Oktava Cardiod and Hypercardioid caps - little difference?

H

Heath

New member
Hi

I've just bought a hypercardioid cap (from Oktava Online) for one of my Mk-012-01 mics. I'm worried that I can barely discern the difference between the hyper and the cardioid caps at any distances. The frequency response, distance reach, rejection and general tone of both caps seems worryingly similar. Is the hypercardioid capsule meant to be THAT subtle?

I've tried to boom the mic at the recommended angle and distance for interviews - 2-3 feet above the subject's head, pointing toward the mouth and chest. But I'll be damned if I can hear much difference.

Any thoughts and advice would be welcomed.

Cheers
 
Two things,
1. Do you hear any more of the "ROOM" with the Cardiod over the hyper
2. When you stand under the mic, take a few steps to the side and see if they sound any different when you are off axis like that.
With my AKG ULS line, I hear a subtle difference between the CK61 Cardiod and the CK63 Hyper Cap..
Mark
 
Thanks for the replies so far,

I can't hear much room difference between the two. I haven't tried the off-axis test yet.

Here's one test from earlier tonight. There's a nasty high pitched whine in it resulting from my CRT television (forgot to turn it off). But it shouldn't have any bearing on the test (it might annoy your dog, though.)

Take a listen:

http://www.themediamusiccompany.com/oktava_cap_test.mp3

Cheers

EDIT: the Oktavas are going through a Canon XH-A1.
 
Heath,
What kind of gear you have on in the background? I'm hearing a nasty spike about say 15k like a TV or something else is on
Mark
 
Yeah, it's a CRT TV set I forgot to turn off. Sorry. It's irritating, but, like I said, it shouldn't have a bearing on the test. Other tests were conducted with the TV set off, and the caps remained similar in character. So, the whine doesn't affect anything (except the nerves!)
 
Heath said:
http://www.themediamusiccompany.com/oktava_cap_test_V2.mp3
Click to expand...

Heath, I definitely hear a difference -- one channel sounds much more intimate and clear and close, and the other more rounded off. But I'm not sure my 'left' and 'right' match yours, and I'm real sure my speakers are not perfectly matched. Nor are my ears for that matter. :)

It might be useful, in future such tests, to tap each mike lightly to positively identify which is which.

Anyway, I wouldn't expect a huge tonal difference between the cardioid and hyper Oktava caps, especially not on a single voice. An instrument that excites the room somewhat might be a better test, because I think what you'd be listening for is reflected sound from the room more than a dramatic change in frequency response.

You might be interested in the following -- listening notes from Michael Joly of OktavaMod. He wrote about all the currently-available capsules for the MK-012 series, including the mid-sized and large-diaphragm capsules from Oktava, RTT, and Red.

Oktava MK-012 Capsule Review
 
Heath said:
Hi

I've just bought a hypercardioid cap (from Oktava Online) for one of my Mk-012-01 mics. I'm worried that I can barely discern the difference between the hyper and the cardioid caps at any distances. The frequency response, distance reach, rejection and general tone of both caps seems worryingly similar. Is the hypercardioid capsule meant to be THAT subtle?

I've tried to boom the mic at the recommended angle and distance for interviews - 2-3 feet above the subject's head, pointing toward the mouth and chest. But I'll be damned if I can hear much difference.

Any thoughts and advice would be welcomed.

Cheers
Click to expand...

You shouldn't notice much difference in the two capsule's behaviour on axis, other than a longer reach for the hyper. The differences should become more apparent when the sound source is at around 60 degrees or more off-axis and extending around towards the rear of the mic. Between 90 degrees and full-aft the hyper should be picking up much less than the cardioid with a paradoxical slight increase in sensitivity at the full aft position. Note that "longer reach" is actually an illusion - the hyper capsule isn't any more sensitive than the cardioid but because of its off-axis ambience rejection it's possible to place it somewhat farther away from the subject and turn up the recording gain to compensate for the fall-off from the increased distance.

We have a cuckoo clock on the wall that is a great test source. Pointing the mic directly at the ticking clock, then rotating the axis slowly through 180 degrees until the mic is pointing directly away from it while monitoring on cans gives a good demonstration of the mic's pattern. A old-fashioned windup alarm clock would make a good test as well.
 
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