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Post by mrholmes on May 6, 2020 17:46:42 GMT -6
In the sub $200 price range I haven't heard a whole lot of great condenser mics. The KSM137 and Oktava MK 012 (used prices on these) stand out by far in this price range. I only paid about a hundred bucks each for my Oktavas.
Its crazy I had forgotten how a great mic sounds. When I pulled out my old files my mouth stood wide and open.
A single mic depth dimension silk like top end nothing sounds harsh...open...... the bases are not just bases, they are strong and there is no fear to EQ them.
I just hit buy a few minutes ago....
Just ask myself why run in cycles about such a topic. OK ADD..... I have to stop this NEXT TIME I JUST TRUST MYSELF.....
Damn it.... I fight this every day.......
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Post by Guitar on May 6, 2020 18:11:21 GMT -6
Its crazy I had forgotten how a great mic sounds. When I pulled out my old files my mouth stood wide and open. A single mic depth dimension silk like top end nothing sounds harsh...open...... the bases are not just bases, they are strong and there is no fear to EQ them. I just hit buy a few minutes ago.... Just ask myself why run in cycles about such a topic. OK ADD..... I have to stop this NEXT TIME I JUST TRUST MYSELF.....
Damn it.... I fight this every day.......
You ordered another KM184? Cool! Sometimes I troll around with cheaper newer gear and just hope its good, once in a while you get lucky. Kind of a wake up call, like you said, when it's not. I'm about to send back another new thing I just got. A Steinberg UR24C. It's just not quite there sound wise. That makes two in a row of things that had to go back to sweetwater. Just a little demoralizing, but they accept returns graciously enough. I hope the stuff coming tomorrow is better.
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Post by mrholmes on May 6, 2020 18:41:36 GMT -6
Its crazy I had forgotten how a great mic sounds. When I pulled out my old files my mouth stood wide and open. A single mic depth dimension silk like top end nothing sounds harsh...open...... the bases are not just bases, they are strong and there is no fear to EQ them. I just hit buy a few minutes ago.... Just ask myself why run in cycles about such a topic. OK ADD..... I have to stop this NEXT TIME I JUST TRUST MYSELF.....
Damn it.... I fight this every day.......
You ordered another KM184? Cool! Sometimes I troll around with cheaper newer gear and just hope its good, once in a while you get lucky. Kind of a wake up call, like you said, when it's not. I'm about to send back another new thing I just got. A Steinberg UR24C. It's just not quite there sound wise. That makes two in a row of things that had to go back to sweetwater. Just a little demoralizing, but they accept returns graciously enough. I hope the stuff coming tomorrow is better.
Sometimes cheap can be good. Have P Base it sounds like a P base and was about 200 bucks. Most of the B. gear is bang for the buck.
I now learned for now and the rest of my time.
It's a bad idea to make compromises on the source.
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Post by the other mark williams on May 6, 2020 19:03:55 GMT -6
[...] I'm about to send back another new thing I just got. A Steinberg UR24C. It's just not quite there sound wise. That makes two in a row of things that had to go back to sweetwater. Just a little demoralizing, but they accept returns graciously enough. My "sales engineer" (love that title) has always kind of implied that he really doesn't want to do any returns. So I just don't order from Sweetwater that much anymore. I don't particularly jive with him in general, but they seemingly won't let me switch to someone else.
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Post by mike on May 6, 2020 19:50:35 GMT -6
[...] I'm about to send back another new thing I just got. A Steinberg UR24C. It's just not quite there sound wise. That makes two in a row of things that had to go back to sweetwater. Just a little demoralizing, but they accept returns graciously enough. My "sales engineer" (love that title) has always kind of implied that he really doesn't want to do any returns. So I just don't order from Sweetwater that much anymore. I don't particularly jive with him in general, but they seemingly won't let me switch to someone else.
Same, that has been my experience exactly of discouraging returns and yes they don't let you switch sales people,.....but I used to deal with it sometimes because of the benefit of tech support in the past that filled in nicely if you bought products through them from companies who weren't as accessible for CS. Having said that,... The quality of my CS experience has been declining there over the years and unfortunately my last experience with tech support there was so poor and intentionally lazy that I haven't bought anything from them since.
