Octava MC319

[jgourd]

I picked up a few these of today. GC had them for $149 with the shock mounts.

I am planning on using them for vocals and possibly drum overheads.

Are they any good? The spec on the web page says that they are cardiod. When I look at them, I am not sure which direction I am supposed to point them since the diaphram is not "facing" the end if the mic.

You can tell I am not used to large diaphram condensers.

 

[blinddogblues]

The side that has the printing MK-319 on it is the side you will use. I don't know if they're any good. I asked the same question a few weeks ago and got less than ringing endorsement of this mic. Maybe your money would be better spend on a Marshall V-67 for $169 at Mars, or a Studio Projects
C-1 for around $200.

 

[jgourd]

The reviews I saw on the web after my first post were quite favorable. I think it is easily worth the $150 I spent.

I'll know more tomarrow. A guy is coming to dinner who is a singer and I'll con him into laying down a few BG Vocals on a project I have been working on.

 

[MOFO Pro]

My Understanding of the MK 319 is that you can either get a great sounding Mic or a piece of crap. The fact that they are hand assembled is not nessasarily a plus if the quality control is no good. That seems to be the biggest complaint...lack of QC

The best way to purchase these Mics is to convince one of the sales staff to let you listen to a bunch of them and then pick the best one (pretty hard to do at GC unless you've built up a good relationship with one of the pro audio guys).

Then again... there's the luck of the draw. You may have bought the best sounding Russian Mic ever assambled.

Steve

 

[nwsoundman]

Hi,

I bought one about a year ago. It was faulty. The bass roll off rolled off everything under about 3khz. The pad was also bad. I wish I tried it at GC first. It is now lost in customs and I don't know if I will ever see it again. One good thing is that Fergus at A & F Mckay is a nice guy and is looking very hard for my mic. I am sure he will fix it and bring it to spec. I would buy a C-1 the next time I want a cheap condensor mic. Check yours out and if you don't like them you might talk GC into a store credit if you tell them you never used them. I don't like to lie to stores so I would use them for overheads or something less critical than lead vocals. Also female vocals are supposed to sound good thru them.