New Oktava MK-012-01

[Fichtezc]

Through a series of unfortunate events which turned into a series of fortunate events I've ended up with a set of Oktava MK-012 mics. I fried my old Golden Age Project FC4s and ended up replacing them with a better pair. I'm pretty pleased with them, though they sound quite dark to me. I'll probably end up using EQ to boost upper mids when I use them but for now they sound pretty solid.

YouTube obviously isn't the best place to do this but the audio files are AIFF and I forced the video to 720.

Talking and playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txQuS...ature=youtu.be

Just playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIA7A...ature=youtu.be

[Rick Shepherd]

They don't sound dark to me at all, just very nice!

[Fichtezc]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

They don't sound dark to me at all, just very nice!

Everyone I've talked to has the same feelings. I guess it's because all of my other mics are so bright.

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by Fichtezc

I'll probably end up using EQ to boost upper mids when I use them but for now they sound pretty solid.

Talking and playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txQuS...ature=youtu.be

Just playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIA7A...ature=youtu.be

Fich,

If you actually do need to EQ these mics, don't boost. First, identify the extra LF and reduce energy there. After pulling down about 3dB, if the sound is to big on the bottom, then add some HF.

Also, mess around with mic placement to get a better location and stay away from the sound hole.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Fichtezc]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Fich,

If you actually do need to EQ these mics, don't boost. First, identify the extra LF and reduce energy there. After pulling down about 3dB, if the sound is to big on the bottom, then add some HF.

Also, mess around with mic placement to get a better location and stay away from the sound hole.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Good point on the cutting, I should have thought of that. As for the placement, I definitely still need to mess with it. Those were the first recordings I ever did with the mics and I have a lot of work to do. Still, the mics were WIDE of the sound hole so I'll need to rethink my approach to miking.

[Ty Ford]

Fich,

Try pointing one mic straight down towards the floor.

Position it 3-4 inches off the guitar where the neck joins the bridge.

If you need more LF, angle the mic a bit toward the face of the guitar until the LF fills in.

Season to taste.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Fichtezc]

Interesting, I'll definitely give that a try. Thanks!

[Rick Shepherd]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Fich,

Try pointing one mic straight down towards the floor.

Position it 3-4 inches off the guitar where the neck joins the bridge.

If you need more LF, angle the mic a bit toward the face of the guitar until the LF fills in.

Season to taste.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Ty, that sounds interesting, haven't tried that yet.

[Cue Zephyr]

Congratulations on your set of Oktava MK-012's. I have one and I want another one. Go figure.

They are fairly dark. What's really dark is an MK-319 (also very warm sounding) - which I love on vocals.

Happy recording!

[Fichtezc]

Originally Posted by Cue Zephyr

Congratulations on your set of Oktava MK-012's. I have one and I want another one. Go figure.

They are fairly dark. What's really dark is an MK-319 (also very warm sounding) - which I love on vocals.

Happy recording!

The more I play with them the more I appreciate what I originally (and negatively) considered darkness. It provides a nice, full yet not overwhelming low end for me.

[Ty Ford]

Fich,

There you go. I was hoping you'd get to that.

In so many ways, it's very easy to get lulled by the "brighter is better" fairy. There was some validity to her back in the analog tape days, but with good digital circuitry, you don't need it.

I don't refer to mics like this as dark. I refer to them as natural.

Based on frequency response, ribbon mics are dark to me. Not much going on over 10kHz. A good ribbon as compared to a good condenser is like AM to FM.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Fichtezc]

It was weird, I played with them for about 5 hours, got super frustrated and went and read a book outside. When I came back they didn't sound so unnatural to me. I listened to a lot of my older stuff with the golden age mics and THAT seemed overly bright though I used to consider it natural.

I'm very happy with these. Though it does prove that you need skill and experience and not equipment. My mother wanted me to record her playing and singing which i've always struggled with. Nothing has changed.

[Ty Ford]

Yep, that's conditioning. Good for you. Not everyone makes it across that barrier. It's like being a sugar junkie.

I went through a period of "decompression" after I left FM radio. We used a lot of compression and limiting there. Being out of that loop for a while was really good for my audio work because I found I had been OVER DOING IT ON THE GAIN REDUCTION, if you know what I mean.

Regards,

Ty

[rick-slo]

They sound good. No equalization needed IMO. By the way if you do try equalization I like frequency sweeping - usually most helpful to identify offending frequencies.
For example this article http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/how-to-use-eq-sweeping

[Fichtezc]

I've done about 50 hours of recording with them now and this is where I'm at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4A3t9iGVIA