The FULL scoop on Naiants...

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notredamer0789

notredamer0789

Nashville Rocker
SOOOO ... this was the first time I ever heard of Naiant mics. They are incredibly cheap and from what I hear WORTH EVERY PENNY OF WHAT YOU PAY... are these good mics? I'm looking to invest in a pair of the xt's and I really want to know... are they going to be something I will be proud to put in my recordings? Will they last? AND Are they quality...overall? Thanks so much guys!:D
 
My Naiants have GREATLY improved my recordings from what I used to use. As long as you've got a good room, they're definitely worth it.
 
a question.....

I am interested in the mini and I can't believe the price (wow!). How are they for live sound? The fact that they are omni and all. I'm thinking about using them on a hand drum application and I'm wondering if an omni condenser placed very close to the head (about 4" on a darbuka) would get so much bounce and bleed to create havoc with the sound. Have any of you used these in a live situation?
 
Here's a reprint of a post I made a couple of weeks ago...

"I ordered a new pair of Naiant X-Q mics on the first day they were released. Today, I made a few quick tracks with one of my acoustic guitars. That's what I bought the mics for. Anyway, I'm happy with the mics. The noise is low. On par with any other condenser mic I have. Both mics have nearly identical output. And the sound quality is on par with any other condenser I have. I haven't mixed the X-Q sound with any other instruments, yet. I'll give that a try, tomorrow. For now, I'll say that these $32 US mics are every bit as good sounding as any of the $200 US condensers I've used, or heard."

I have only recorded acoustic guitar. I have not tried the X-T model. I have not tried a "live" recording. Only studio type recording.
 
I got an MSH-2 a while back and it is fantastic for the acoustic guitar – I like to blend different mics as opposed to EQ and this provides love upper range sounds and nice string sound and fret buzz close up if you are after that.

I don’t know about drums – but just email the guy Jon O’Neil and ask - he will not tell you stuff just to sell you his mics. He is a real musician who wants to help, so he wont send you down the wrong path – but hell under $40 how much of a mistake could you make.
 
Nick98338 said:
"I ordered a new pair of Naiant X-Q mics on the first day they were released. Today, I made a few quick tracks with one of my acoustic guitars. That's what I bought the mics for. Anyway, I'm happy with the mics. The noise is low. On par with any other condenser mic I have. Both mics have nearly identical output. And the sound quality is on par with any other condenser I have. I haven't mixed the X-Q sound with any other instruments, yet. I'll give that a try, tomorrow. For now, I'll say that these $32 US mics are every bit as good sounding as any of the $200 US condensers I've used, or heard."
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Absolutely. For anything I'd use one mic on, they're great, and for anything where I'd normally use multiple non-coincident mics like on acoustic guitar, they're quite reasonable.

I still pick other mics if I need a stereo pair for something, though, for pickup pattern reasons; I wish they were available in a cardioid pattern as well.

The real question, then, is what you plan to use them to record.
 
The other real question, though, is why aren't they still available in a cardioid pattern as well?

:confused:
 
isfahani said:
The other real question, though, is why aren't they still available in a cardioid pattern as well?
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Assuming you mean the MSH-1K, it was never really intended to be used for general recording, IIRC. It's usable as a tom mic, but I think the K stood for kick; its frequency response was exceptionally dark---lots of lows, some mids, no highs to speak of. Pretty much the exact opposite of the PG81.

According to the specs, it had a 4kHz presence boost to emphasize stick hits and the response basically topped out at 10kHz. Definitely not what you'd want to use as a room mic. Clearly designed for drums.

That said, I do wish I could still buy a couple more of them so I could use them to mic up my toms. I stupidly only bought two at the time, so they sit idle in a case without having any real purpose in life, waiting for Jon to make something similar again so I can try to match them. If anybody has any of them that they want to sell, PM me.
 
isfahani said:
The other real question, though, is why aren't they still available in a cardioid pattern as well?

:confused:
Click to expand...

I'm sure Jon (mshilarious) could probably answer that question best, and I bet he would if you e-mailed him. My guess is that good electret omni capsules are readily available and inexpensive. Turning those into cardioid mics takes a lot more work (and cost).
 
