[Mike]

Any advice on spending another $1k or so?
RNP and RNC plus a decent small condenser?
Other processor?

Otari MX5050 MkIV-4 ½" Four Track to
P.A.R.I.S. Pro 16 Channel / 24bit 8in/out.
A&H GL2 4-buss.
TL Audio C1 (grey range) Dual PreAmp/Comp
Lexicon 110 24bit

(1) U67
(1) EV RE20
(1) MD 421
(1) SM 57

Equi-Tech Balanced Power
AKG 240 Headphones
JBL 4311s
Event 20/20bas

Thanks for your time.

[hank alrich]

Mike wrote:

Any advice on spending another $1k or so?
RNP and RNC plus a decent small condenser?
Other processor?

RNP, and then do some work to figure out what you need next.

Otari MX5050 MkIV Four Track to
P.A.R.I.S. Pro 16 Channel / 24bit 8in/out.
A&H GL2 4-buss.
TL Audio C1 (grey range) Dual PreAmp/Comp
Lexicon 110 24bit

(1) U67
(1) EV RE20
(1) MD 421
(1) SM 57

Equi-Tech Balanced Power
AKG 240 Headphones
JBL 4311s
Event 20/20bas

Thanks for your time.


--
ha
Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam

[Paul Stamler]

If you want to spend another $1k and improve things, buy an Oktava MC012
(from www.oktava.com , please, not one of the junkers sold elsewhere) with
the 3 capsules (I find myself using the hypercardioid the most), then spend
the rest of the money on room treatment.

Peace,
Paul

[Danny T]

On Oct 16, 11:13 pm, "Paul Stamler" wrote:
If you want to spend another $1k and improve things, buy an Oktava MC012
(fromwww.oktava.com, please, not one of the junkers sold elsewhere) with
the 3 capsules (I find myself using the hypercardioid the most), then spend
the rest of the money on room treatment.

Peace,
Paul

Will someone please tell me why the "elsewhere" Oktavas are not as
good if they are indeed made at the same place as the others? I looked
inside of mine (all be they old ones) and they look pretty damned good
- I think I bought mine through GC

[Mike Rivers]

On Oct 17, 2:45 am, Danny T wrote:

Will someone please tell me why the "elsewhere" Oktavas are not as
good if they are indeed made at the same place as the others? I looked
inside of mine (all be they old ones) and they look pretty damned good
- I think I bought mine through GC

I don't know what the situation is like today, but 5 years or so ago,
there were several sources for distribution of the mics, and it seems
that different distributors offered mics with different levels of
quality control. At the time, there was a US distributor who did their
own QC and only sold mics that met their standards. Guitar Center made
a deal for a large quantity of mics which seemed to have random
quality. Some were fine, some weren't, and most of GC's customers
didn't know the difference - it was a condenser mic that they could
afford and that was all that mattered.

Today, octava.com is the US source for thoroughly inspected and tested
mics. With others, you take your chances. If you can do your own
testing and have a right to return mics that you don't like, you can
save some money that way. Otherwise, it's better to buy from a
dependable source and be sure that you don't have reason to doubt your
purchase.

[Mike Rivers]

On Oct 17, 8:20 am, Mike Rivers (that's me!)
wrote:
At the time, there was a US distributor who did their
own QC and only sold mics that met their standards.

Sorry, I just blanked out on the name, The Sound Room, which is still
in existence and still headed up by Taylor Johnson, the original owner
(though he's now living in Argentina as far as I know). They're now on
line as oktava.com.

[Scott Dorsey]

Danny T wrote:
On Oct 16, 11:13 pm, "Paul Stamler" wrote:
If you want to spend another $1k and improve things, buy an Oktava MC012
(fromwww.oktava.com, please, not one of the junkers sold elsewhere) with
the 3 capsules (I find myself using the hypercardioid the most), then spend
the rest of the money on room treatment.

Will someone please tell me why the "elsewhere" Oktavas are not as
good if they are indeed made at the same place as the others? I looked
inside of mine (all be they old ones) and they look pretty damned good
- I think I bought mine through GC

The Chinese-made Oktavas have excellent copies of the electronics. In fact,
the PC board material they use is a lot better than the Russian material
and the caps they use are more reliable.

