Miktek MK300 First test

TalismanRich

TalismanRich

Well-known member
I got the new mic set up and tested. I didn't have tons of time, so I did a quick acapella vocal of No Moon At All ( I had Diana Krall playing earlier while doing housework - it turned into a bit of an earworm :-)). Then a quick 15 seconds with a cheapo tambourine that came with my Woodstock Directors cut. I use this to listen to the high end transients, kind of like the "shake the keys" test. I had the 47jr and the NT1 both set up as closely as I could get them. I was about 18" away on the vocal and probably 24 inches away on the tambourine. The tracks are raw, no EQ, compression or anything other than to normalize them all. Sensitivities are different and I didn't spend a ton of time trying to balance the inputs.

I had done FLAC files, but alas, HR doesn't support uploading of FLAC. So instead, you get 320K mp3. The original wav files are 88K/24bit and I felt they were too big.

Give them a quick listen and let me know what you think.
 

Attachments

  • MK300 Tambourine.mp3
    706.1 KB
  • MK300 Vocal.mp3
    1.9 MB
  • 47jr Tambourine.mp3
    706.1 KB
  • 47jr Vocal.mp3
    1.9 MB
  • NT1 Tambourine.mp3
    706.1 KB
  • NT1 Vocal.mp3
    1.9 MB
Full disclaimer, I do not hear HF very well...

Thanks for doing this!

There was something about the 47jr (vocal) that I would say grated on me a bit, but maybe it works in a mix. I thought the Miktek and RØDE were more similar than different, but I'm a biased listener, and so lean to the Miktek there, though whether it was accurate for your voice/room (treated?), I don't know. 47jr also sounded brighter on the tambourine, but I've never heard that tambourine. On that I felt the Miktek kind of split the difference between the two. (I have always assumed one of the reasons we like LDCs is because they tend to damp transients more than say the SDC or even SM57 I'd probably stick in that use case.)
 
So far, I'm more impressed with the MK300 than the 47jr. I agree that the 47jr is the brightest of the three. I still like the NT1, I think it sounds pretty natural.

I thought the MK300 seemed to have a bit of weight to the bottom, compared to the Rode, but it was touchy. Listening to the playbacks of the tambourines, I think the MK300 was a bit cleaner, maybe a little closer to the real sound. I need to pick up a real tambourine, this is the only thing I have and it's basically like a kids toy. I think tambourines are one of the toughest things to get right, since they are mostly transient sounds.

I hope to play with these on guitar tomorrow. it's supposed to be a rainy day, so no golf, yardwork or other outside stuff. I just need to turn off the TV!
 
I had to go look that up and found the Nat King Cole version....then with that as a reference the MK300 is much closer. imo.
Its old old school darker sounding mic/vocal on Nat.

The 47jr and NT seem to have the HPF and maybe less low mids, so on my first listens I preferred the 47jr because it had clarity and handled the SHSSH and SSS well. Typically seems male vox get the HPF cutting the low freq, then maybe cut some mid350hz mud, and even bump 1k for clarity....

but in the sparse jazzy Nat tune, piano, standup bass, Male vocal its pretty full and "non-thin".....I would imagine the original those years it was all TUBE or RIBBON? cool guitar versions of this song on youtube, Id never head the song before.

of the 3 Id go with the MK300 on that song. just a bit "fuller" in the lower freqs. It'd be interesting to hear a Ribbon in the shootout.
 
Unfortunately, there are no ribbons in the locker. I have several dynamics, SM57, e835 and e835, TSM411 and an ancient D160e.

I've been listening more and more to old standards that my parent listened to. I heard a fair amount of Diana Shore, Julie London, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, and my mom's favorite... Floyd Cramer. Trying to learn them on guitar is teaching me lots of new chords.

I need to find something interesting to record this week. It's a perfect time, temps are moderate, so I don't have to worry about the furnace kicking in, and no lawn mowers since it's raining a bit.
 
Unfortunately, the lawn equipment starts up here before the heaters kick off, and then there's about a 24hr lull before the AC compressors start throbbing through the whole house.
 
Ok, first guitar tests... it sounds good. It still lies between the NT1 and 47jr for overall sound. Trying to do harmony vocals for California Dreaming, and it sounds TERRIBLE!


Alas, it's not the microphone's fault!!!:cry: It makes you appreciate what the Mamas and Papas could do.
I'll keep working on it.
 
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