R/E/P Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4   Go Down

Author Topic: Milab DC-196 microphone  (Read 21694 times)

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #15 on: December 11, 2008, 10:16:41 AM »

Those whacky guys...

Logged

Berolzheimer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2709
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #16 on: December 12, 2008, 09:24:21 PM »

J.J. Blair wrote on Thu, 11 December 2008 00:54

It's an MD421.  There's actually a Paul Revere and the Raiders performance on Dick Clark or somethig, where Mark Lindsay pretends to shave with one of these.  

billiard wrote on Thu, 04 December 2008 16:17

Funny thing, the model number sometimes escapes me because I still call these "shavers".






I gave a talk at the LA Film School on Wednesday and a 421 is what they put in front of me.  I have to admit I was tempted.....

Logged
The film sound side of my life:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0077235/

A bunch of songs I've recorded and/or mixed are here:
http://www.zget.me/billionaires/

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2008, 04:08:41 PM »

Working with the 196s the last few days, the mic sounded very good on trumpet, flute, sax, harp and french horn.  Today in figure-8 and cardioid, the mic sounds a bit too full in the mid-bass as the main pair for an ensemble of chorus, piano, strings and flute.  While that can be corrected with a little EQ, what still shines through are the wonderful mids and sweet highs.  This is indeed a very fine mic.

Logged

Adam The Truck Driver

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 458
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #18 on: January 25, 2009, 08:19:07 PM »

I've called the outfit that deals these Milab microphones in the US...the only place that does I supose. I think I will get a pair, or at least one.

I am only theorizing...these (DC196) would be a superior replacement for C414 applications?

I am also curious about the VM44 and the VIP50. What is the word on those?

Barry are you using the Gordon pres? I am curious about those too.

Thanks
AB



Logged
Adam Brown

No File Selected.








Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #19 on: January 25, 2009, 11:26:19 PM »

Adam,

I have no experience with any Milab mic other than the DC-196.  It is my understanding from a person I've known (long deceased) who told me the VIP-50 has "no high end".  I can believe this based on the mic's frequency response charts.  But that could be a nice thing for brass if the response is along the lines of a ribbon mic...

Yes, I'm using Gordon preamps.  I love them.  I own four 2-channel units and think superior to every other design I've heard, which is API, Neve, Grace, Universal Audio, Focusrite, Harrison, Millennia, Studer...  At the university we have the new Duality by SSL.  I haven't compared that with the Gordon but I'd like to think the Gordon would be audibly cleaner and more neutral...  Grant Carpenter's design is unique (as far as I know) in the realm of preamps.

Give him a call.  He's a nice guy and will set up a demo for you.  The people at Milab (in Sweden) are very nice.  I didn't work with anyone in the U.S. as there was no U.S. distributor at the time I purchased.

I have no affection for AKG 414s... I think the Milab 196 to be a superior mic...

Barry
Logged

Adam The Truck Driver

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 458
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #20 on: January 26, 2009, 12:54:34 AM »

Thanks Barry.
Logged
Adam Brown

No File Selected.








mgod

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4020
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2009, 10:26:06 AM »

Tim deParavacini used to use the Milab dual rectangular capsule in his mic. He later switched to the Pearl version.

Back at Toad Hall in the early 90's we called these Darth Vader's razors.

index.php/fa/11081/0/

DS
Logged
"There IS no Coolometer." - Larry Janus

Berolzheimer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2709
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #22 on: January 27, 2009, 07:21:48 PM »

mgod wrote on Tue, 27 January 2009 07:26

Tim deParavacini used to use the Milab dual rectangular capsule in his mic. He later switched to the Pearl version.

Back at Toad Hall in the early 90's we called these Darth Vader's razors.

index.php/fa/11081/0/

DS


I've heard that Tim's version is an amazing mic, what 'd you think, Dan?

