Topic: Stealth mic upgrading

[Von Recklinhausen]

Hello:
Since I am an absolute beginner,  I don't know if this is the most appropriate forum for me to ask some questions. My first contact with live recording has been through the minidisc community forums (www.minidisc.org), so that I bought a Hi-MD (Sony MZ-NH1) and an omnidirectional stealth microphones (Microphone Madness MM), very basic microphones but which have allowed me to make some wonderful recordings: my daughter's violin lessons, Monteverdi's opera "La Incoronazione di Poppea" and others classical music concerts.
Afterwards, I began interested in recording ambient sounds such as bird singing, water sounds and thing by the like, and then my problems appeared as a big self-noise quite audible in these recordings.
So, there go my quiestions:
1. As a minidisc user:
    a) Should I leave this forum inmediately and return to the minidisc community forum?
    b) If I am allowed to stay, should I feel like an allien?
    In other words, what is "bad" whith minidisc versus another gear recordings?
2. I need strongly to upgrade my microphone. I am looking for an omni stealth mic with low self noise and which connects to my minidisc with a miniplug. After an extensive search and since I want to spend around 250$, I am considering the following options:
    a) AT853 from Sound Professionals (SP-CMC8) since it has miniplug connection.
    b) Sennheiser MKE 2 from Microphone Madness (MM-HLSO-Micro).
I would be very grateful if you could give me your oppinion about these or other mics.

PS.: Sorry for my poor english (but I am an allien).

[madman]

There isn't anything wrong with MD, especially not Hi-MD.  A lot of people will bash it, but I'd challenge them to detect the difference between Hi-SP and an uncompressed recording. 

The AT853s are great mics, I had a pair for awhile.  If you plan on taping very loud sources, you'll need a better battery pack than what Sound Pro has, or you'll get distorted bass in your recordings. 

[Unitmonster]

get the 853's with omni caps, and maybe also get a pair of cardioid caps.  It's only a small bit more to spend and you can try different techniques and play with the recordings a bit with a 2nd pair of caps.  have fun!

[audBall]

Just as a clarification, the SP-CMC-8s are not the AT853 model, they are the AT943....quite a bit smaller.  For their price, I love them.

[divamum]

I also recommend the CMC8's.  I'm a professional opera singer taping my own rehearsals/performances in all sorts of different spaces and these mics have performed beautifully across the board - they're pretty cost-effective and versatile since you can stealth them if necessary (as I do) or use them out in the open if you get them rigged up to some kind of stand.  I believe you can get assorted caps for them, too- I use the omnis, but if memory serves you can card and hypercard caps for them too.... Check at Soundpros website.

If you REALLY want to upgrade, though (and want to spend a lot more!) the DPA 4060s are without question the best of anything I've heard (including much larger studio mics) - just stunning.  In fact, I recently heard a professionally-recorded NPR broadcast and the quality was nothing like the kind of quality Tenorichards gets w/his DPA stealth setup.

[lordbelial]

Hello:
Since I am an absolute beginner,  I don't know if this is the most appropriate forum for me to ask some questions. My first contact with live recording has been through the minidisc community forums (www.minidisc.org), so that I bought a Hi-MD (Sony MZ-NH1) and an omnidirectional stealth microphones (Microphone Madness MM), very basic microphones but which have allowed me to make some wonderful recordings: my daughter's violin lessons, Monteverdi's opera "La Incoronazione di Poppea" and others classical music concerts.
Afterwards, I began interested in recording ambient sounds such as bird singing, water sounds and thing by the like, and then my problems appeared as a big self-noise quite audible in these recordings.
So, there go my quiestions:
1. As a minidisc user:
    a) Should I leave this forum inmediately and return to the minidisc community forum?
    b) If I am allowed to stay, should I feel like an allien?
    In other words, what is "bad" whith minidisc versus another gear recordings?
2. I need strongly to upgrade my microphone. I am looking for an omni stealth mic with low self noise and which connects to my minidisc with a miniplug. After an extensive search and since I want to spend around 250$, I am considering the following options:
    a) AT853 from Sound Professionals (SP-CMC8) since it has miniplug connection.
    b) Sennheiser MKE 2 from Microphone Madness (MM-HLSO-Micro).
I would be very grateful if you could give me your oppinion about these or other mics.

