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Post by Ward on Feb 21, 2019 19:58:42 GMT -6
Snap !! as empathy is yours ROFL!! How did you know? You are the best.
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Post by Guitar on Feb 24, 2019 18:45:46 GMT -6
The mods are not that difficult at all, if you have some soldering skills. The main thing is replacing some of the caps and some HiZ resistors. There is no transformer. The circuit is super simple and almost looks wrong in the way they drive the output. Strange design but it works. The capsule stays stock. It accounts for 80-90% of the sound anyway IMO. Most of the mods also say to replace the FET. I'm not convinced it needs replacing and the mics were biased for a particular FET so just leave it. It is super important to do clean work and remove any flux in the HiZ areas; around the 1G resistors and the input cap. If you don't clean well, the mic can be a little noisy. Honestly, I believe the newer ones probably have better components and might not gain much from the mods. It seems like they were not very consistent in materials at some points so it is good to have a look at the caps at least. You can find MC-012 mics for around $100 used. Double check to make sure they are not the fake Chinese ones before ordering, if getting used ones. I bought 10 back around 2000 and selected the best four and kept them. I donated 2 to a church (I'd love to get them back) and two I kept but didn't use for years because they were inexpensive. I had the smug attitude that Oktava mics were cheap, of dubious build quality (at times) so they must be crap. I also had no prior knowledge of how sensitive SDC are to wind and plossives, so I thought mine must be bad. Doh! I got my first wake-up call with a modded MK319. Blew me away for the ridiculous price I paid for it. It's the opposite of the overly bright and harsh mics flooding the market. So, I decided to try the MC-012 after I did some mods. Couldn't believe my ears on a close mic'd guitar. Got some KM84s and did a lot of tests. In many cases, I chose to use the KM84, not because it sounded any better (or different) but because it had more bragging rights. i know... stupid pride. Here are some instructions. Oktava Mod Instructions
Sorry for the aside. Now back to talking about the Warm WA-84 and of course the KM84. I just got a pair of MK 012 in seemingly mint condition. It appears that Oktava has incorporated most of the "mods" into their newer builds, from my inspection. I find very little that deviates in any significant way from the Dorsey mod values. I do plan to change one single cap (the 1uF electro) to some other parts (tantalum, and a film bypass) but that will be it for me. I also hear the phasey top in Oktavas sometimes. Hopefully that won't plague me with these. I simply bought them for acoustic guitar close miking, or other acoustic instruments. That's 6 sentences that start with "I", I'm impressed with I self.
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Post by sirthought on Feb 26, 2019 17:06:35 GMT -6
Here's an acoustic guitar file someone dropped on GS with the WA-84. link
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kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 1, 2019 3:26:28 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2019 3:31:31 GMT -6
Sounds lovely!
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 1, 2019 4:04:01 GMT -6
Thx: nothing fancy, just moved mikes listening for good sound, old strings on the acoustic too ! I did that last week when I first got the WA84s,I’ll have my drummer, Matt Aston by soon too!
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Post by sirthought on Mar 2, 2019 13:48:39 GMT -6
The sound is really nice, Kcatthedog.
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 2, 2019 15:51:44 GMT -6
Fair enough, but they’d have to be functionally illiterate to conclude I have N84’s not WA84s Having a busy weekend so may not get to drums tomorrow, but we’ll see.
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Post by drbill on Mar 2, 2019 16:23:17 GMT -6
Thx: nothing fancy, just moved mikes listening for good sound, old strings on the acoustic too ! I did that last week when I first got the 84s,I’ll have my drummer, Matt Aston by soon too! Sounds great - looking forward to hearing them on drums. I don’t want to be “that guy” but it might help future generations digging through the smoldering ruins of the internet if we don’t confuse things by referring to these new warm mics by the Neumann implying shorthand “84’ since so many of these posts/threads are comparing and contrasting the 84s with 84s (see, even I don’t know which one I’m referring to) LOL Agreed. It's even to the point when I talk with studio's they say "sure we have a U47", only to get there and find out the don't. They have a WA, SA, Bock, Flea or one of another dozen "47's". Annoying from a perspective of trying to know what someone is referring to. Now, I have to specifically say "do you have a LEGIT, VINTAGE, Neumann 47?". The answer then is almost always "no". Another reason I don't like the clone copycat numbers. BUT, that said, I'm sure kcat is loving his WA 84's.
