I'm starting to dislike shotguns. What's up with them?

[Aaron Koolen]

Yeah they look good those THE mics, but 1 mic and preamp module would be about US$600 right? The complete Oktava kit is about US$240....I'd expect them to blow the Oktava away ;)

Now just got to find someone that sells them and is respectable and ships to New Zealand!

Aaron

[Joe Kras]

Establishing shot-Exterior of a busy urban Emergency Room. Ambulance rolling up to door.

Cut to:
Interior of busy ER-our hero, Matt Gettemeier, is being rolled in through the doors strapped to the paramedics cart.
Matt is mumbling something unintelligible to himself.

ER doc walks up to the paramedics and the cart.

ER doc: So what are you bringing me now?

Paramedic 1: Suicide attempt. Possible Carbon Monoxide poisoning. This guy's neighbor saw him going into the garage and heard his motorcycle running in there. When he didn't come out in twenty minutes, he called it in to 911.

Paramedic 2: We think he's either on PCP, or his mind's just fried from the Carbon Monoxide. He kept telling us how he hate's sawed off shotguns, and wanting an AK 47 or a MK 41, or one of those assault rifles.

Paramedic 1: Oh yeah, and get this. This guy is so loony he was videotaping offing himself!

Matt(Looking around, straining at his restraints): This place is so noisy, maybe this is where I should use a short shotgun!

ER doc: Hmmm, I see what you mean. (Sarcastically)Thanks a lot. Oh, well. Roll him into psych holding. Help Julie put him into a straight jacket. We'll get a gas and a tox screen, and see if they have any room on the lock down floor.

[Aaron Koolen]

Hahahaha! Stop it! Oh my god! Hahahaha!
Joe, give up video and become a comedian please - seriously!

[Matt Gettemeier]

Oh God, it's like my own family is here now. (laughing)

Joe are you REALLY in St. Louis?

If so then you can come visit me in the psych ward. They took all my xlr cables away 'cause of the suicide watch.

Seriously, my neighbors would never call just because they saw me go into the garage and start up my bike. That thing is dead-sexy.

When I tell people I passed out in the throws of passion they don't realize it was mainly because of the carbon monoxide.

[Joe Kras]

"Joe are you REALLY in St. Louis?"

Yes.

"If so then you can come visit me in the psych ward. "

No thanks. I always wonder when I go on one of those lock down wards-are they really gonna let me out when I want to leave?

[Matt Gettemeier]

Reading your scenario really is like talking to my own family... I should film the stuff that's said when I'm trying to show one of my brothers anything technical...

I normally joke around a hundred percent of the time, so I even think it's funny when they rip on me alla "Don Rickles"... You'd piss your pants if you could be a fly on the wall when I want to convince my family to be the cast in some stupid spontaneous idea...

I catch a lot of flack for being OCD when it comes to this stuff so I feel the need to explain for any newcomers.

I had close to a grand in a short shotgun with Rycote support gear and a buddy of mine suggested I look at an Oktava.

When you hear for yourself that a $49 mic sounds almost as good as $800 worth of short shotgun, you tend to get your panties in a bunch.

[Aaron Koolen]

Matt are your ME66 gears useable with the Oktava? I have a softie and that for mine, be a shame to have to go by some more stuff like that again with an Oktava.

What is OCD?

Aaron

[Joe Kras]

OCD=Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

"When you hear for yourself that a $49 mic sounds almost as good as $800 worth of short shotgun, you tend to get your panties in a bunch."

Yes, I was myself considering getting an ME 64 capsule for my ME 66/K6 mic when you and Beaser started going on about other alternatives, including the Octava.

Where did you get your's from? Did you have to a/b a bunch of them to get a good one?

[Aaron Koolen]

Don't apologise Matt. Shit, I'm the same. You should have been here when I first started on this board, looking for a camera... ;)

Aaron

[Matt Gettemeier]

Last post for me tonight. It's 1:00 AM, Wow.

I bought the Oktava's at Guitar Center on St. Charles Rock Road. I asked the guy to get out 4 of them for me so I could pick 2. He must have been on to me. I figured if I didn't find 2 in that set I'd ask for more.

As it turns out he said he only had 3 left. That's why I said he was on to me... smart guy. Anyway, it didn't matter because 2 of the 3 sounded good. But even they aren't "matched"... one sounds a little crisper.

They were on sale for $49 each. I bought 2.

Today they were marked at $149 each. What? Yeah, crazy.

The Softie mount for the me66 is 21/22 mm and it's too loose on the Oktava... It will drop right out.

Solution? Your choice:

1) Build up the "shaft" (insert joke here) of the Oktava with a sleeve of some kind.

2) Buy the 19mm Softie mount, rubber only, for $48.

3) My favorite choice. Get that Beyer shockmount for $29 from B&H.

I'm so impressed with the Oktava that I might even get something specific from Rycote... maybe a mini-zepp and jammer or something. I hear a lot of people say the Oktava can't take the wind, but how many of them have it protected as good as they'd protect a shotgun? Put some fur and foam on it and it may be ok?

I don't know. One thing's for sure... at $49 it leaves a lot of budget for proper support.

Another thing you'll love about this mic is that it's so understated. The damn thing is only about 4" long. Can you imagine the EASE of booming a 4" mic? If you hit the ceiling OR drop the mic into frame then you're an idiot.

