Studiospares

[andydeedpoll]

hey there... this is probably a question for people in the UK ...

http://www.studiospares.com/productdetails.asp?pid=54351&order=price&cid=2379&ctext=CategoryText&p=1
http://www.studiospares.com/productdetails.asp?pid=53715&order=price&cid=2379&ctext=CategoryText&p=1

(the links look the same, but they go to different pages hehe.. dont ask me how )

has anyone used "Studiospares" own brand microphones? theyre pretty cheap (well, REALLY cheap ), and thats good for me i'm pretty new to this whole recording thing, so its as much for the fun of actually doing the recording as much as anything, but ive borrowed a few of these mics before and (using a different mic on the bass drum) managed to get, in my opinion, a reasonable drum sound from them, but just after another opinion about them before i spend some money

hehe.

thanks in advance,

Andy

 

[Freya]

I've not tried the studiospares mics but I would be interested in your opinion on them. You've only tried the tom mikes so far?

Anyway I thought I would mention some similar far eastern drum microphones available in the u.k. If you are on a budget, or just experimenting to see how things work out then I suggest you check out these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15198&item=3758143275&tc=photo

The price is soooooooo incredibly low that you can just get them and chuck them away if you don't like them. I mean at 13 pounds, with a free XLR lead, it's worth buying them to get the XLR alone. The XLR would cost you 5 pounds so it's like getting the microphone for 7 pounds!

I bought a couple and gaz seems really nice and friendly and ships quickly in decent packaging. I've been poorly and not had a chance to try the mikes yet and in any case I intend to try them on hand drums, but the specs look okay and I figure they are worth trying.

Someone once said there was no such thing as a bad microphone, and I'm not sure about that (if there is, I've certainly used them before now! ) but I think these are good to have around as spares, as mikes to dig out when you have someone round to record you don't trust to not hit your mikes with a stick and just for trying things out with. The may well be as good as the studio spares mikes for all I know.

You could even try one of these mikes in the kick drum as an experiment.

Anyway, thought I would mention it as an option.

love

Freya

 

[Freya]

I've just seen the other postings you made and I'm now more convinced that the mics from gaz are the way to go.

Firstly if the bad people do succeed in knocking off your house, (and they may well try again) then you will only lose some cheap microphones.

Secondly, there is a saying that gets thrown around here. "buy cheap and buy twice". On the one hand it's good advice, but on the other hand if the mikes you bought were so cheap that they are disposable or handy as spares, then buying twice is not a problem and in the mean time, you get to experiment and work out what it is that you really want and need to get your sound.

Thirdly if you get the cheap mics then you can save enough money to buy some good microphones such as oktava mics or something, as well. This will give you a well stocked mic cupboard with some quality in it.

Fourthly, you are going to need XLR cables anyway!

love

Freya

 

[andydeedpoll]

thanks a lot for the advice.

because i know of the reliability of the mics from studio spares, i think im going to buy one of each of the models i showed you, plus one of their cheap condensors.

this should set me up with enough equipment to be able to do some recording and see if im as interested as i think i am ( ) without breaking the bank.

thanks again,

Andy

 

[Freya]

Well let me know what you think of them when you get them.

love

Freya

 

[andydeedpoll]

i'll try, but they'll only be like the fourth mic ive ever tried, so as far as im concerned the analysis will be something like...

"theyre small..." and "wow... they pick up sound..." and "oohhh... they could be improved if they were flourescent with glitter and a free toy..."



Andy

 

[noisedude]

It seems a bit odd to me to be buying something you don't know! I haven't looked at the Studiospares-badged mics, but they'll be Chinese ones from the same factory as someone else's stuff. Why don't you get a couple of SP or SE mics, which are a known quantity, or perhaps Red5 or ADK which get the odd excellenct review? All are super-cheap.

 

[noisedude]

It seems a bit odd to me to be buying something you don't know! I haven't looked at the Studiospares-badged mics, but they'll be Chinese ones from the same factory as someone else's stuff. Why don't you get a couple of SP or SE mics, which are a known quantity, or perhaps Red5 or ADK which get the odd excellenct review? All are super-cheap.

