[Jimayen Brown]

Anyone here tried the Berliner CM33 mic? I am thinking of purchasing a
set to do some gospel choir recording mainly and perhaps drum
overheads. I heard the CM-33 does quite well on overheads so anyone
tried them or have some clips I could hear I would love to. I see
Berliner Microphones also is changing their website... anyone try any
other mics by Berliner??

I have a set of KM 184s but they are not matched... if anyone has a
sugestion in the $400-$600 range let me know.

J. Brown

[Scott Dorsey]

Jimayen Brown wrote:

I have a set of KM 184s but they are not matched... if anyone has a
sugestion in the $400-$600 range let me know.

What makes you think they aren't matched?

For many years, Neumann never sold matched pairs of mikes, saying that
any two were so close to one another that they were perfectly matched.
This is what good quality control gets you.

In the last few years, so many people have been demanding matched pairs,
they have started selling them, but they aren't really any better matched
than just two off the shelf.

Neumann quality control is very good, and if you don't believe me you
can send them back to the factory and have them run plots for you, which
they will often do for free. This is not Chinese crap we are talking
about here. Just set them up as overheads and see how you like them.

There are better mikes but it's hard to find more consistent ones.
--scott


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

[Jimayen Brown]

Well the KM 184's I have were not purchased as a set. One was
purchased 6 yrs ago and the other just this year... I spent only about
450 on the 2nd one which was better than 1500 for a new matched set.

I didnt know they would run the freq. plots if I sent them in! Thats
very cool... I may try that. I wonder what teh turn around time is?

As far as matching, yes I have heard that about Neumann. Inthe pair I
have seems one is a little brighter than the other... age can play a
part too, yes?

Anyway, Berliner Microphones say they match the capsules and Ive read
some good things about them... maybe while this pair is out getting
freq. response charts Ill have a set of those to tide me over.

Thanks for the advice... should I just goto Neumanns support page?
~Jimayen

mayen Brown wrote:

I have a set of KM 184s but they are not matched... if anyone has a
sugestion in the $400-$600 range let me know.

What makes you think they aren't matched?

For many years, Neumann never sold matched pairs of mikes, saying that
any two were so close to one another that they were perfectly matched.
This is what good quality control gets you.

In the last few years, so many people have been demanding matched pairs,
they have started selling them, but they aren't really any better matched
than just two off the shelf.

Neumann quality control is very good, and if you don't believe me you
can send them back to the factory and have them run plots for you, which
they will often do for free. This is not Chinese crap we are talking
about here. Just set them up as overheads and see how you like them.

There are better mikes but it's hard to find more consistent ones.
--scott

[Scott Dorsey]

Jimayen Brown wrote:
Well the KM 184's I have were not purchased as a set. One was
purchased 6 yrs ago and the other just this year... I spent only about
450 on the 2nd one which was better than 1500 for a new matched set.

So what? They're matched. If you bought another one day, it would be
matched too. If it's not matched, it's broken.

This is the advantage of buying quality products that are properly
manufactured.


I didnt know they would run the freq. plots if I sent them in! Thats
very cool... I may try that. I wonder what teh turn around time is?

As far as matching, yes I have heard that about Neumann. Inthe pair I
have seems one is a little brighter than the other... age can play a
part too, yes?

If one is brighter than the other, one of them is BROKEN. Send them back
for repair. When they are fixed, they will sound the same.

Anyway, Berliner Microphones say they match the capsules and Ive read
some good things about them... maybe while this pair is out getting
freq. response charts Ill have a set of those to tide me over.

I can't talk about Berliner products right now.

Thanks for the advice... should I just goto Neumanns support page?

Call the number in Old Lyme, ask for the service guys. Tell them you
have two KM184s that sound different and you want them made right.
They actually don't charge a lot for repair work either.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers]

Jimayen Brown wrote:

As far as matching, yes I have heard that about Neumann. Inthe pair I
have seems one is a little brighter than the other... age can play a
part too, yes?

Certainly, as can misuse. What the Neumann QC claim means is that the
mic that comes out of the factory today sounds the same as the one did
when it came out of the factory six years before. What happened to it in
between is beyond their control.

However, one being "a little brighter" than the other probably isn't
really going to ruin a recording, even when used as a stereo pair.
Chances are that in real life what you're recording isn't uniform from
one side of the sound field to the other either. Obviously you don't
want to use mics that are grossly mismatched in frequency response, and
you don't want to use mics as a pair that have different directivity
patterns, but that's primarily a function of construction, not wear or
aging.

Perhaps your mics just need a tune-up - cleaning the diaphragm and
chamber, and maybe replacing a faulty capacitor. Neuman can do that for
you and it's not all that expensive.



--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)