With a shockmount you really CAN use this as an on-camera mic. Of course I don't normally do that, but I did test it just so I'd know my options in a pinch and it BLOWS the F*** out of the on-cam mics in my DVX.

How about the times when you just want to float around with your camera i.e. family functions, wedding parties, "making of feature", extreme run and gun... it's nice to know that you have an option that's WAY better then simply using the camera mic.

[Frank Granovski]

So is there nothing good in under say $200 US for a good cardioid / semi-supercardioid mic and maybe stereo? Okay. I'll just wait a couple of years and check back then. :-((

[Jan Roovers]

Frank
hear this site:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hvdbos/cd.htm
This guy is using the Sennheiser E835. The sound is very good.
I use it as a voiceover. It sounds better as the legendary Shure SM58 which is still widely used in studios.

Most of us work with a camcorder that costs no more as 5000 euro and most of us will not buy for a couple of thousands of microphones.

In this thread i have put some mic samples:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=19206
To me it shows that the difference is not that big, when you stay away form shotguns.
It is surprising to see what cheaper mics like Shure and Behringer and the Sennheiser Evolution series do, related to the most expensive mics.

Myself i don't like the Oktavas that much as other members. All the recordings I heard from the Oktava's are to bassy for me. They don' t sound like Rode NT1000 for instance. That is flat but crisp. I am very curious to hear the Behringer B-5. It has a low-cutt filter which is important for video. It should be more crisp as the Okatava and sells for 116 euro.

Often to much bass in the surroundings can distort your audiosignal and a flat response curve is not well suited for voice and videorecording.
For video the voicerecording is most important.
That is why I like the Sennheiser MD 421-II so much. It is a general purpose and very crisp sounding mic. The roll off filters can be adjusted for every situation, which is important for videorecording.
I think this gives videorecording that clarity that may be prefered above being supercardiode.

I have read more and nore comments that cardiode instead of supercardiode is not a very bad choice for video.
I still doubt about the advantage of supercardiode above cardioide. One thing is for sure: I will stay away from shotguns.

[Frank Granovski]

Thanks a bunch, Jan. I'm going to print this out, go over it, and look into those links. Again, thank you.

[Carlos E. Martinez]

<<<-- Originally posted by Matt Gettemeier :
I'm so impressed with the Oktava that I might even get something specific from Rycote... maybe a mini-zepp and jammer or something. I hear a lot of people say the Oktava can't take the wind, but how many of them have it protected as good as they'd protect a shotgun? Put some fur and foam on it and it may be ok?-->>>

Yes, the Oktava can take winds, as long as it's inside a Rycote or Lightwave casket.

<<<-- I don't know. One thing's for sure... at $49 it leaves a lot of budget for proper support. -->>>

Good advice: you should invest in a proper support. Pick shockmounts that have internal bodies holding the mic, as they will allow picking softer rubber strings that will make the mic float inside the external ring. So you may need some tuning on the rubber used on external mic holders. When you move the combo it should wobble lik gelatine.

Oktavas MC012 are studio microphones, not boom microphones. Boom mics usually have some sort of rubber or foam holding the capsule; studio mics rarely do.

Beyer used to make an excellent shockmount, that adjusted to several mic diameters. It's hard to find it now.

The key question is to get a rubber tuning that will filter boom handling.

<<<-- Another thing you'll love about this mic is that it's so understated. The damn thing is only about 4" long. Can you imagine the EASE of booming a 4" mic? If you hit the ceiling OR drop the mic into frame then you're an idiot. -->>>

Using short microphones, like the Oktava, Schoeps or Neumann mics, particularly with swivel adapters, allows you booming in low ceiling rooms.

<<<-- With a shockmount you really CAN use this as an on-camera mic. Of course I don't normally do that, but I did test it just so I'd know my options in a pinch and it BLOWS the F*** out of the on-cam mics in my DVX. -->>>

Good to know that you normally don't use this or any mic as on-camera mikes. You shouldn't for quality dialogue picking. Only interviews done at a short distance with your zoom at wide angle may allow you that. You may also risk picking cameras noises, mechanical or handling.

Doing a through search and tests as you did would be a waste if you then put the chosen mic on your camera.

<<<-- How about the times when you just want to float around with your camera i.e. family functions, wedding parties, "making of feature", extreme run and gun... it's nice to know that you have an option that's WAY better then simply using the camera mic. -->>>

"News style" shooting, run and gun as you call them, can benefit from on-camera mic picking. Weddings or family parties will not suffer from it. But to get real quality sound you should boom your mic.


Carlos E. Martinez

[Dan Brown]

This is all very interesting.

Matt, where from are your going to order Hyper caps for your Oktavas? I'd like to do the same, as I am really impressed with my two $49 M012's.

I mounted an Oktava on-camera with an AT8415, that pretty much eliminated any camera handling noise.

Has anyone tested the AT873r handheld hyper-c ($190)? It looks pretty darn good (5.1oz, 140dB SPL, good sensitivty, etc.) and might just make a great boom-pole mic.

I assume the A4053a hyper-c ($525) is awesome.

Finally, I hope you get your hands on the new AT897 short shotgun. I'm guessing AT has made its best ENG shotgun with this new model, at least the specs look excellent.

Thanks and cheers...