 

[Dot]

Some excellent and very affordable mics in the UK are http://www.red5audio.com

 

[Freya]

Well I don't want to argue with someone who has already made up their mind, and I love egg shaped microphones. I got to hold the AKG egg once and it does give you a warm fuzzy feeling and I think the studiospares one looks even preetier and you know, sm58's are such a horrid shape and all but well maybe you should reconsider at least the condenser.

Condenser mikes can be had very cheap these days and while an electret mike will probably be fine and much like any other electret mike, it would be hard for me to justify one for £30 when you can buy an ADK (well respected make) small diaphram condenser for £49. Or you could even get a large diaghram condenser and use it for vocals too!

Also you seemed concerned about buying from a reliable source when I suggested buying from a guy on e-bay who used to be pals with screaming Lord Sutch. For the record, I've found Gaz to be absolutely fine and a nice guy but then I also like screaming Lord sutch, and while theres a good chance that the microphones I recommended are exactly the same but in a different casing, half the price and with a free XLR cable, I can understand your reluctance to buy off a possibly slightly mad fellow on e-bay. (He seems sane to me but a lot of people would argue that I'm hardly one to judge)

With this in mind I won't hesitate to third the recomendation of Red Audio. I've only heard amazing stories about them and their customer service seems really excellent! I understand at one point they used to have a no quibble money back guarentee if you weren't satisfied. What's more these microphones have receieved excellent reviews whereever I have seen them mentioned. Sound on Sound raved about them, which is very different from the kind of sound on sound review where they go "these behringer preamps are quite small and handy and the quality is okay so they are definitely a preety good deal for the price"

I'm a little shocked actually to see Red 5 selling microphones for prices such as £45, as it seemed not so long ago they were very much at the higher end in both price and quality in terms of far eastern microphones. Then again, they probably still are because the price of microphones keeps plummeting at the moment! I can't believe the quality of the microphones I have these days.

Anyway, I'm not trying to be argumentative, That studiospares egg is very preety and I'm sure they are probably all okay microphones. It's just that by the time you have spent £30, you are in the ballpark to start looking at some very nice microphones.

Sent with well meaning and friendly greetings.

love

Freya

 

[Freya]

It seems a bit odd to me to be buying something you don't know! I haven't looked at the Studiospares-badged mics, but they'll be Chinese ones from the same factory as someone else's stuff. Why don't you get a couple of SP or SE mics, which are a known quantity, or perhaps Red5 or ADK which get the odd excellenct review? All are super-cheap.

Greetings noise dude! I'm liking this thread because I read about microphones usually, it's often US based and you either feel sad that the microphones they are recomending are unavailable (MXL being a big one!) or resentful of the prices! And then after you start feeling resentful, you start to worry you are turning into a bad person and then it all goes horrid.

Anyway, I'm curious about your mention of SP and SE microphones. Does SP stand for Studio Projects? What about SE and where are they available from?
What are your own microphone experiences?

love

Freya

 

[bfsuk]

Hey,
Anyone else tested any of them mics from Gaz on ebay? I got one through the post today and I'm really not impressed with it at all. I've tried micing toms up with it and also a guitar amp and I'm really not getting any decent results. Even my cheap £15 dynamic vocal mic from Maplin sounds better on everything. What the problem is ... the signal is distorting very easily. This happens at whatever volume I have the faders on my Tascam 788 at. I can have the channel fader and stereo fader both very low and it still distorts. Am I doing something wrong?
Any help would be appreciated!
James

 

[Freya]

Hiya James,

I've run some very limited tests with these mics, but not miced a full drum kit.

Firstly the output impedence on these things is 600 ohms. This is karokee mike territory and I'm always very wary of mikes that run at 600 ohms. It's more usual for microphones to be 300 ohms if they are manufactured for more professional use. What this means is that the output signal is very loud. Much louder than any of your normal microphones, which takes some getting used to. Yes you need to set the levels very low, however, they should not be distorting at low levels.

As regards the sound quality, I've run some limited tests. They sound totally horrible on the hand drums I was hoping to use them on, and I have any number of other microphones that are better for that. What's more when testing them with the more midrange stuff I found that the microphones were not only poor and flat sounding but also there seemed to be a bit of inconsistancy in quality between one of the microphones and the others. So it looks like there is definitely a variable build quality thing going on. (Tho maybe I am being unfair as they are drum mikes and not really for singing into etc, anyway)

[NOTE: I think this was kind of unfair, one of my mikes sounds slightly different to the others, it's a really marginal thing tho and not any kind of big deal I expect.]