PS.: Sorry for my poor english (but I am an allien).

+T for being sooo ironic. XD.

Go for the CMC-8, Audiotechnica rocks

[Von Recklinhausen]

And the winner is...: the AT853 (unanimously, I see).

My intention is to use them without battery box nor phantom power, so I think my only option is to buy them through Sound Professionals. Can I expect good results using the AT853 with plug-in-power, or just suboptimal?
Is there anybody using the Sennheiser MKE2 ready to share his/her experience? For what I see its specifications are quite good:

Frequency Response 20Hz - 20kHz 
Output Sensitivity  10mV/Pa 
Max SPL   130dB for 1%THD 
Self Noise (CCIR)  39dB 
Self Noise (DIN/IEC)  28dB-A 
Output Impedance  50Ω 
Recommended Load  1kΩ 
Powering  Phantom 12-48 
SupplyCurrent  2.6mA 
 
Weight  1g (3.52oz) 
Length  4.8mm (0.18") 

I also recommend the CMC8's.  I'm a professional opera singer taping my own rehearsals/performances in all sorts of different spaces and these mics have performed beautifully across the board - they're pretty cost-effective and versatile since you can stealth them if necessary (as I do) or use them out in the open if you get them rigged up to some kind of stand.  I believe you can get assorted caps for them, too- I use the omnis, but if memory serves you can card and hypercard caps for them too.... Check at Soundpros website.

If you REALLY want to upgrade, though (and want to spend a lot more!) the DPA 4060s are without question the best of anything I've heard (including much larger studio mics) - just stunning.  In fact, I recently heard a professionally-recorded NPR broadcast and the quality was nothing like the kind of quality Tenorichards gets w/his DPA stealth setup.

Oh, divamum, I would really want to upgrade to DPAs, but that is not yet possible. However, thinking about that possibility, would it be tha 4060 a better option than the 4061. I have read a post complaining about the 4060 are sensitive in excess. What do you think about? Please, let me know your oppinion, I am very interested in.
 

Hello:
Since I am an absolute beginner,  I don't know if this is the most appropriate forum for me to ask some questions. My first contact with live recording has been through the minidisc community forums (www.minidisc.org), so that I bought a Hi-MD (Sony MZ-NH1) and an omnidirectional stealth microphones (Microphone Madness MM), very basic microphones but which have allowed me to make some wonderful recordings: my daughter's violin lessons, Monteverdi's opera "La Incoronazione di Poppea" and others classical music concerts.
Afterwards, I began interested in recording ambient sounds such as bird singing, water sounds and thing by the like, and then my problems appeared as a big self-noise quite audible in these recordings.
So, there go my quiestions:
1. As a minidisc user:
    a) Should I leave this forum inmediately and return to the minidisc community forum?
    b) If I am allowed to stay, should I feel like an allien?
    In other words, what is "bad" whith minidisc versus another gear recordings?
2. I need strongly to upgrade my microphone. I am looking for an omni stealth mic with low self noise and which connects to my minidisc with a miniplug. After an extensive search and since I want to spend around 250$, I am considering the following options:
    a) AT853 from Sound Professionals (SP-CMC8) since it has miniplug connection.
    b) Sennheiser MKE 2 from Microphone Madness (MM-HLSO-Micro).
I would be very grateful if you could give me your oppinion about these or other mics.

PS.: Sorry for my poor english (but I am an allien).

+T for being sooo ironic. XD.

Go for the CMC-8, Audiotechnica rocks

Thanks, Lordbelial. Just one more quiestion: What is "+T"? Greetings from the Iberian Peninsula.

[jeromejello]

i dont really think you will have good results (if any at all) with plug in power for the at853... you should at the least get a battery box to power the mics.