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Post by EmRR on May 6, 2020 20:47:17 GMT -6
I've never seen anything at Sweetwater I thought was a deal or competitive price. Once several years ago I bought some mic stands that were on sale, and they kinda suck. I still get regular check-ins from my 'SE', and that person seems to change once a year, they must've first cold called me 17-19 years ago. So they are a bit of a mystery to me, after all these years. They've never touched Full Compass or B&H on anything I was buying.
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Post by spindrift on May 6, 2020 22:37:59 GMT -6
mrholmes please tell me you are buying a 184 used. They are everywhere and can be had at a pretty decent discount off of MSRP in excellent condition. Some people require handholding and blindly purchase at full MSRP from Vintage King or Sweetwater...they pay for the "privilege" of returning (and for all the other deadbeats that return once they've tracked their record....trust me, that happens). I have always shopped for used gear in excellent condition from trustworthy buyers. And when I require something new, I know exactly what it is and that I'm not going to return it...I order from certain dealers who are known for the best prices but are not into coddling buyers because their margin is so tight. Our fearless leader Johnkenn is a great one to talk with about new purchases.
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Post by mike on May 6, 2020 22:48:16 GMT -6
For those who are interested in my LEWITT 040 MATCH TRY. I just noodled a bit on my Dreadnought @ 7,8 inches away from the 12 fret on axis, to suppress the bad sounding room.
I know art, gear and sonics can be subjective, and I know some mic's are standards for legitimate sonic reasons while other mic's seem to be legitimized or de-legitimized by brand or price range before sonics, but I don't think they sound bad and agree with your earlier comment they are far better than the NT5 along with remembering how many acoustic tracks sound solo'd when they are Eq'd to sit in however busy a mix they're in, ...my impression from clips and video demos is that like several of the Lewitt mic's they punch above their price weight. I'd be curious to hear the 140 version with the pad, 80 low cut and flat or air switches.
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Post by mrholmes on May 7, 2020 8:30:34 GMT -6
For those who are interested in my LEWITT 040 MATCH TRY. I just noodled a bit on my Dreadnought @ 7,8 inches away from the 12 fret on axis, to suppress the bad sounding room.
I know art, gear and sonics can be subjective, and I know some mic's are standards for legitimate sonic reasons while other mic's seem to be legitimized or de-legitimized by brand or price range before sonics, but I don't think they sound bad and agree with your earlier comment they are far better than the NT5 along with remembering how many acoustic tracks sound solo'd when they are Eq'd to sit in however busy a mix they're in, ...my impression from clips and video demos is that like several of the Lewitt mic's they punch above their price weight. I'd be curious to hear the 140 version with the pad, 80 low cut and flat or air switches.
Just a word on this one. ABing with recordings done with the KM 140 there is no contest.
They fall short in every aspect.
Dynamics / Resolution / Depth / Dimension etc.
I can hear why people like drbill into Neumann KMs
Beleiving it can be done on the cheap is not getting me the results I want to hear in my speakers.
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Post by mrholmes on May 7, 2020 8:34:41 GMT -6
mrholmes please tell me you are buying a 184 used. They are everywhere and can be had at a pretty decent discount off of MSRP in excellent condition. Some people require handholding and blindly purchase at full MSRP from Vintage King or Sweetwater...they pay for the "privilege" of returning (and for all the other deadbeats that return once they've tracked their record....trust me, that happens). I have always shopped for used gear in excellent condition from trustworthy buyers. And when I require something new, I know exactly what it is and that I'm not going to return it...I order from certain dealers who are known for the best prices but are not into coddling buyers because their margin is so tight. Our fearless leader Johnkenn is a great one to talk with about new purchases.
There are reasons why I bought new, first one is Neumann are Berlin (I love you) homies. I want to support them during COVID-19. Second one is I don't trust used mics in higher ranges at least the seller can show me a measurement which is not too long ago.
I may, can save 200 bucks and miss 3 years full guarantee and free service just in case something is wrong.