However, I then tried the microphones on some full sized toms, where the sound quality seemed much better. It seems to be like they are skewed quite heavily to bassy stuff. I probably wouldn't want to mike a guitair cabinet with one, Maybe if you were running bass thru an amp?

The microphone I tried did not distort, although I was only playing one tom and wasn't exactly going wild!

They seem very low on handling noise if you hold them and sing into them!
I wouldn't especially want to sing into one of these things tho!

I did notice when doing these tests, what an unbelivable pain it is to set the levels, if there is only you and you are the one playing the drums! You really have to get the levels right on these microphones and it's hard to do so without constantly running back and forth.

As I say, I've only done limited testing and most of it with one microphone.

I'm assuming your problem is because of the impedance, but it might be that you have got a faulty microphone. I assume your other microphone is fine through the same cable?

If you do get the thing working, I'd be really interested to hear about how it sounds on the kick drum. I notice that it is described as being a kick drum mike on the spec sheet. Obviously at the moment, if it is distorting on toms, the idea of sticking it in the kick is preety wacky.

I'd be really interested to hear of your further adventures with this mic if you get anywhere with it.

love

Freya

 

[Freya]

Hey,
I can have the channel fader and stereo fader both very low and it still distorts. Am I doing something wrong?
Any help would be appreciated!
James

Set the fader to a midway position, a setting you might normally use and turn your microphone gain right down. Maybe sing into the microphone a little while you hold it and adjust the mike gain so that your singing is very quiet, now try it on this same setting on a drum.

It may still be too loud. If it is, you might want to turn the microphone gain down even further. If it seems just a tiny bit off, you should be able to make fine adjustments with the fader.

Basically the microphone gain adjusts for big differences in volume, and the fader makes more fine adjustments. The fader is for doing the artistic mixing and getting things just so, the microphone gain is for making sure you are in the right universe (in terms of volume).

Hope I'm not saying a bunch of obvious stuff, it's just that you mentioned a fader and a stereo fader (master fader?) but not the microphone gain which is the bit you really need to play with!

love

Freya

 

[noisedude]

Freya - yes I was referring to Studio Projects - there are a few places here that do them and they are very similar prices to the US, unlike Oktava, MXL etc ...

SE Electronics is yet another one to look at, their mics are made at FEILO I think, if you look at FEILO's website you can spot some SE mics and I think some ADK ones too. Sound on Sound has given out one or two quality reviews to their cheaper mics, but this month there's a rather guarded review on their £800 Icis, which is fair when you consider what else can be had for that kind of money!

 

[Mark7]

Hiya James,

I've run some very limited tests with these mics, but not miced a full drum kit.

Firstly the output impedence on these things is 600 ohms. This is karokee mike territory

A few of the Audio-Technica dynamics have an output impedence of 600 ohms, and I'd hardly call those "Karaoke mics"

 

[bfsuk]

Hey,
Thanks for the help. I've been playing around today with the microphone gain and I seem to have got it working without distortion. I haven't had time to try it on a full drum kit yet, but will be doing soon so will let you know how that goes. I got a reasonable sound when using it on a guitar amp but a better sound when using it on my bass amp. As I am a bass player myself in a band, I usually tend to use a DI so it's not quite the sound I'm used to, but it sounded alright. It was bought to use on drums though so I'll be testing it out properly asap.
Thanks again for the help, I've only been recording a few weeks and am still learning!
James

 

[Freya]

A few of the Audio-Technica dynamics have an output impedence of 600 ohms, and I'd hardly call those "Karaoke mics"

lol! Yeah, I think there are a few high end mikes that are 600 ohms, and there are certainly a lot of microphones that are less than 300 ohms. I've even seen microphones with strange values such as 500 ohms or 450 etc. However it tends to be a rule, that most of the standard microphones are 300 ohms, and in the case of Karoke mikes, they are always, well I've not yet seen an exception anyway, always 600 ohms. So whenever I see the value 600 ohms on a microphone, I feel skeptical but yes, theres certainly nothing very scientific about it AFAIK, it's my personal prejudice and I may well not have mentioned it if the fellow had not bought up the problem he was having with signal levels. I should have probably put a wink in there somewhere but it was early in the morning and it was dark and cold and I seem to remember I was trying to be amusing, but at that time of day in the winter everything I say just comes out like the moaning of the north winds. I'm still getting used to life up't North.

