Post subject: Oktava MK 219 switches on back

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Starstreams

Starstreams

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I’ve searched the net to find out what these settings are on the back of the Oktava.
It seems there is what looks like frequency patterns but how should I set these for what kind of work I’m doing?

Would anyone happen o have any notes on this, this thing didn’t come with any books on it and the web site has no info about it amazingly
Here is a picture of the back
http://mgiese1.home.comcast.net/oktava.htm

What is the (N) for?
And how should that button on the right be set? One looks like a minus sign and the other like a square root symbol.
 
The one ot the right is the high pass filter, if you set it to the square root looking thing you will be shelving off your low end. (the - is for flat)
I think the other one is a pad (n for nominal) It should get quieter when you switch it.
 
Thanks Fairview
That sounds right, I just got a hold of a music store just before you responded and the guy said the same thing as you.
Either way thanks I appreciate your help.
I might try to use this as an overhead to pick up some drum symbols so I guess I’ll try flipping that low pass switch. I've only used this mic for vocals and guitar and the switches were always up.

By the way, do you own this or any Oktava mic?

They’ve got some newer mic’s that really look nice, be interesting to hear what people say about the new stuff. Look at these: http://www.kmraudio.com/OLI/1/oktava.html
 
It's interesting that they use a combination of Roman and Cyrillic letters on these controls! N="normal," or "nominal," I suppose. That's what it is anyway.

The the first control cuts -10dB under 50Hz to compensate for proximity effect.

The second is just a straight -10dB attenuator.

> By the way, do you own this or any Oktava mic?

I have a bunch of them, but not the higher-end ones, the ribbon and tube models, which so far I have heard nothing good about whatsoever, even by people who normally don't shun Oktavas.

The Oktavas are showing up at Guitar Center again. When they're on special sale, I've seen the MK-219 for as low as US$29.99. Everyday price is US$69.99. The guts are OK in the MK-219, and essentially the same as the MK-319's, but the case is very resonant and fairly nasty-sounding in most uses. It can be improved somewhat by damping.

QC is of course very spotty.
 
You’ve got to be kidding me, $29 bucks? Dude I played $400 bucks about 3 years ago.
I’ll buy two if they are that cheep.

In my experience with the MK-219, I have to say it’s not a piece of junk. I have an SM57 and a D-550 AKG I use for a kick drum.
Anyway, the Oktava MK-219 is very bright and has very natural sound. What’s nice is since the mic is so bright you can actually turn down your highs after the recording which will lower any high frequency noise without loosing your highs. The mic has plenty of body meaning my acoustic guitar has always sounded full and balanced.
I’ve never used a Neumann but I’m sure it would put the Oktava to shame but for a cheep mic that MK-219 is defiantly a keeper. with a pop screen vocals sound unreal.
I can only emagin what a Neumann sounds like:
http://www.neumann.com/book/book.htm
 
Holy $hit, I just discovered Harvey Gerst’s posts,
WoW that guy is a god of information. I never realized how much science goes into a mic, it’s deep.
 
Starstreams said:
You’ve got to be kidding me, $29 bucks? Dude I played $400 bucks about 3 years ago. I’ll buy two if they are that cheep.

In my experience with the MK-219, I have to say it’s not a piece of junk.

Anyway, the Oktava MK-219 is very bright and has very natural sound. What’s nice is since the mic is so bright you can actually turn down your highs after the recording which will lower any high frequency noise without loosing your highs. The mic has plenty of body meaning my acoustic guitar has always sounded full and balanced...but for a cheep mic that MK-219 is defiantly a keeper. with a pop screen vocals sound unreal.
Click to expand...
US$400? OUCH!

Compared to dynamics such as those you mentioned, any LDC will sound great and natural, though normally these Oktavas are not known as especially bright, especially compared to the various Chinese LDCs in the same price range. Curiously (or not) my MK-219s sound a bit brighter to me than my MK-319s when A/B-ing them, though the guts are supposed to be the same. It may have to do with the housing resonances, I dunno.

If you want to record acoustic guitar cheaply, the Oktava MK-012 is the one to get. Fairly frequently, GC has them for 2/$99.99 during sales. Same deal for MK-319s sometimes. GC was out of Oktavas for a while, but they're now coming back in stock, so these deep discounts will probably start showing up again during GC's various one-day sales.

Do a search on these in this forum and get more information than you can probably stand on them. :)

Though most people are not that big on Oktavas (with the possible exception of the MK-012), I find them reasonably decent microphones for the money, if you take time to cherry-pick through the bad ones.

BTW, GC has the AKG D550 for US$50 this month and I've considered getting one, but I have been able to find absolutely nothing about them anywhere.
 
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