oktava positioning

[firenze]

I was wondering how most of u use your oktavas? By that I mean do u use them as plant mics. Do you put them on stands... How far do u feel they are effective to capture crisp dialogue, or character movement...

Thanks

[chrisnewton]

I use my Octava with a hypercard capsule as an overhead boom mic just as I would a Schoeps. It's pretty sensitive in the low frequencies, and a lo-cut is necessary. It's reach is pretty good. i sometimes use the cardioid capsule for 2 shots or groups. The foam popscreen is OK for most indoor dialogue stuff, but if you have to swing the boom fast, wind rumble is a problem. I use a Shure outdoor foam windscreen designed for the SM-81 and it works well, and is relatively inexpensive. Outdoors i use a Rycote, always.

Chris

[Guest repete86]

I have one for studio use, but I don't have one for any other use.  I was delighted with the mic, and more delighted with the price.  I picked one up from guitar center during their grand opening in my area for $50.  They were just trying to get people in the store, so they were selling alot of things very far below cost.  I've been using it ever since and found the best performance to be about a foot away from the subject.

[ptalsky]

Peter, I don't mean to start a misguided discussion here, but I think many of the Guitar Center Octavas were the counterfeit (or Chinese) version, rather than the true Russian version.  There is info on the Sound Room site on how to tell the difference.

Phil

[Guest repete86]

Thanks for the heads-up.  Looks like they cheated me, but luckily I haven't had any problems with them in the 2+ years or so that I've had them and mine still sound very good, and much better than a $50 mic, or even a $200 should cost.

[tim apter]

hey firenz, and everyone else. this is my first post on this forum - thanks jeff for setting it up.

I have the oktava, and use it with the hyper cap for boom mounted use. like chris newton said, its really sensitive, so Ive got a rycote babyball gag on mine, and a rycote shock mount.

i also stand mount it quite often for interviews, but because its stationary, i often just use the foam protection to make the actual mic smaller, so we can frame wider on the cam without the wind protection coming into view - just a way to get the mic a bit closer, i guess.

[Simon Paine]

Is anyone using the high wind cover the sound room sells for the Octava ? Can it really be used outdoors like the ad claims ?

http://sound-room.com/customer/product.php?productid=35&cat=13&page=1

[tim apter]

im told yes, but i also know for a fact that everyone uses rycote baby ball gags, so thats what id go with, if i was you. but i dunno, maybe its fine. never used one so who am i to say.

cheers,

tim

[Jeff Wexler]

Is anyone using the high wind cover the sound room sells for the Octava ? Can it really be used outdoors like the ad claims ?

http://sound-room.com/customer/product.php?productid=35&cat=13&page=1

I have used the big foam windscreen displayed at the SoundRoom website but not with the Octava. That windscreen has a fatal flaw which is the scratchy open cell foam that is used as an insert, the foam surround that touches the microphone. That material is more than capable of making its own noises without provocation (and these scratchy noises, right next to the microphone, are actually worse than the wind noise it is designed to eliminate). I have, however, used the large outside foam over smalller foam windscreens which the mic fits into, and this has worked quite well.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler