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Has anyone used an Oktava MK012??


tvaudioman

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what I was saying is that in MY world of "not sound guy-ness", we often go straight into cam with our mics, not using a mixer, preamp or anything else.  If the self noise of the Oktava is enough of a problem, it may make doing that unfeasible, and so may only be a useful mic to someone if they have a mixer or other device with preamps better than a camera's.

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JB: " we often go straight into cam with our mics, not using a mixer, preamp or anything else.  If the self noise of the Oktava is enough of a problem, "

and what I am saying is that that does not even make sense....

Typically some camcorders mic'pre's may be noisier than the mic's self-noise (?), but even if the Oktava is noisier than that, a 'mixer/mic-pre/or anything else' will not change that noise floor.

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I thought the idea was that with a noisier mic, having a mixer with good pres means you leave the cam at unity, turn up gain when needed from the mixer, keep the overall noise level lower than turning up gain at the cam would get you.    I realize a mixer won't magically reduce the noisiness of the mic, but it might make the difference between something useable and not. Am I way off base here?

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You seem to be confusing camera self-noise and mic self-noise. If you need to apply gain to a mic signal, it doesn't matter where in your signal path you apply this gain. The mic's noise level will always increase. The difference with using a mixer is, like you said, that you might be able to not increase the camera's own noise.

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You know, as i was typing that i realized how odd it seemed, and yet i kept going cause thats how i roll.

So i guess the question is then: this mic is often (obviously not much in this thread) lauded as a great low cost DIALOGUE mic (i was even regretting i didnt get one and got the akg instead--not so much after reading this thread). If its so noisy how can that be? Seems like many guys here are saying even with the mod its not that great for speech. Instruments/loud sources, i get.

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"this mic is often (obviously not much in this thread) lauded as a great low cost DIALOGUE mic"

>  Low cost makes it great .. and attractive to beginners. It's generally considered decent (a good one, anyway), in the right hands and with the proper accessories. But it ain't a great mic for the inexperienced despite the low cost.

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You know, as i was typing that i realized how odd it seemed, and yet i kept going cause thats how i roll.

So i guess the question is then: this mic is often (obviously not much in this thread) lauded as a great low cost DIALOGUE mic (i was even regretting i didnt get one and got the akg instead--not so much after reading this thread). If its so noisy how can that be? Seems like many guys here are saying even with the mod its not that great for speech. Instruments/loud sources, i get.

With the Joly mod the self noise is in-audible at least to me, you will be hearing the noise in your camera preamps before you hear the noise from these mics.

IMHO they sound great for many different voices as modded (low self noise, better transient response and better headroom) but not so much straight from the factory and in contrast to your statement I find they're not very musical.

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If its so noisy how can that be? Seems like many guys here are saying even with the mod its not that great for speech. Instruments/loud sources, i get.

 

i have 4 Oktavas as well as the usual MK41, a Sanken CS-1 and a MKH406 for my indoor needs.

i find the Oktavas coupled with a Rycote Tac!T (and Lyres) have no handling issues whatsoever. their selfnoise is fine for quiet indoor work: just above the Schoeps and well below the highly regarded CS-1.

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hi Tom,

 

NO.

the Oktava low cut filters are a joke. they add at least 6db (if not 12db; i cant quite remember but it was a significant amount) to the selfnoise. the folks at Oktava Online (almost) admitted as much. keep well away.

a Rycote Tac!T does the business.

 

also, check any new Oktavas to see if their XLR connections have been wired correctly. my newest 2 were out of phase. when i opened them up i discovered that they have been wired up to the XLRs wrong (even though the circuit boards had the numbers printed right!!!).

 

as a few have mentioned it is a risk buying Oktavas. quality control seems to be a serious problem...

 

Siddho

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