Oktava MC012. Good? Less Echo? Any way to remove?

SpringShoeFilms

SpringShoeFilms

Member
I've currently got an ME66. It works great outdoors, but we'll be doing a lot of filming inside a room that tends to have echo. Though we'll be able to treat it some for sound, there will still be somewhat of an echo in there. We want to have absolutely none.

I was wondering if the Oktava MC012 is a good mic for this situation. If we keep the mic close to the actors. True, they will have to yell at some points.

Is there any way to REMOVE echo? Or at least greatly reduce it from a clip. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mainly, I'm just wondering if buying the Oktava MC012 is a good choice.

Thanks!
 
Point To Ponder

Point To Ponder

SpringShoeFilms said:
Mainly, I'm just wondering if buying the Oktava MC012 is a good choice.
Click to expand...
Straight and to the point. Not really interested in any other products, just looking to verify one's opinion. Could somebody please verify this mans opinion?
 
Echo is going to be a factor in any room that HAS echo... clap your hands and listen to the decay of the smack... echo? Now clap your hands in a walk-in closet full of clothes... no echo?

You will probably get the least amount of echo with lavs... but you can still get decent sound with a boomed mic. Basically it comes down to this; the closer the mic is to each speaker's mouth the less echo you'll have to deal with because you'll set the levels lower and increase the voice to room ratio.

I don't normally post any of these particular comparison clips. Before you listen to this you need to understand that a Schoeps is known for it's PERFECT off-axis polar pattern... and it's also got a dead smooth frequency response... and my voice sucks so that's a factor also... but there's a reason why I endlessly promote the Oktava mk012 mic... and here's that reason.

Oktava BEEP Schoeps BEEP Oktava BEEP Schoeps Click and listen. This will also give you an idea of what level of echo you MAY encounter in a "normally live" room... like the rooms in any typical house.
 
Yeah, Oktava is a good mic for the money. You need a shock mount that will cost twice the price of the mic to deal with the handling noise but a good mic.

Matt,

In your clip I can hear that high end tinge that Oktava's have but it sounds worse then normal in your clip. Do you have a newer or modded 012 or is it perhaps the older model?
 
It's a few years old... and I have all the little parts to mod it... but as usual I just haven't had the chance to commit to the project. Considering you could get 8 or 9 Oktavas for the price of the Scheops I'd say it's still a pretty good deal... I've got other good hypers so I have choices... but most of the time the Oktava is good enough that nobody would ever notice.
 
Dang, so it's good? It's just 125$ here O.o I even listened samples on their site, but still didn't believe it could be good for that price...
 
They're made in Russia by very good russian craftsmen who are getting ripped off making them....
 
xl70e3 said:
Dang, so it's good? It's just 125$ here O.o I even listened samples on their site, but still didn't believe it could be good for that price...
Click to expand...

Really. What site was that? I'd love to check out the samples!
 
If you are having problems with echo, there are some stuff you can do.

Hanging bedsheets over the frame (mostly to cover echo from the ceiling) is a good solution. Having soundblankets hanging behind the camera also helps. Every hard surface you can cover with cloth worths the trouble and soundblanquets help tremendously. If the room is reverbing, the mic will pick it up, pure and simple.
 
Echo is echo. Try putting some cloth material on a few walls to break up the reverb. Sound blankets on the floor under talent help a great deal.
 
SpringShoeFilms said:
I've currently got an ME66. It works great outdoors, but we'll be doing a lot of filming inside a room that tends to have echo. Though we'll be able to treat it some for sound, there will still be somewhat of an echo in there. We want to have absolutely none.

I was wondering if the Oktava MC012 is a good mic for this situation. If we keep the mic close to the actors. True, they will have to yell at some points.
Click to expand...

The MC012 is a really good mic for the money, and beyond. Your preamps will play an extremely important part. The MC012 is like the SM57 of cardioids. The SM57 will also sound like crap without good preamplification. So don't blame everything on the mic. If your actors will have to yell at some point, you probably don't have enough gain.

Echoes... What are we talking about here? Are we talking about flutter echoes, or long HELLO.....2 seconds later, HELLO? You're not recording in a concrete silo are you :grin: ? It depends on the length of the echo what you'll have to do to treat the problem.

You could build a modular broad band absorption panel system, much like you do to record vocals for a tighter sound in a large studio. You could actually build one of these pretty cheaply. Look into some Owen's Corning 709 rigid fiberglass panels. You could build a wood frame structure around that with 2x4's for higher density, but the sheets would probably work just fine if you had them braced up with timbers. You might also cover them with some pore filled material like burlap. Use the open side for more absorption, and the covered side for more reflection (which might send some positive higher freq. back into the mic). Like was said before, throw blankets where you can, but that's going to work as a very poor absorber, and not help you in redirecting reflections. Don't bring a boy in to do a man's job. :laugh:

You want to avoid parallel walls, parallel floors and ceilings, and 90 degree angled corners. About the only thing that shouldn't be modified, for pschyoacoustic reasons, is the floor. For recording film situations you'd probably be ok altering that plane. It's a different situation than recording an instrumentalist.

-Aaron
 
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