Logged
The film sound side of my life:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0077235/

A bunch of songs I've recorded and/or mixed are here:
http://www.zget.me/billionaires/

maarvold

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 853
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #23 on: January 28, 2009, 10:48:54 AM »

You can hear Tim's mics as the main pickup on many of the Water Lily Acoustics records.  I think the one I bought is the one with Ry Cooder.  The mics sound very good and extremely smooth and natural to me (like the way real acoustic instruments sound).  
Logged
Michael Aarvold
Audio Engineer

mgod

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4020
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #24 on: January 29, 2009, 11:08:31 AM »

I think empirically they're the best mics I own. He doesn't make them anymore, but I'm happy to lend them, or if you have a bodget, rent them.

DS
Logged
"There IS no Coolometer." - Larry Janus

Berolzheimer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2709
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #25 on: February 06, 2009, 12:38:05 AM »

maarvold wrote on Wed, 28 January 2009 07:48

You can hear Tim's mics as the main pickup on many of the Water Lily Acoustics records.  I think the one I bought is the one with Ry Cooder.  The mics sound very good and extremely smooth and natural to me (like the way real acoustic instruments sound).  


Those certainly are some gorgeous recordings.  I have "Meeting by the River" (I think that's what it's called) around here somewhere, I'll have to dig it out again.....

Logged
The film sound side of my life:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0077235/

A bunch of songs I've recorded and/or mixed are here:
http://www.zget.me/billionaires/

boojum

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 15
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2009, 01:39:10 AM »

Please help me here as my experience is limited.  I have a pair of CMC64's and wonder how these mics would compare, if only in their card form, to the CMC64's.

Thanks.
Logged
Nov schmoz kapop

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2009, 12:14:15 PM »

I don't have any direct experience with (Schoeps?) CMC64s... Having said that, I do have a lot of experience with Schoeps MK5 and MK2S capsules and the M221B (934B).

The Milabs are quite different.  Their rectangular capsule gives them a characteristic which is between large and small diaphragm.  It kind of offers the best of both.  And because the capsule has a different length than width, its resonances are spread more than a circular one.  I've come to think of the 196 as sort of a solid state AKG C12.  The mic has a personality but it is a very enjoyable one.  And tho' that personality varies according to the pattern, all three patterns are usable and likable.  The high end is extended but is never brittle or harsh.  The mids are quite nice and there is enough low end in cardioid to make for a full sound.

Most recently I used a pair for recording the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, a group I record often.  I chose M/S (a technique I largely despise) because I wanted to hear the 196s in something other than simple omni or cardioid.  So the M was cardioid and the S was Figure 8 (of course).  Normally I prefer spaced omnis.  The comment from the conductor was that I had managed to "outdo yourself" in terms of recording quality.  Now, that is saying a lot considering the nice microphones I have access to.

Having used the mics a lot lately,I can easily say they have sounded good on everything I've tried.  I am *very* pleased.

Barry

Logged

boojum

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 15
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #28 on: February 10, 2009, 01:11:32 PM »

Barry -

Thanks.  I have used your link to your page and will D/L the tacks of the SLCC to listen.

This is a bit off topic, so pardon it, but what is the general resistance to MS?  

Thanks.
Logged
Nov schmoz kapop

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: Milab DC-196 microphone
« Reply #29 on: February 10, 2009, 02:51:19 PM »

Boojum,

None of the SLCC tracks on my site use M/S.  I recorded their last concert with that but haven't posted anything from it.  Now I think of it, there are no M/S recordings at all on my site...

Marc Aubort, legendary recording engineer of Elite Recordings (NYC) and a mentor of mine once said M/S stands for "Maybe Stereo".  Marc always uses spaced omnis.  I like that technique as well but will use what is necessary.  Sometimes that's M/S.

I don't like M/S for at least two reasons:
1. It is not mono compatible.  In monaural, the S signal is canceled out and with it some of the information available in stereo.  This is not true of Blumlein or X/Y.

2. It contains no time of arrival information, which I think is vital to the full enjoyment of a performance recorded in stereo.

Barry
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4   Go Up
 

Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.057 seconds with 19 queries.