Oktava MK012 w/ Hyper Cardiod Cap

P

pob

Member
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=51526

I noticed this microphone came up alot in the Audio Sticky for introduction to Microphone kits.

Ive tried doing a websearch and all i can find is the oktava mk012

http://www.hcom.co.uk/oktava.htm

but can anyone explain to me what the w/hyper cardiod cap is?

On the website above ^^^ The mic looks cheap, but everywhere it seems to be in the 300 plus department? Can anyone tell me, if thats the right microphone i've found?

Does anyone use this Microphone for indoor filming? What is your opinion of it?

Thanks
 
pob said:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=51526

I noticed this microphone came up alot in the Audio Sticky for introduction to Microphone kits.

Ive tried doing a websearch and all i can find is the oktava mk012

http://www.hcom.co.uk/oktava.htm

but can anyone explain to me what the w/hyper cardiod cap is?

On the website above ^^^ The mic looks cheap, but everywhere it seems to be in the 300 plus department? Can anyone tell me, if thats the right microphone i've found?

Does anyone use this Microphone for indoor filming? What is your opinion of it?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I wouldn't buy from that site. Just at first glance it doesn't look very...reputable to me. That's my only input. :)
 
pob said:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=51526

I noticed this microphone came up alot in the Audio Sticky for introduction to Microphone kits.

Ive tried doing a websearch and all i can find is the oktava mk012

http://www.hcom.co.uk/oktava.htm

but can anyone explain to me what the w/hyper cardiod cap is?

On the website above ^^^ The mic looks cheap, but everywhere it seems to be in the 300 plus department? Can anyone tell me, if thats the right microphone i've found?

Does anyone use this Microphone for indoor filming? What is your opinion of it?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The Oktava comes with three alternative capsules, an Omni, a Cardioid, and a Hypercardioid.

This capsules change the "reception" characteristics, and the cardioid and hypercardioid will 'cut' sounds coming from the sides. Here's a brief overview URL of mics, and in particular the 'polar patterns' that mics are 'characterized' by:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone

There are 'russian' and 'chinese' versions of the Oktava... the recommendation is to make sure you are buying a 'russian' offering...

As for 'where to buy', I think $300 is the current 'new' price. You can find them on E-bay for less, but you need to be able to test the unit, and 'feel good' about
who you are buying from via that source. I've seen Oktava's between $50.00 and $150... I tend to not be interested if the price of an ebay item goes beyond 1/2 the
new price... at that point to me it isn't worth it to not have the 'new' warrenty, or be more assured of it working... or at least returnable...
 
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Some professional microphones have interchangeable "heads" or "capsules". The long base part of the microphone contains the electronics and the XLR output connector, but the working head-end has several different options since it is only the head/capsule that determines the directional characteristics of the microphone. In the photo you referenced ...

mk012.gif


you can see the microphone body in the clip with the cardioid capsule attached. Under that are the hyper-cardioid capsule (on the left, facing up), and the omni or non-directional capsule (on the right on its side).

The (Russian) Oktava MK012 is a popular lower-cost example of this kind of product. A more expensive example would be the German Schoeps Collette series Interchangeable heads make it less expensive to have available the range of different types of microphones than if you had to buy separate complete units (like the Neumann 180 series, or the Sennheiser MKH series).

The reason the Oktava MK012 is popular in lower-budget production is because they make a nice lower-cost hyper-cardioid head which is very useful for booming indoors (where a conventional shotgun mic would not work as well).

An interesting saga of how Oktava microphones came to be known in the Western world (and then cloned in China) can be seen here. The Sound Room (www.oktava.com) is my preference for buying any Oktava products. I had been using my pair of MK012s (with all 3 capsules) for audio production before even discovering this DVXuser web forum. The Sound Room have created a special edition of the MK012 with a hyper-cardioid capsule for DVXuser readers.
 
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Richard Crowley said:
Some professional microphones have interchangeable "heads" or "capsules". The long base part of the microphone contains the electronics and the XLR output connector, but the working head-end has several different options since it is only the head/capsule that determines the directional characteristics of the microphone. In the photo you referenced ...

mk012.gif


you can see the microphone body in the clip with the cardioid capsule attached. Under that are the hyper-cardioid capsule (on the left, facing up), and the omni or non-directional capsule (on the right on its side).

The (Russian) Oktava MK012 is a popular lower-cost example of this kind of product. A more expensive example would be the German Schoeps Collette series Interchangeable heads make it less expensive to have available the range of different types of microphones than if you had to buy separate complete units (like the Neumann 180 series, or the Sennheiser MKH series).

The reason the Oktava MK012 is popular in lower-budget production is because they make a nice lower-cost hyper-cardioid head which is very useful for booming indoors (where a conventional shotgun mic would not work as well).

An interesting saga of how Oktava microphones came to be known in the Western world (and then cloned in China) can be seen here. The Sound Room (www.oktava.com) is my preference for buying any Oktava products. I had been using my pair of MK012s (with all 3 capsules) for audio production before even discovering this DVXuser web forum. The Sound Room have created a special edition of the MK012 with a hyper-cardioid capsule for DVXuser readers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great link to purchase these mics!

I'd love to be able to rent an NTG-3. But if I can't, I'll probably end up buying this mic to pair with my FR2-LE.
 
I recommend the mic, with either the Dorsey or Joly Mod. Joly will sell you the whole package modded and then you need not worry too much about purchasing one of the thousands of clones going around. It isn't an MK41, but it is a good midrange mic without a lot of harsh treble.
 
DrDave said:
I recommend the mic, with either the Dorsey or Joly Mod. Joly will sell you the whole package modded and then you need not worry too much about purchasing one of the thousands of clones going around. It isn't an MK41, but it is a good midrange mic without a lot of harsh treble.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice!

I've been wondering about mods overall. I had a choice between a 400 dollar FR2-LE with a Transparent mod (to the preamps) vs a 300 dollar one with no mod -- I chose the 300 dollar one after several people said the preamps were great even without the mod.

Are all mods created equal? lol What I mean by that is -- is a microphone being modded more important, less important or of equal importance to a recorder's preamps being modded?
 
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