Oktava MK012

puredrifting said:
Hi Paul:

I completely understand your position and respect it. As a freelancer, I am in the same position, I am hired almost completely from recommendations from colleagues and satisfied clients. The testimonials and passion from your satisfied customers makes it obvious that you are a person of integrity and that The Sound Room has a very good reputation.

Rafael, I too have read many of those posts and content and I think that is the reason that I approached the whole Oktava issue with my skepticism perhaps too sharpened. There are very few electronic products that you buy that have what seems to be an entire folklore behind them.

I will also be buying equipment from The Sound Room too.

That's the problem with choosing microphones, these days, they are all pretty good. Of the eleven models I have tested so far, I would be happy with and could find uses for any of them. The good news is, none of the mics I tested were 'bad' or subpar, they all sounded pretty good. It's definitely a buyers market for mics now, prices, for the most part are reasonable and the quality is very high overall.

If you can wait until the end of the month, you will be able to hear multiple audio samples of the Oktava as well as popular mics like the Sennheiser MKH-50 and 60, the Audio-Technica 875r and 4073a, Beyerdynamic 836, Schoeps CMC641 and CMIT5u, Sanken CS-1 and CS-3e and the Neumann KMR81i and you can judge for yourelf. The Oktava sounded very good I thought.

All the best,

Dan
Click to expand...
Hey Dan
I would love to heard your opinion about matching the Sanken Cs3 and the Cs1. I found the combination of both of them perfect for my documentary shooting work. I use the CS1 as an on camera mic. Cs3 on boom and cs11 on the subject. Wow, now I sounded as a Sanken's commercial. let me make this clear now, I don't work for Sanken
 
Wow! This is a crazy thread... these days when I see questions about Oktava I usually stay out of it. I thought that any mysteries on the matter were cleared up years ago... and I was getting tired of just posting identical advice over and over again.

"I've got $500 total budget and a DVX... what mic should I get?"


*sigh*

"Uh... how about an Oktava MK012 with hyper cap?"


Then of course the next question is "Where should I get it?"

And I say, "Well... considering that Paul, from the sound room is one of THE ONLY people I've ever talked to who actually LISTENED to what I told him about the needs of ALL OF US as videographers... I'd buy from him. That's what I did and that's what I'll continue to do."

Then people buy from him and so far I think everybody's been happy. In case you don't feel like searching the archives... I emailed Paul about the black Oktavas... a guy I used to be friends with got a black set up north (omni, cardioid, hyper) but down here in the USA you couldn't find the black ones... PLUS... the majority of videographers really MAINLY need the hyper cap... so I says, "Hey Paul... if you can get a deal going with a black Oktava, that is cheap because it comes with ONLY the hyper cap... I will buy two of them and I'll bet a lot of other people will too."

So Paul negotiates this deal for us... and a couple months later he starts selling black MK012a with the choice of hyper only... and on top of it he throws in a DVXuser discount of 5% with coupon code DV. At least that was covering shipping... and at THAT time he was the ONLY guy doing ANY of this... because he listened.

Back then I'm pretty sure the other place was pretty much working like a store that sold mics directly... but you can check the history out for yourself. All I know for sure is that if you wanted an Oktava with a hyper you had to either buy the 3-cap kit, or buy the single cap and get the cardioid and then buy the hyper cap separately. I told Paul that a lot of buyers may never need more then just the hyper cap and he responded with exactly what I wanted at the time.

Since then I've had 4 Oktavas so far and with all the caps, but I never forgot who made it easy for me to get what I needed at the time.

That's why I buy from Paul.

Now honestly... I don't have to post ALL the stuff about real vs. fake Oktavas again do I? I was just at a gig on Saturday and this guy sees my Oktavas and brings up issues that are 5+ years old now.

The short list of facts is this:

1) When Oktava first released the MC012 it was a crap shoot. Most were decent, some were really good, and some were fair... because the Russian factory would arbitrarily substitute caps, resistors, and FETs as needed to keep the line moving. So back then you really had to "find" a good one.

2) Scott Dorsey (a well-known and experienced audio engineer... and skilled solder jockey slash mic-modder)... does an article detailing some mods that took a good sample Oktava and transformed it into a truly great little mic.

3) Around this same time... the sh*t hits the fan with Chinese Oktavas... you see 'em on ebay and some surface at Guitar Center. Hence the fear of "counterfeit Oktavas" is born.

4) Guitar Center drops the Oktava line over it and counterfeit Oktavas begin to fade.

5) Oktava notices that the world took notice in the potential of this little mic... and they also notice all the talk in geek-circles about the mods from Scott Dorsey... I'm sure that Taylor Johnson of T.H.E. mics probably helped... and that means that the sound-room helped... because back then they were a tight-knit family... and they traveled to the Russian factory FREQUENTLY.

6) Suddenly there are no more Chinese Oktavas readily available and the price (and quality) of the Oktava is raised... the factory starts selling the Oktava with MOST of the Scott Dorsey mods as standard construction. For years now the Oktava is a solid guarantee of great sound for the money.

So you may also take notice that if you have a fairly new Oktava (3 years or newer) then don't ask about mods and don't buy a mod kit on ebay... you're wasting your money.

Um... what else? I want to get as many facts in this as I can since the thread got so long... plus, hell we're already beating this horse and now I'm having fun at it.

BeatDeadHorse.gif
 
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Read with interest this old thread...The Sound room sounds like a good place to buy a mic anyway!

My question relates to the modding that is done over at:
http://www.oktavamod.com/

Has anyone purchased modded mics from here?
Are these upgraded mod versions worthwhile...or is it just as well to go with the standard Oktava 012? Thanks.
 
Mavoz said:
Read with interest this old thread...The Sound room sounds like a good place to buy a mic anyway!

My question relates to the modding that is done over at:
http://www.oktavamod.com/

Has anyone purchased modded mics from here?
Are these upgraded mod versions worthwhile...or is it just as well to go with the standard Oktava 012? Thanks.
Click to expand...

The person who did the modding said that the mod is only useful for music recording application. For ENG and short films you're unlikely to notice a difference.
 
Nice write up Matt and the beating the dead horse gif is frikkin hilarious.

As for the Sound Room, they're great. I got my mk012a shipped to australia no probs.
 
Shortly after this thread began, I too bought a microphone, not the Oktava, from Paul. Great guy, will be buying all of my future mics from him.

Best,

Dan
 
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