery is still going on. ever heard of mexicans?

 

[Adam P]

Oktava 219

Still have it? Take 10 bucks for it?

 

[NL5]

Personally I've never had success with a D112, just never liked it (even on other people's recordings), but I won't put all the blame on the mic. I much prefer a B52 or N/D868.

I'm not a fan of the D112 either. Like the N/D868 pretty well, although I don't own one (used one several times). You oughta try the e602 - it's become my main inside kick mic.

 

[XLR]

Mic's to stay away from? For what I do I've grown to generally dislike mic's with much of a high frequency rise in their response curve.

Re guitar, things to avoid for recording: piezo pickups and fakey things like the Fishman Aura. Good for live sound though.

Tim

 

[nuemes]

Southerners(in a general sense) try to be friendly. Notherners are rude and arrogant(generally speakng) that is how I see it anyway.

At first that may appear to be the case but I've found southerners to hide some heavy-handed nastiness behind all that, "yes sir" talk - from men & women alike. At least Northerners are straight with you, even if you don't like it. But yeah, we tend to be rude. Oops But not rude enough to post a confederate flag

People from the area around PA, MA & NJ are pretty cool.

 

[Ironklad Audio]

I only heard the first Rode NT1 and thought it was very harsh. That's the only Rode mic I've heard.

it seems like the NT1 is a fairly universally-hated microphone...try checking out an NT-2A sometime

 

[XLR]

In a general sense, northern folks get under my skin. the attitude is hard to stomach. Southerners(in a general sense) try to be friendly. Notherners are rude and arrogant(generally speakng)...

I agree southerners tend to be pretty polite. As far as day to day stuff... the way people act in stores, on the sidewalk, driving, casual conversation on the street... I thought the northeast was pretty rude/arrogant. Specifically CT, NY, MA. I've spent time in Minnesota and didn't find it to be the case there, and definitely not in Washington state.

Tim

 

[Russtopher]

Pretty much anything from radio shack (save the older pzms).

When Radio Shack was discontinuing their Sennheiser e604 knockoffs, I picked up a bunch for $15 each. With a little EQ, they were perfect for live situations, or doing quick drum tracks for demo recordings. Toms only, although I used one on a snare in a pinch. For 15 bucks a pop, I'd say bang for the buck they were the best mics I've ever owned

 

[studiomaster]

The C3000b is the worst mic I have ever heard. It's an overpriced mic for what its quality stands.

 

[sdelsolray]

I think they're worthless crap that should be avoided at all costs. In fact, I think the world would be a much, much better place to live in if it weren't for Rode mics.

.

You like the MXL 990 but think every model ever made by Rode is worthless crap? That simply can't be truthful. Needing a little attention perhaps?

 

[Brackish]

The mics I have most regretted buying were the Oktava 219, and AKG C1000 and C3000. But the 219 was by far the worst.

What was the problem with the 219?

 

[littledog]

In a general sense, northern folks get under my skin. the attitude is hard to stomach. Southerners(in a general sense) try to be friendly. Notherners are rude and arrogant(generally speakng) that is how I see it anyway.

slavery is still going on. ever heard of mexicans?

Gee, Ray - and I thought I was never anything but courteous and respectful to you, you trailer park white trash!

 

[dgatwood]

For 70's bands it makes good sense but it seems like every single indie band is using them on home recordings just because and there's no high-end or snare tone - just that SM57 drull coloring.

Dry and dull. Best of both worlds....

 

[ofajen]

Mic's to stay away from? For what I do I've grown to generally dislike mic's with much of a high frequency rise in their response curve.

Re guitar, things to avoid for recording: piezo pickups and fakey things like the Fishman Aura. Good for live sound though.

Tim

From what I've seen and heard, the Chinese and eastern bloc, mass-produced capsules are good for the price, but even the SDC versions pretty much all tend to have a significant bump in the high frequencies. I hear from David J that it's pretty much impossible to get rid of that bump in a mass-produced capsule.

Mostly, I want mikes that are flat in frequency response for up close (free field) miking and with the smoothest possible phase and transient response (that I can afford!). For these purposes that big bump is not OK. Even my AT 4050's omni mode is a bit too bright for satisfying up close work, though it can be a decent room mike, and of course, the figure-8 mode is quite nice.

So, my mikes to avoid (for instrumental tracks) are most all of them, except for the accurate ones. If you've got about $4000 to spend, it's hard to go wrong with a pair of flat free-field response omnis, whichever brand you pick. Unfortunately, the lowest-cost accurate mikes are getting darned hard to find because they didn't sell in huge numbers and they've been discontinued since about 2000: the EV RE-55 dynamic and the Shure SM-80 SDC, both of which are true omnis. Another low-cost accurate mike is a modified SM-81. By removing the black plastic disc under the outer screen on the front of the capsule, the phase response becomes much smoother with a very minor cost in high end response as the resonant chamber is eliminated. (Sorry, this post has turned into mikes NOT to avoid!)

I've even come to like using accurate mikes on voice tracks sometimes, especially backing vocals, and I still tend to avoid mikes with a hyped high end bump on vocal tracks.

The mikes I own that I tend to avoid are my SM-57s, because of their thickly-colored tone, though of course they are the darlings of many folk around here.

By the way, I still have four SM-57s, but I only want to keep two. Does anyone want to buy two more? Let me know, they are already in a box ready to go!

Cheers,

Otto

 

[littledog]

What was the problem with the 219?

Let's see if I can remember - it's been at least 5 years since I pulled it out of the box (maybe longer).

It made everything recorded on it sound "duller than life". Severe high end attenuation and boxy sounding midrange. Recording into it was somewhat reminiscent of recording into the back side of a typical cardioid mic. I actually tried recording into the other side just to be sure that maybe the diaphragm hadn't been mounted backwards, but that didn't seem to be the case.

It was manufactured and designed in a shoddy fashion. The body of the mic was connected to the threaded mic stand adapter by a thin hinged piece of metal that had the rigidity of tin. The weight of the mic itself would be almost enough to bend it in any direction.

Other than that, it was just great.

And thanks for the offer from the guy who wanted it for $10, but it's not really worth the effort of packaging and mailing it for that. Besides, I might want to use it in a wall-of-shame art exhibit someday. Sort of like Fletcher did with his "ADAT-on-a-stick" sculpture.

 

[littledog]

Unfortunately, the lowest-cost accurate mikes are getting darned hard to find because they didn't sell in huge numbers and they've been discontinued since about 2000:

Otto, it's my understanding that it is not that hard to make an accurate mic, such as the many miniature diaphragm omnis that are out there. What is hard is to make one that is accurate AND has minimal self-noise.

 

[XLR]

...with the smoothest possible phase and transient response.

Yes. Too bad that many mic's are bad at those things! Critical things to get a truly good sound. So many mic's sound harsh on transients, totally separate from their response curve... clanky, ping-y, hard edged. And if they're placed back a few feet to hear the whole instrument and a little of the room, you can also hear their weird off axis phase response that adds haze to the clank!

Tim

 

[dgatwood]

Otto, it's my understanding that it is not that hard to make an accurate mic, such as the many miniature diaphragm omnis that are out there. What is hard is to make one that is accurate AND has minimal self-noise.

I thought the harder problem was flat response with non-omni pattern, but I could be remembering wrong.