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Post by spindrift on May 7, 2020 10:24:25 GMT -6
I know art, gear and sonics can be subjective, and I know some mic's are standards for legitimate sonic reasons while other mic's seem to be legitimized or de-legitimized by brand or price range before sonics, but I don't think they sound bad and agree with your earlier comment they are far better than the NT5 along with remembering how many acoustic tracks sound solo'd when they are Eq'd to sit in however busy a mix they're in, ...my impression from clips and video demos is that like several of the Lewitt mic's they punch above their price weight. I'd be curious to hear the 140 version with the pad, 80 low cut and flat or air switches.
Just a word on this one. ABing with recordings done with the KM 140 there is no contest.
They fall short in every aspect.
Dynamics / Resolution / Depth / Dimension etc.
I can hear why people like drbill into Neumann KMs
Beleiving it can be done on the cheap is not getting me the results I want to hear in my speakers.
I’m confused. The Neumann KM140 is almost identical to the KM184. Did you mean the 040?
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Post by spindrift on May 7, 2020 10:24:43 GMT -6
mrholmes please tell me you are buying a 184 used. They are everywhere and can be had at a pretty decent discount off of MSRP in excellent condition. Some people require handholding and blindly purchase at full MSRP from Vintage King or Sweetwater...they pay for the "privilege" of returning (and for all the other deadbeats that return once they've tracked their record....trust me, that happens). I have always shopped for used gear in excellent condition from trustworthy buyers. And when I require something new, I know exactly what it is and that I'm not going to return it...I order from certain dealers who are known for the best prices but are not into coddling buyers because their margin is so tight. Our fearless leader Johnkenn is a great one to talk with about new purchases.
There are reasons why I bought new, first one is Neumann are Berlin (I love you) homies. I want to support them during COVID-19. Second one is I don't trust used mics in higher ranges at least the seller can show me a measurement which is not too long ago.
I may, can save 200 bucks and miss 3 years full guarantee and free service just in case something is wrong.
Understood.
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Post by mrholmes on May 7, 2020 10:41:32 GMT -6
Just a word on this one. ABing with recordings done with the KM 140 there is no contest.
They fall short in every aspect.
Dynamics / Resolution / Depth / Dimension etc.
I can hear why people like drbill into Neumann KMs
Beleiving it can be done on the cheap is not getting me the results I want to hear in my speakers.
I’m confused. The Neumann KM140 is almost identical to the KM184. Did you mean the 040?
typo 184
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Post by Guitar on May 7, 2020 11:24:24 GMT -6
I have a "hilarious" relationship with Sweetwater. I'm not going to get into it in depth. But I complained once online, they stuck me with a new guy. The new guy keeps it short and to the point and almost always helps me out when I need it. Compared to some other more generic companies, I get great service from Sweetwater at the end of the day. Once in a while, killer deals do come up.
The whole thing cracks me up though. There's something about a giant business that is inherently amusing to me. The personal vs. the cold hard cash, or something like that. Genuine vs "doing my job as instructed" as well.
To be perfectly fair though, nearly everyone I've talked to there has been speedy, helpful, and just friendly enough. It's the simple fact that they do their jobs well and without hassle that earns my respect. I'm happy to give them some business.
I've got a MOTU M4 coming next week. Kind of excited about that one. Right now, opening a box with a TC bass amp and a Zoom H6 recorder!
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Post by the other mark williams on May 7, 2020 11:34:32 GMT -6
I have a "hilarious" relationship with Sweetwater. I'm not going to get into it in depth. But I complained once online, they stuck me with a new guy. The new guy keeps it short and to the point and almost always helps me out when I need it. Compared to some other more generic companies, I get great service from Sweetwater at the end of the day. Once in a while, killer deals do come up. The whole thing cracks me up though. There's something about a giant business that is inherently amusing to me. The personal vs. the cold hard cash, or something like that. Genuine vs "doing my job as instructed" as well. To be perfectly fair though, nearly everyone I've talked to there has been speedy, helpful, and just friendly enough. It's the simple fact that they do their jobs well and without hassle that earns my respect. I'm happy to give them some business. I've got a MOTU M4 coming next week. Kind of excited about that one. Right now, opening a box with a TC bass amp and a Zoom H6 recorder! Nice! I’ve used the H6 a BUNCH, and it sounds better than it has any business sounding.
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Post by iamasound on May 7, 2020 12:46:56 GMT -6
I'm looking at an H6 as well.
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