Topic: Comparison: Naiant MSH-1O vs. Oktava MK-012 omni

[rowjimmy]

So I got my pair of MSH-1Os yesterday and, as I have a set of oktava's on loan along with a dmic-20 I thought I'd run a quick & dirty comp.

Here's the setup. I made a stereo recording of myself playig an acoustic guitar running the MSH-1O into the right channel and the MK-012 into the left.  The mics were setup ~20cm apart and ~2 feet from the guitar.

The signal path is as follows : MSH-1O(right) + MK-012(left) > GP DMIC-20 (sensitivity set @ -50, output @ 16bit/48kHz) > HOSA ODL-276a > JB3

The test track has then been dumped to my pc, and split into a two pairs of mono clips. I isolated each ~25 second clip then saved each channel to a separate, mono file. You can grab them all together in one zip file from here.

Also, if you'd like to take the full-on pepsi challenge, I've created a zip file containing the tracks with generic names and a txt file that will allow you to check your work. That can be downloaded here.

*The comps represent lead (sorta) and rhythm guitar playing.

Specs for the Naiant MSH-1O: http://www.naiant.com/studiostore/studiomicrophones.html
Specs for the MK-012: http://www.oktavausa.com/microphone/MK012-3capSpecs.htm

If anyone would like to see shots of the Wavelab 3d Freq. Analysis for these files, let me know.

[Javier Cinakowski]

t+ for the effort.

[F.O.Bean]

ok, heres my thoughts

for birdsong, i liked the oktava much better, the naiant's were WAY too noisy IMO

but for the rhthym, i like the naiant's much batter, they seemed more musical and full of the life, the oktava seemed stale IMO

so for quite stuff i would never touch a naint, but for rock bands and whatnot, i think the MSH mics are a sweet deal

[rowjimmy]

Bean, you make good points and I can't entirely disagree with you.

You may have, however, revealed a weakness of this test. When actually recording with either of these mic pairs I would use, at the very least, different gain settings on the pre. I would also use different placement and, given the option of different caps (as I have with the oktavas) I probably would go there too.

Obviously this 'test' was rather quickly thrown together. Has anyone got any suggestions as to how else I might run a good comp?

[Oysterhead00]

Thanks for the comparison.  Listening to it I can say they sound noticeably different, but neither sounds "bad" in any sense of the word.  Factor in the cost differences and the MSH-1Os are a steal!  I haven't had a chance to run mine yet (planned to run at Grace Potter along with my regular rig but couldn't find my old phantom power supply) but can't wait to give them a try.

When my schedule lines up correctly, I'm going to catch and record a Murali Coryell show around here with them.  It's usually just him and his guitar through some amps that I think will turn out quite well. 

http://www.muralicoryell.com/bio.html

***edited to fix some horrible grammer so it looks like english***