Topic: Best electret omni's?

[Javier Cinakowski]

Obviously people love the DPA's around here.  How about the Sen MKE-2's ?  These are 1/3rd of the price.  It seems these are the only options for a "name brand"  stereo omni electret. 

any thoughts? 

[cfbarlow]

I just got the Sony ecm 55b, and there are the 77b, both very high quality and great sounding- Check out B&H Photo for some info on them.  Also the countryman b3's are very detailed-   Sanken makes some nice omni-'s but I havn't worked with them.  Omni's are my fav!

I also have the Sennheiser MKE-2's but they need a 3 wire bat box, of which I do not have, so I only record very quite acustic stuff  in my studio with them, but they do souond great.

[Javier Cinakowski]

The MKE-2s from Microphone Madness terminate into a 3.5mm stereo plug.  No 3-wire box required. 

Looking at the specs from MicMadness it seems as if these mics are suitable for a standard 2 wire box.  I wonder if they do some sort of mod to keep them from overloading the preamp. 

[poorlyconditioned]

The MKE-2s from Microphone Madness terminate into a 3.5mm stereo plug.  No 3-wire box required. 

Looking at the specs from MicMadness it seems as if these mics are suitable for a standard 2 wire box.  I wonder if they do some sort of mod to keep them from overloading the preamp. 

I looked at MM.  Does anyone know what model the Cardioid mics are?  Are they really Sennheiser?  These look similar to the CMC-2A that SoundProfessionals are offering.   (The CMC-2 is AT831, the 2A's are something else.  I want to know what it is!)

OK, there are several versions of the tiny MKE2 omni, both in generations, quality, and wiring.  Quality appear to be: standard, gold, platinum.  Any seems ok for our use.

But for wiring it is a bit more tricky.  For example, the "gold" version that I have is called "Mke2-5-??", and some suffix ?? after that (I forget what though).  Anyway, all of them have three wires (two wires plus a shield).  On some models though, one wire is shorted to the shield *at the capsule*, so this can only operate in two wire mode.  On other models the wires are not shorted, so you can run either 2-wire or 3-wire (by wiring *at the plug*).

The bottom line is ask MM what exact model number they are using.  Get the three wire version if you can.  You can run 2-wire now, and then later on, rip off the miniplug and run three wire.

Oh yeah, the MKE2 sound great!  I have not tried DPA (yet...) but these are certainly good mics.

  Richard

[Javier Cinakowski]

The bottom line is ask MM what exact model number they are using.  Get the three wire version if you can.  You can run 2-wire now, and then later on, rip off the miniplug and run three wire.

I looked at MM.  Does anyone know what model the Cardioid mics are?  Are they really Sennheiser?  These look similar to the CMC-2A that SoundProfessionals are offering.

MicMadness-HLSC1's are the MKE40's.  The CMC-2As do look similar but the specs are a bit different. 

I am very curious if the Microphone Madness mics are 3 wired capsules.  They all terminate into miniplugs.  Ive not expereinced any distortion with the MKE40's (Hi-MD or 9Vpreamp).  I assume the omni mics are more sensitive and would benefit more from the 3 wire.  I also assume though that the MM 2 wire mke2's could be pluged into Church's ST9000 preamp without distortion.  Am I wrong?  Is 3 wire nessesary with all mics?  Is there a sensitivity spec that could be used to determine if a mic would require the 3 wire.  Taping is a never ending learning expereince.     FWIW I think the MKE40's sound great for the price.   

[poorlyconditioned]

+T to the detectives...

As far as three wire goes, I don't think it is really necessary.  It will probably sound better, but I don't know by how much.  I have not done a side-by-side comparison, though I now have lots of gear to do so

Maybe I'll do that at the same time I run the Church Audio mics, ie., AT853 (2-wire) vs AT853 (3-wire) vs. Church Cards (2-wire).  Depends on beer consumption that night I guess...

  Richard.