Well, I've learned alot guys... apparantly these things are the real deal. I want to use the XT's as acoustic guitar mics and prbly overheads. I could prbly get away with using them as room mics, depending where I am (type of room..). I don't always have the quietest rooms to work with or the best sounding ones either..
 
I started to play live again with an old band of mine. We play bars usually around 100 to 200 people. I've been using one MSH1 as a live overhead into a DMP3 than into the board. Everyone tells me the drums cut through the mix. BTW the band plays fairly lound classic and souther/blues rock.
 
I've got a set of 1s and 2s and I'm very pleased with the performance vs. expense. Biggest use any of them have seen is in an X/Y config for ambience. Probably not the true definition of the proper technique, but it sounds really, really, really good. They've also seen use in mic'n a guitar cab and/or in an acoustic setting. They're right up there with my SM57 and E609. I usually run through them all before choosing which to complete the track with.
 
I just ordered the X-T's for piano. Got a matched pair. I already had the MSH-1 matched pair, but figured this might be a step up...if not, oh well, I've got 4 good mics. Now, it's time for me to quit spending money!
 
kgirl72 said:
I just ordered the X-T's for piano. Got a matched pair. I already had the MSH-1 matched pair, but figured this might be a step up...if not, oh well, I've got 4 good mics. Now, it's time for me to quit spending money!
Click to expand...

Did you get the tailored or flat response? I'm curious about these for our rehearsal space. Considering getting a pair, dropping them from the ceiling and just leaving them there 'semi-permanently'.


Erik
Tulsa Drone
Richmond, VA
 
As long as there's a thread up about this... I just got a pair of X-Ts yesterday, so I'd be willing to do some rough acoustic guitar samples this weekend. I might be able to squeeze in some drum tracks on Monday as well. The guitar tracks will be very rough - in my small, squarish room with my computer and vent fan running (the school doesn't let us turn them off) and no treatment or anything. The guitar's pretty good, but not the best. So basically, this will good for other people with limited funds to listen to.

I can say that so far, on the rough tracks I've used them for, they sound generally very good on my acoustic, though there's more bass than I thought there would be. I haven't mixed any other elements in yet, but the guitar tracks sound like they would cut right through the mix. I didn't think they sounded quite as good miking my guitar amp, but it might have just been positioning (I just set it up haphazardly thinking, "it's omni").
 
Nick98338 said:
Here's a reprint of a post I made a couple of weeks ago...

"I ordered a new pair of Naiant X-Q mics on the first day they were released. Today, I made a few quick tracks with one of my acoustic guitars. That's what I bought the mics for. Anyway, I'm happy with the mics. The noise is low. On par with any other condenser mic I have. Both mics have nearly identical output. And the sound quality is on par with any other condenser I have. I haven't mixed the X-Q sound with any other instruments, yet. I'll give that a try, tomorrow. For now, I'll say that these $32 US mics are every bit as good sounding as any of the $200 US condensers I've used, or heard."

I have only recorded acoustic guitar. I have not tried the X-T model. I have not tried a "live" recording. Only studio type recording.
Click to expand...



What $200 US condensers?
 
I'm looking forward to hearing those tracks. I know these are cheap SOOO it wouldnt be TOO much of a loss to get a pair, but i want to make sure its money well spent.
 
notredamer0789 said:
I'm looking forward to hearing those tracks. I know these are cheap SOOO it wouldnt be TOO much of a loss to get a pair, but i want to make sure its money well spent.
Click to expand...
I guess I can do that today then... I just have to come up with something good to play so I don't sound so bad.
 
Alrighty, it's kind of a big file, but here are some acoustic samples. It's about 16 MB at 44.1 and 16 bit .wav. The mic is sitting on a backpack on a chair (I don't have any clips with me at school) about 2 feet or so away, so there's plenty of room noise as well. The editing is pretty sloppy, too, but the first two sections are finger picking and the last two sections are with a pick (for some variety). So like I said, these aren't going to be the best recordings ever, but hopefully they help a bit. I'll try harder on Monday if I have time.

http://www.nickglover.com/Riffs.wav

(please tell me if that doesn't work so I can fix it--also, it won't be up for about 7 minutes after I post this)
 
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