Oktava mk-219 and ACM-4 Vox Samples

  • Thread starter Thread starter Somnium7
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Somnium7

Somnium7

Noise Criminal
I'm such a cruel taskmaster, sticking my wife in front of mics for comparison on her birthday :D

Initially I thought of making this a guessing game but in this case there wouldn't have been any challenge...

Stock Oktava mk-219
http://www.somnium7.com/samples/Deb-Russian.wav

Stock ACM-4 ribbon
http://www.somnium7.com/samples/Deb-Ribbon.wav

Recording chain:
mic > Toa RX-7 channel, direct out > Akai S6000 sampler
60hz high pass enabled on channel. Mic option switches off (where applicable).

NOTE: Wifey has some sinus issues today since it's rainy and gross outside. We've both had a couple... :cool:

Samples are 44.1K - 5.7Mb
 
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interesting. i can hear how the ribbon sounds more open and detailed but i actually prefer the way the oktava sounds.
 
Cool.

As expected, the ribbon is much less harsh in the higher frequencies.

Are these tracks normalized? The first seems to be a bit louder. Perhaps that's just the effect of the pushed high end of the Oktava.
 
mrbowes said:
Cool.

As expected, the ribbon is much less harsh in the higher frequencies.

Are these tracks normalized? The first seems to be a bit louder. Perhaps that's just the effect of the pushed high end of the Oktava.
Click to expand...

Both tracks are raw, unprocessed samples. The Ribbon mic sample is quieter because it had a much more dynamic signal. I had to turn down the gain a bit to prevent clipping the samplers inputs.

The ribbon does have a flatter top end and is smoother on transients. We also used the ribbon in front of a practice amp my wife was using for her electric violin. While I didn't get the results I wanted it handled the task admirably. I think I just need to work at it some more to find the right sound.

Both the wife and I were surprised how colored the Oktava is compared to the ribbon. We expected it to be the other way around. The Russian mic has a very interesting sound to it. I understand now why people are apeshit about getting these modded - they have hidden potential.
 
I just reworked one of my songs. I re-recorded everything including the vocals. I used the Oktava on my wife's voice and it came out very nicely.

This mic has a glossiness I haven't heard in any other mic before. The heavy color worked to my advantage in two ways. It gave a good heavy weight to the vocals which is what I wanted for this track. Also, where it picked up room reflections I liked the results. My recording room has a good sound due to the heavy wood wainscoting on the walls - really thick wood (house built in the 50s). The reflections in the recording sound like a very dark room ambience due to the coloration of the mic. It really surprised me at first and I had to check my racks 3 or 4 times to make sure all of my FX processors were in bypass because I never heard my room sound like that before. I decided not to try minimizing the room at all for once.

While I'm sure there is plenty of merit for modding these mics I feel they are great right out of the box. Albeit, not great for every application but still highly usable in the proper context.

I'm thinking I'll pick up another one to try the mods on and keep the original too.

Love that glossy, velvety tone. Will post this track once mixing is completed.
The wife and I have named the mic brother comrade. It's part of the family now ;)
 
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