[Javier Cinakowski]

Microphone Madness is supposedly a "Sennheiser Authorized Dealer"  The are getting MKE40s.  The whole thing is metal.  They claim the specs are 30-20,000 and 138SPL(with 3v PIP) 

[Javier Cinakowski]

T+'s   

[china_rider]

I just thought I would throw in my .02 and echo what Chris mentioned.  I love my Sonic Studios DSMs.  Small, sound great, durable, and even water resistant (did not really believe it until I recorded a Santana show while a monsoon hit).  After I got my first pair I never even considered going to another brand.  They are even stealthy enough that for quite a few shows I attach them to a pair of glasses and leave the glasses hanging around my neck as I go through security.  They have never been noticed.

 

[poorlyconditioned]

I just thought I would throw in my .02 and echo what Chris mentioned.  I love my Sonic Studios DSMs.  Small, sound great, durable, and even water resistant (did not really believe it until I recorded a Santana show while a monsoon hit).  After I got my first pair I never even considered going to another brand.  They are even stealthy enough that for quite a few shows I attach them to a pair of glasses and leave the glasses hanging around my neck as I go through security.  They have never been noticed.

 

How much are those things, anyway?  I got the idea they were quite expensive, at least for something I did not know the contents of.

  Richard

[china_rider]

I just thought I would throw in my .02 and echo what Chris mentioned.  I love my Sonic Studios DSMs.  Small, sound great, durable, and even water resistant (did not really believe it until I recorded a Santana show while a monsoon hit).  After I got my first pair I never even considered going to another brand.  They are even stealthy enough that for quite a few shows I attach them to a pair of glasses and leave the glasses hanging around my neck as I go through security.  They have never been noticed.

 

How much are those things, anyway?  I got the idea they were quite expensive, at least for something I did not know the contents of.

Have not looked in a while but I believe the 6SMs are ~$450 for a pair.  The other models are more.  If you talk to guysonic you can probably get a discount on a pair that is not exactly matched.  Thats what I did but when I look at my recordings the pair matches up really well.  When I was first looking for stealth gear I thought Sonic Studios was a bit out of my price range but after working with guysonic I picked up some gear and now years later I could not be happier with the purchase.  I've not thought about upgarding since.

I hate to sound like a fanboy but I really have no complaints with the gear or the service.  Don't let the www site throw you off.

EDIT: If you want to hear some samples most recordings available from last years Joshua Tree Music Fest came from my DSM6SMs... Check out Papa Mali, Zilla, Tim Easton, Mojo and the vibration army, or the 6+ hour Hamsa Lila midnight set. :-}

[Javier Cinakowski]

Sonic Studios mics seem like they would be great if worn on the head/glasses.  How would they sound split (w/ no baffle)      Sometimes I do not want to be a human mic stand/baffle. 

[jcrab66]

They are even stealthy enough that for quite a few shows I attach them to a pair of glasses and leave the glasses hanging around my neck as I go through security.  They have never been noticed.

 

nice, that sounds like what I did with them at coachella this year 

[BobW]

Someone should probably rep the AT943E/S in this thread.
They are inexpensive, and a bit bigger than the DPAs.
They have a 3db rise at about 8k - 15k  that sounds like female sibilance to me.
If you have a fast and present A/D or Pre, you may find yourself flattening it in post.

Aside from that small response blip, they are amazing performers.
If an occasional very high  "swsss" doesn't bother you, you needn't do anything, or if your A/D or Pre is warm
you'd probably be fine as is.  I have the cards and hypers for my low-pro setup.

Like I said, amazing performers, great value, however the DPAs would take my vote for best that I've heard.
The limit to me was the availability as omni-only.
I have not heard the Senns. although they have been around in various models for years.

Looking around for them, the first link that I found has them for $125 each:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/vid2001/mke40.html     
I know that there are more than a few late 90s phish shows out there with MKE40s into a D8 to be found.

[china_rider]

Sonic Studios mics seem like they would be great if worn on the head/glasses.  How would they sound split (w/ no baffle)      Sometimes I do not want to be a human mic stand/baffle. 

I've never run them with no baffle... If I'm I'm using a stand I typically use my 480s, however, it would not be hard to rig a nerf ball or some other baffle to put on top of a stand.  I did make my own once... worked pretty well.  Got a styrophome head and put a pantyhose leg over it.  Then stuffed the area around the head with cotton balls.