antichef
pornk rock
Below are links to a couple of clips of recordings in parallel with an unmodified Oktava MK319 and an Oktavamod MK319 with the floating dome and premium electronics mod. Both went through 5' cables to either channel on a Presonus Inspire with the same gain setting for each channel, and into Garage Band on a macbook, and both are dry. This is my 12 year old son, recording vocals on a song he wrote/sang/played - link to the full version follows. Both mics were about a foot in front of his nose and an inch apart, and there was no pop filter.
Goes without saying, but I'll say it for clarity's sake -- this is not a before/after modification test, but rather it's two different mics recording at the same time. Like others on the board, I would like to hear a good before/after test, but I was too much of blockhead to get a good and well documented baseline before I sent my mic off for modding.
Now for the apologies: You can hear the headphone mix bleeding through on both mics -- how do you all deal with that? Special headphones? No big deal after you mix everything down, I guess. Not the best room, either, and we were unable to get rid of all the ambient noise (but did manage to get his older sister to shut off the TV in the next room - unusual). Oh, and I don't know what I'm doing.
#1 Oktava MK319 unmodified
#2 Oktavamod MK319 FDPE
link to the full song
I prefer #2, the Oktavamod - the sound to me is fuller, softer, and less brittle sounding, so that's what I used for the song. We had done a previous take in another room where the Oktavamod was picking up a nasty hum from some EM, but the unmodified one wasn't, so we used it. In that mix, I had to beef up the track some to make it work in the song, but with this one, I left it dry (subject to the overall light reverb treatment on the master track).
I can't tell you whether either mic is Russian or Chinese, and I'm afraid to open them to find out. Given my general lack of sophistication when I got them off ebay, and the fact that neither listing claimed to be Russian, I think the double Chinese possibility is in the money, though.
It's also worth noting that I never possessed both mics in their unmodded state at the same time, but you'll have to believe me that the modded mic sounded awful before the mod -- much worse than the unmodded mic in the recording above (and therefore, much, much worse than it does now). Now, I feel like other factors are the limiting ones -- particularly the room and general hardship of recording in a house with multiple kids, pets, and appliances.
Goes without saying, but I'll say it for clarity's sake -- this is not a before/after modification test, but rather it's two different mics recording at the same time. Like others on the board, I would like to hear a good before/after test, but I was too much of blockhead to get a good and well documented baseline before I sent my mic off for modding.
Now for the apologies: You can hear the headphone mix bleeding through on both mics -- how do you all deal with that? Special headphones? No big deal after you mix everything down, I guess. Not the best room, either, and we were unable to get rid of all the ambient noise (but did manage to get his older sister to shut off the TV in the next room - unusual). Oh, and I don't know what I'm doing.
#1 Oktava MK319 unmodified
#2 Oktavamod MK319 FDPE
link to the full song
I prefer #2, the Oktavamod - the sound to me is fuller, softer, and less brittle sounding, so that's what I used for the song. We had done a previous take in another room where the Oktavamod was picking up a nasty hum from some EM, but the unmodified one wasn't, so we used it. In that mix, I had to beef up the track some to make it work in the song, but with this one, I left it dry (subject to the overall light reverb treatment on the master track).
I can't tell you whether either mic is Russian or Chinese, and I'm afraid to open them to find out. Given my general lack of sophistication when I got them off ebay, and the fact that neither listing claimed to be Russian, I think the double Chinese possibility is in the money, though.
It's also worth noting that I never possessed both mics in their unmodded state at the same time, but you'll have to believe me that the modded mic sounded awful before the mod -- much worse than the unmodded mic in the recording above (and therefore, much, much worse than it does now). Now, I feel like other factors are the limiting ones -- particularly the room and general hardship of recording in a house with multiple kids, pets, and appliances.