[Von Recklinhausen]

i dont really think you will have good results (if any at all) with plug in power for the at853... you should at the least get a battery box to power the mics.

But...why not? My starting point is that I have got very good results in an opera recording with some very basic microphones. Perhaps I am so beginner that any recording looks like very satisfying to me. I only want less self-noise in quiet recordings, but i don't want to lose stealth carrying a battery box or a phantom power source.

P.S. How can I make my avatar less huge?

[jeromejello]

i am just not sure that the plug in power that the mini disc provides will be suffient to power the at853's.  i could be wrong, i do not have any experience with MD players.  if the plug in power does actually operate the mics, it will be at what 3-5v max.  this is about half of what the battery box provides... all low volume ambient sounds are going to suffer from the lack of power to the mics by giving you a lot of self noise from the gain needed to pick up the sounds.

fwiw, i ran the at853's with 1.5v using the AT8533 battery box and it was HORRIBLE.  9v was a big improvement.

[divamum]

Firstly, it is my understanding the CMC8s' AREN'T the exact same mic as the 853's some have mentioned; I'm not sure if Chris modifies them or they're simply the SP "version" of them, but...  In any case, my SP CMC8s run happily and reliably without extra power - no problemls of any kind. I don't use any external battery power, just the mic-in socket on my iRiver and the mic-in equivalent on my Reactive preamp that I use with the JB3. 

As for the sensitivity on the DPA4060s I can't speak firsthand cause I don't (alas) own a set (!), but I've heard many opera recordings made with them and the results are GLORIOUS.   

If you want to hear some operatic clips made with the CMC8s, PM me and I can let you hear them.

HTH.

[Weazel]

i have iriver too and if i use external mic setting it provides 5v power to the mics.

Firstly, it is my understanding the CMC8s' AREN'T the exact same mic as the 853's some have mentioned; I'm not sure if Chris modifies them or they're simply the SP "version" of them, but...  In any case, my SP CMC8s run happily and reliably without extra power - no problemls of any kind. I don't use any external battery power, just the mic-in socket on my iRiver and the mic-in equivalent on my Reactive preamp that I use with the JB3. 

As for the sensitivity on the DPA4060s I can't speak firsthand cause I don't (alas) own a set (!), but I've heard many opera recordings made with them and the results are GLORIOUS.   

If you want to hear some operatic clips made with the CMC8s, PM me and I can let you hear them.

HTH.

[Evil Taper]

Time to fluff:

DPA 4061/4061 + batt-box/mma-6000 pre = the most natural sounding acoustic music recordings possible.

If you're just recording things like classical music and operas then these mics will smoke the 853s.  The advantage to the 853s is that they'll help clean up a crappy mix sometimes with the card/hyper caps, but they don't sound natural for this sort of taping.  You're going to want a transparent rig so you're not coloring the sound and that's what the DPAs offer in an extremely stealthy package.  They cost more, but they're worth it.  I wouldn't own anything else under $800.

[rdvdijk]

P.S. How can I make my avatar less huge?

A bit off-topic, but: download Irfanview and resize it:

http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm

Press Ctrl-R when viewing your picture.

Roel

[Sanjay]

Firstly, it is my understanding the CMC8s' AREN'T the exact same mic as the 853's some have mentioned; I'm not sure if Chris modifies them or they're simply the SP "version" of them, but...  In any case, my SP CMC8s run happily and reliably without extra power - no problemls of any kind. I don't use any external battery power, just the mic-in socket on my iRiver and the mic-in equivalent on my Reactive preamp that I use with the JB3. 

As for the sensitivity on the DPA4060s I can't speak firsthand cause I don't (alas) own a set (!), but I've heard many opera recordings made with them and the results are GLORIOUS.   

If you want to hear some operatic clips made with the CMC8s, PM me and I can let you hear them.

HTH.

CMC-8's are different than CMC-4's

CMC-8's are the AT943 microphone, this is a much smaller body and uses tiny capsules.

CMC-4's are the AT853 mics and they are about the size of a pen cap.