HOWEVER, the Chinese-made Oktavas have just godawful capsules. Really,
really shameful. Since the main sonic bottleneck in ANY microphone is
the capsule, this is critical. Also, the brass they use is even worse
quality than the Russian stuff so it's even easier to goober up the threads.

GC sold microphones that they got from A&S McKay. For many years, McKay
sold stuff from the Russian factory in Tula, and only for a short period
of time was McKay flogging the Chinese crap. So it depends on when you
bought them.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

Mike Rivers wrote:
On Oct 17, 8:20 am, Mike Rivers (that's me!)
wrote:
At the time, there was a US distributor who did their
own QC and only sold mics that met their standards.

Sorry, I just blanked out on the name, The Sound Room, which is still
in existence and still headed up by Taylor Johnson, the original owner
(though he's now living in Argentina as far as I know). They're now on
line as oktava.com.

Actually, Taylor has sold the business to some Polish folks who have a
good relationship with the Tula factory, and it's being operated as a
family business. They are good folks, and Taylor is maintaining a good
working relationship with them. He sold the business only so he could
devote more time to THE Microphones.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Danny T]

On Oct 17, 5:20 am, Mike Rivers wrote:
On Oct 17, 2:45 am, Danny T wrote:

Will someone please tell me why the "elsewhere" Oktavas are not as
good if they are indeed made at the same place as the others? I looked
inside of mine (all be they old ones) and they look pretty damned good
- I think I bought mine through GC

I don't know what the situation is like today, but 5 years or so ago,
there were several sources for distribution of the mics, and it seems
that different distributors offered mics with different levels of
quality control. At the time, there was a US distributor who did their
own QC and only sold mics that met their standards. Guitar Center made
a deal for a large quantity of mics which seemed to have random
quality. Some were fine, some weren't, and most of GC's customers
didn't know the difference - it was a condenser mic that they could
afford and that was all that mattered.

Today, octava.com is the US source for thoroughly inspected and tested
mics. With others, you take your chances. If you can do your own
testing and have a right to return mics that you don't like, you can
save some money that way. Otherwise, it's better to buy from a
dependable source and be sure that you don't have reason to doubt your
purchase.

That makes sense. Thanks for that. - I bought mine a long time before
that so I guess I got lucky then

[Danny T]

On Oct 17, 5:42 am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
Danny T wrote:

On Oct 16, 11:13 pm, "Paul Stamler" wrote:
If you want to spend another $1k and improve things, buy an Oktava MC012
(fromwww.oktava.com, please, not one of the junkers sold elsewhere) with
the 3 capsules (I find myself using the hypercardioid the most), then spend
the rest of the money on room treatment.

Will someone please tell me why the "elsewhere" Oktavas are not as
good if they are indeed made at the same place as the others? I looked
inside of mine (all be they old ones) and they look pretty damned good
- I think I bought mine through GC

The Chinese-made Oktavas have excellent copies of the electronics. In fact,
the PC board material they use is a lot better than the Russian material
and the caps they use are more reliable.

HOWEVER, the Chinese-made Oktavas have just godawful capsules. Really,
really shameful. Since the main sonic bottleneck in ANY microphone is
the capsule, this is critical. Also, the brass they use is even worse
quality than the Russian stuff so it's even easier to goober up the threads.

GC sold microphones that they got from A&S McKay. For many years, McKay
sold stuff from the Russian factory in Tula, and only for a short period
of time was McKay flogging the Chinese crap. So it depends on when you
bought them.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

thanks scott. I figured it was something like that and mike said
pretty much the same thing. I don't even remember when I bought mine
it was so long ago. I was thinking of buying another pair, which is
why I was wondering.

[Scott Dorsey]

Danny T wrote:

thanks scott. I figured it was something like that and mike said
pretty much the same thing. I don't even remember when I bought mine
it was so long ago. I was thinking of buying another pair, which is
why I was wondering.

Buy it from the Sound Room or from Oktava USA and you'll be fine. Both
companies are charging more than GC was, but the quality control is a
lot better than the mikes GC was selling too.

You will not encounter the Chinese forgeries if you buy from a legitimate
supplier, but I would definitely not touch Oktava mikes on Ebay because
there are some of them floating around out there.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."