What's so great about the Oktava mic?

OK. Heres a quick recording of me reading a passage on Chiniz and Oktava.

I set up on a mic stand and put it in a boom position about 12 inches from my mouth.

Recorded direct into HPX500, did have a mixer attached but pulled it in favour of a straight to cam recording as I thought people looking for lower cost mics probably do this more often than not - on hindsight probably should have done with and without.

Excuse my voice, took a swim at 6am today and still have some water stuck in the sinuses was a struggle, hate my recorded voice at the best of times anyway.

CHINIZ

OKTAVA

TBH I dont think a lot can be gleaned from this recording other than the different accoustics and that they both are usable. Real world on a moving boom makes a big difference. These are both imported from p2 into FCP placed on the TL and output.
 
Wow!

I think I know which one I really like. No wonder drummers or engineers sometimes use the Oktava as overheads.

After hearing the chiniz mic, I think there's a notch around 300-400Hz and missing some 5-6k presence. Very minute though. Otherwise, they both are totally different micropones.

Are both the microphones using their hypercardioid capsules?
 
ESTEBEVERDE said:
Awesome!

Thanks Noel!

My vote is for the Chiniz! :-)


. A+++++
Click to expand...

Theres a couple of things that dont make this comparison accurate in some respects. I think the Chiniz is less prone to trouble when you use it a lot around different places, Trouble? Things that impact the quality of your recording like background noise, wind etc.
 
Looking at a spectrum output of the two samples.
The Chinz has a "V" dip between say 250 and 400 with a sharp peak at around 450. There is a marked bump starting a around 3k with peaks in the 5-6k region where as the Oktava drops off starting at around 2.5k with a steady slope to past 10k. Almost a built in Academy eq curve. On the low end the Oktava has a bump around 150 and 250 with a dip between..
 
I don't know.

I liked the sound of the Chiniz.

Maybe it was just with Noel's voice but I still found it less flat.

But, I am not an expert. This is simply a personal opinion.
 
Interesting. A bit misleading since the levels are not the same. The C levels peak at -6.56 with RMS of -29.41 and the Okt peaks at -8.79 with RMS of -31.02. As a rule when choosing people will think a louder signal sounds better so levels are very important. That aside, the Oktava's are pretty flat in response so looking at the two files it looks like the mic's are very close till about 2k. The Chinez mics have a boost from 2k to around 5k and slope back together around 7k.

VRC2250, you can't make overall response assessments based on a recording unless it's calibrated noise. THe "academy" curve your seeing is the curve of the content not the response of the mic. Oktava's are pretty flat so assuming that the one being tested is "normal" you sort of have to use that curve as "flat" and compare the two relative to each other. And to some extent the relative differences are all that we care about anyway.

What is interesting is that at the low end they both look very similar, but I suspect that under 20Hz there is a difference, and that is why the handling is better on the Chinez.

The "vocal" bump might make them less ideal for say a stereo concert recording and might cause some problems with a voice that was very peaky in that range but generally should be a bit better at dialog than a flat response. I would be very curious about what their noise floor is.
 
The other thing to note... is the mics vary a bit. Does Paul still supply an individual response curve with each mic?

I'd hate to cause him some headaches... but a few years ago I actually sketched out what I wanted in response curve... NOT EXACTLY... but basically I asked for a specific response, and that's what he gave me. There's a "zone" that they'll all fall in... but some mics (of the same model) have mildly different characteristics.

Again... this is getting back to the Schoeps thing... and whether or not YOU can hear the difference... but I can... and that's why I cared about my particular mic response... and I also got them as a matched set.

Just saying... even a +/- 3db variance can make one Oktava 6db different in a particular octave... and also for any other mic. So, in my humble opinion, you should probably just allow yourself to judge them subjectively... as long as the levels are matched... and go with whichever one grabs you.

My .02
 
True. The 5k bump is around 12dB so that is a pretty significant difference, but as you point out that may be more like 6dB on a different set of mics.
 
Noiz2 said:
Interesting. A bit misleading since the levels are not the same. The C levels peak at -6.56 with RMS of -29.41 and the Okt peaks at -8.79 with RMS of -31.02. As a rule when choosing people will think a louder signal sounds better so levels are very important. That aside, the Oktava's are pretty flat in response so looking at the two files it looks like the mic's are very close till about 2k. The Chinez mics have a boost from 2k to around 5k and slope back together around 7k.

VRC2250, you can't make overall response assessments based on a recording unless it's calibrated noise. THe "academy" curve your seeing is the curve of the content not the response of the mic. Oktava's are pretty flat so assuming that the one being tested is "normal" you sort of have to use that curve as "flat" and compare the two relative to each other. And to some extent the relative differences are all that we care about anyway.

What is interesting is that at the low end they both look very similar, but I suspect that under 20Hz there is a difference, and that is why the handling is better on the Chinez.

The "vocal" bump might make them less ideal for say a stereo concert recording and might cause some problems with a voice that was very peaky in that range but generally should be a bit better at dialog than a flat response. I would be very curious about what their noise floor is.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed analysis. I had levels on the HPX500 set exactly the same and endeavored to do the recording at exact distances from the mics on both run throughs. Im no pro and anything I say about these is based on personal preference and not factual data. Just wanted to add that as a reference, and on the other side neither am I trying to be an Audio pro, Ill leave that well to the pros. Im sure if you guys picked up both mics a comparison would be more coherent as your set ups would be spot on as opposed to what I do to get by (which includes noting what you pros are doing so I can get as much as I can out of you, when I am alone and need to do sound :P) But, I think you can see what I am getting at anyway.
 
Noel, I wasn't criticizing your test, just pointing out that it can be misleading to make "I like this better than that" judgments if the levels are not exactly the same. As a general point. it's hard to tell how accurate the settings are on a camera (manufacturers variance not yours) but if indeed the gain was the same then the Chinez would appear to be about 3dB hotter, though that is probably due to the feq bump.

I think the short story is that as I suspected (because of Oleg's recommendation) the Chinez mic's are a good value. Not quite the same sound as the Oktava but all mic's sound different, so another tool in the chest.
 
Noel.

It's cool to hear and see various things.

This was indeed a test between those two mics under the specific conditions you used each under.

Bottom Line.

Thanks again and A+++++++ for taking the time to do the test! :beer:
 
Noiz2 said:
Noel, I wasn't criticizing your test,
Click to expand...

STUPID FORUM :P Sorry if my tone came across that way, not what I meant.

I have decided to do another recording btw as I have two of Olegs mics and I will record from all the supplied caps.
 
How do you people have the time to do this for $165 mics???

Amazing! I'm very greatful and thankful...

I donated my Oktava to a film school student today...
 
ChipG said:
How do you people have the time to do this for $165 mics???

Amazing! I'm very greatful and thankful...

I donated my Oktava to a film school student today...
Click to expand...

Exactly as Alan said. Its not easy for me to find time to do it with work and kids, but I have taken a lot from the audio forum over the years, so I guess its fair enough to put back what little I can.
 
Noel Evans said:
Exactly as Alan said. Its not easy for me to find time to do it with work and kids, but I have taken a lot from the audio forum over the years, so I guess its fair enough to put back what little I can.
Click to expand...

Noel,

It's everyone in this board that makes me want to give back more, or for me it makes me realize I need to stop and make the time to give back more...

Thanks!

PS I love the audio section! You guy's and gal's are more technical than the video section :)

Peace & thanks again!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top