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Post by Guitar on Mar 2, 2019 16:33:32 GMT -6
It does bother me when people refer to clones by the original item's brand name. I'd rather keep it rather clear that things are what they are.
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Post by notneeson on Mar 2, 2019 16:41:36 GMT -6
Fair enough, but they’d have to be functionally illiterate to conclude I have N84’s not WA84s Having a busy weekend so may not get to drums tomorrow, but we’ll see. Give us a few more decades buddy, functionally illiterate is the future!
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Post by Mister Chase on Mar 2, 2019 17:20:11 GMT -6
Thx: nothing fancy, just moved mikes listening for good sound, old strings on the acoustic too ! I did that last week when I first got the 84s,I’ll have my drummer, Matt Aston by soon too! Sounds great - looking forward to hearing them on drums. I don’t want to be “that guy” but it might help future generations digging through the smoldering ruins of the internet if we don’t confuse things by referring to these new warm mics by the Neumann implying shorthand “84’ since so many of these posts/threads are comparing and contrasting the 84s with 84s (see, even I don’t know which one I’m referring to) LOL Indeed. These discussions can go down so many rabbit holes, ambiguity should be avoided at any possible juncture.
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 2, 2019 17:22:16 GMT -6
Ok , ah, but there’s 2 mikes, how can it not be ambi ?
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Post by Mister Chase on Mar 2, 2019 23:11:00 GMT -6
Ok , ah, but there’s 2 mikes, how can it not be ambi ? I mean...
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Post by M57 on Mar 17, 2019 7:02:15 GMT -6
Has anyone made any recordings where we can hear what's going on off-axis with the WA-84? ..say a single mic on a guitar with some vocal bleed - or just a set of OHs? I'd prefer to hear the former.
..or did someone post this and I missed it?
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 17, 2019 7:23:21 GMT -6
I have a drummer coming over today, so can do both.
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 17, 2019 11:25:52 GMT -6
I’m going to have to fire my studio manager (me), turns out I booked the drummer next weekend: sheesh!
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Post by Martin John Butler on Mar 17, 2019 11:33:36 GMT -6
Gives you more time to tweak the track!
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 24, 2019 18:34:09 GMT -6
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Post by Ward on Mar 25, 2019 6:03:51 GMT -6
That is a VERY well treated snare! I try to make juniors and amateurs understand that you can't entirely 'create' a snare drum sound, you have to start at the drum first.
Well done.
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 25, 2019 6:30:45 GMT -6
Ha, I take no credit, my drummer, Matt Aston, after the first take, was unhappy with the snare tone, so discussed this with me and then put another skin on top of it to alter its pitch.
We have recorded in the room before so that is why the drums and gobos are set as they are, I thought let the mikes hear the direct sound and then try to absorb as much of the energy as possible before it takes over the room, there is a floor to ceiling 4 inch absorber behind the gobos and other 2x4 panels up also.
For a change I used my wa 414 on teh snare and it was into teh wa 412, pad and tone buttons in which alters the impedance, but these clips are just the 2 wa 84s into the wa273eq as described.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Mar 25, 2019 7:14:12 GMT -6
Snare and toms sound great.
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 25, 2019 7:21:33 GMT -6
Thx,
peeps wanted to hear the wa84 so there you have them, pad in, hpf at 80, wa neve 73 clone, going through its eq circuit but the eq set flat and into a symphony mkii with soft clip on but nothing was hitting red line.
I was also pleased with the cymbal sound as it is not harsh or strident. I have found cymbal capture tuff in a small room, partly why I put the wa84's high and just in from of a 2x4 6 inch cloud.
I adjusted the wa84 co-incident angle once just bringing them in a little more centered on snare, but I think the sound is good capture and the stereo spread seems fine to me ?
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Post by Guitar on Mar 25, 2019 7:26:30 GMT -6
Yeah those ludwig toms are beefy
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 25, 2019 8:55:51 GMT -6
Wa 84 off axis Someone asked for an off axis demo ? So, I set up 2 mikes, left will be aimed at my acoustic towards neck away from sound bole, the right mike is roughly 2 feet to the right and oriented about 45 degrees away from the left hand mike capsule. So, if I post both tracks separately does that get you what you want or do you want the two mikes even further apart ? Attachment Deleted
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