Stereo Mic Options: Oktava, Rodes, or ???

DavidNJ

DavidNJ

Carbonite Member
For years I've been eying the Neumann KM184 cardioid pair...about $1500. Then of course I really want the Schoeps cartridge set. However, that is beyond my budget. Even a Sennheiser MKH8040 pair is $2500 or so.

However, I'm thinking a Rodes NT55 or Oktava Mk012 set, maybe with the Oktava Mod. The Rodes (http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=NT55) come with omni and cardioid cartridges and have a 0, 10db,20db pad switch and three position high pass filter switch on the mics. About $720 for a matched pair.

The Oktavas (http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=NT55) are around $700 for a matched pair with omni, cardioid, and hyper cardioid cartridges and a 10db pad that can be inserted between the cartridge and the mic. A high pass filter insert is available for $190 per pair. Large diaphragm cartridge pair is available for $500. A figure-8 cartridge is just under $400.

Reviews say the Rodes are a little bright and the Oktava's are a bit dark. There is a mod for about $150-200 that apparently improves the Oktava's (http://www.oktavamodshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_23&products_id=35).

Is there another mic to consider? Are the Neumann's worth the premium? Is the Rodes as good as the Oktava's or more versatile? Can't a pad be added in the recorder and the high pass filter in post?

Thanks,

David
 
DavidNJ said:
For years I've been eying the Neumann KM184 cardioid pair...about $1500. Then of course I really want the Schoeps cartridge set. However, that is beyond my budget. Even a Sennheiser MKH8040 pair is $2500 or so.

However, I'm thinking a Rodes NT55 or Oktava Mk012 set, maybe with the Oktava Mod. The Rodes (http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=NT55) come with omni and cardioid cartridges and have a 0, 10db,20db pad switch and three position high pass filter switch on the mics. About $720 for a matched pair.

The Oktavas (http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=NT55) are around $700 for a matched pair with omni, cardioid, and hyper cardioid cartridges and a 10db pad that can be inserted between the cartridge and the mic. A high pass filter insert is available for $190 per pair. Large diaphragm cartridge pair is available for $500. A figure-8 cartridge is just under $400.

Reviews say the Rodes are a little bright and the Oktava's are a bit dark. There is a mod for about $150-200 that apparently improves the Oktava's (http://www.oktavamodshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_23&products_id=35).

Is there another mic to consider? Are the Neumann's worth the premium? Is the Rodes as good as the Oktava's or more versatile? Can't a pad be added in the recorder and the high pass filter in post?

Thanks,

David
Click to expand...

The advantage of having the pad in the mic itself between the capsule and the electronics is it prevents very high sound pressure levels from clipping the mic's internal preamp. Similarly for the HPF ... putting it in the mic prevents very high level infrasonics like handling noises and wind from affecting the mic's internal preamps. One step farther up the chain, better mixers will have an HPF on their mic inputs to prevent overload and clipping the mixer's preamps with handling and wind noises. 99% of the time that would work as well as the in-mic HPF so if the mic lacks one, it ought not be a deal-breaker. IMHO, you definitely need one or the other, though. It's usually a good idea to engage the mixer low-cut unless you're recording music as there's very little speech information under 80 or 100 Hz and accidently overloading the mixer or recorder inputs can't be fixed by applying the filter in post - by the time the recording gets there it's too late.
 
Is these small consdensers both bidirectional mics http://www.oktava-online.com/mk012-8.htm#appl or :or http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,235,pid,235,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html? The Oktava is clearly to cardioid cartridges on a single preamp.

012-8.jpg
image1079364135_ck944055ca2723d8f.jpg


or should the figure 8 be a ribbon microphone http://www.oktavamodshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_42&products_id=88
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