Actually, it does make for an interesting question as to why so many mikes are *not* 600 ohms. I would have thought that a hotter signal down the wire would actually be a good thing, but maybe it's just the way things are? I have to say I've never really though about it till now.


love

Freya

 

[Freya]

Hey,
Thanks for the help. I've been playing around today with the microphone gain and I seem to have got it working without distortion. I haven't had time to try it on a full drum kit yet, but will be doing soon so will let you know how that goes. I got a reasonable sound when using it on a guitar amp but a better sound when using it on my bass amp. As I am a bass player myself in a band, I usually tend to use a DI so it's not quite the sound I'm used to, but it sounded alright. It was bought to use on drums though so I'll be testing it out properly asap.
Thanks again for the help, I've only been recording a few weeks and am still learning!
James

That's okay, I'm learning too! It's actually been great playing with these kick mikes because it has helped me understand microphones bettter. I mean there was a lot of things I already knew, but you understand a lot better when you have experienced them for yourself.

For instance I was a little shocked at how bad the mikes sounded on more midrange and less bassy sounds, and this is actually the way it should be. In a live situation for example, it's good if the microphones only respond to the lower frequencies as it will give you better seperation and stop some of the bleed from other instruments in a different frequency range. I know this but of course it's not the same as really doing it. That is another kind of knowing.

I think micing a drum kit is one of the best things for gaining a better understanding of microphones in general.

I always DI the bass too. It's easier, it doesn't annoy the neighbours, and hey if it was good enough for Joe Meek, it's good enough for me , but I guess it might be nice to be able to mic a bass cabinet sometimes for a slightly different sound.

I'm glad your mike doesn't seem to be faulty, I'm sure gaz would probably just replace it if it was but it's never nice to get a faulty thing.

I'm sorry if my silly review of the mikes I wrote this morning sounds grumpy too. I'm convinced that people are supposed to be hibernating at this time of year. I think it would even be good for the economy as we could have a special burrowing time of the year where we all build our little nests and select the right things to go in them to keep us happy over the winter!

love

Freya

 

[Freya]

Freya - yes I was referring to Studio Projects - there are a few places here that do them and they are very similar prices to the US, unlike Oktava, MXL etc ...

SE Electronics is yet another one to look at, their mics are made at FEILO I think, if you look at FEILO's website you can spot some SE mics and I think some ADK ones too. Sound on Sound has given out one or two quality reviews to their cheaper mics, but this month there's a rather guarded review on their £800 Icis, which is fair when you consider what else can be had for that kind of money!

Studio projects mikes are definitely much closer to US pricing although they still seem slightly more expesive but I guess they are almost fair enough.

Oktava mikes only seem to be cheaper in the U.S. at gutair centre which is alledgedly where all the bad mikes go. They are so cheap there tho that it would be nice to be able to take a chance on a few. The better places to buy oktava mikes in the states seem to be more expensive than the u.k. but maybe I am imagining that. I never feel as bad about oktava mikes and they are fairly easily available in Europe at least. I am quite taken by the image of the Russians sending all their bad microphones to America tho! Theres something kind of fun about the thought of that in a dr strangelove kind of way!

MXL mikes are of course virtually unavailable here, and when they are, the price difference can be as much as 10 times the cost they are in the states! Crazy.

I'm very curious about the SE mikes. I've never really seen them around here but someone said that the t.bone mikes look like they are identical, or at least that some of them were. I'd love to know more about the t.bone microphones.

It seems really hard to get information on much of the cheap microphones available in Europe, I wish there was more discussion on the subject, as to buy a cheap microphone here is very much a shot in the dark which is not so bad when it's 13 pounds with a free XLR cable but not the kind of thing I would be keen on with larger sums.

I'll have a peek in sound on sound and see if I can find those SE reviews. Maybe I can match them up to the t.bone microphones.

love

Freya