Return of the Chinese Condenser

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Drone
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Return of the Chinese Condenser

Post by Drone » Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:56 am

It lives! And it handles 48V phantom power!

That was always my fear of these cheap condensors, made to run from a PC soundcard, but I found a site selling them, that said if they won't work on your laptop, you needs something to supply 48V phantom power. They are less than $12 nowadays, so I figured why not?

So the mic arrived, shipped from Germany strangely enough, and I mounted the shockmount on a stand and slid it in, hooked it up to my mixer (an old Soundcraft, real 48V) and turned it on. No bang, no flash, no strong smell of kippers, but a really hot signal from the mic, as a drum overhead, even with the gain all the way down, it was peaking, so I pad'd it.

After practice, we played with the mix a little, the drums are done 3 mics, Glyn Johns style, with the condenser on the overhead. We had way more crack from the snare, the drummer was well impressed with the sounds of the snare, the toms and cymbals, even the kick was present. In fact you could almost get away with just this one mic over the kit. I had the kick mic way lower than it normally gets.

So for $11.61, we have a condenser that produces a nice usable sound. I've only had it a week, no idea about it's durability as yet, it was smaller than I expected, is there such a thing as an MDC (with apologies to Dave Dictor) as well as SDC and LDC? The shockmount seems to be nicely made, better than some of the MXL ones I've encountered.

Mainly I'm chuffed it turned up, and didn't explode as soon as I applied phantom power :mrgreen:

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I got the ugly black and gold, cause it was a couple of bucks cheaper than blue and silver, or pink and silver if you prefer.
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:04 am

MDC is a thing. The AT 2020 is the first one that comes to mind.

Rigsby
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Post by Rigsby » Thu Apr 14, 2016 3:33 am

I saw those mics on eBay the other day.. A ?12 condenser.. Crazy.

Can you post an audio example?
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floid
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Post by floid » Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:10 am

Is it large enough to use as a build platform?
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Drone
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Post by Drone » Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:15 am

floid wrote:Is it large enough to use as a build platform?
Like a treehouse? I don't think so. It's about the size of a can of tuner / contact cleaner from Radioshack. At the moment I like it too much to take it apart.

Rigsby wrote:I saw those mics on eBay the other day.. A ?12 condenser.. Crazy.

Can you post an audio example?
Have to wait until next time. I wouldn't want my drunklen playing being heard, and interfering with the drum sounds.
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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Post by Rigsby » Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:44 am

Drone wrote:
Rigsby wrote:I saw those mics on eBay the other day.. A ?12 condenser.. Crazy.

Can you post an audio example?
Have to wait until next time. I wouldn't want my drunklen playing being heard, and interfering with the drum sounds.
Ha!
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CraigS63
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Post by CraigS63 » Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:43 am

The model number is BM? Who names these things?
Appeals to my budget, though...

http://www.gearbest.com/microphone/pp_193552.html

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Post by CraigS63 » Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:55 am

CraigS63 wrote:The model number is BM? Who names these things?
Appeals to my budget, though...

http://www.gearbest.com/microphone/pp_193552.html
The BM-800 on this site, is even cheaper? What the hell?

http://www.gearbest.com/speakers/pp_193554.html

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Post by Rigsby » Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:24 am

The price suggests it's going to sound like ass and possibly disintegrate, but I can't say I'm not tempted.
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Drone
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Post by Drone » Sat Apr 16, 2016 3:01 pm

I'll post a sample next practice, if you have patience, but 10 - 12 quid, why not dive in? :mrgreen:
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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Post by Snarl 12/8 » Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:56 pm

The shockmount might even be worth $9.01.
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Post by Rigsby » Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:34 am

Drone wrote:I'll post a sample next practice, if you have patience, but 10 - 12 quid, why not dive in? :mrgreen:
Yeah, I hear you, but generally I just don't like buying stuff at any price if it's just going to be a doorstop and thus a waste of the planet's resources. I do tend to buy second-hand as much as possible and I think very carefully before buying anything new. It's pretty much underwear, socks and hoodies I buy new, and food, obviously. Hard to find second-hand hoodies that haven't lost their shape and cosiness.
The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

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Post by vvv » Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:42 am

(restrains self from making used paper-products joke :twisted:)
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Post by KennyLusk » Sun Apr 17, 2016 8:54 am

Honestly I had what I consider to be excellent results from 2 mics by a company called iSK. The tube mic sounds gorgeous to my ears on vocals, acoustic guitar and amps. The condenser they call the Starlight is really impressive to my ears as well. They feature premium electronics and better capsules and the difference is fantastic.
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Drone
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Post by Drone » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:25 am

Rigsby wrote:
Drone wrote:I'll post a sample next practice, if you have patience, but 10 - 12 quid, why not dive in? :mrgreen:
Yeah, I hear you, but generally I just don't like buying stuff at any price if it's just going to be a doorstop and thus a waste of the planet's resources. I do tend to buy second-hand as much as possible and I think very carefully before buying anything new. It's pretty much underwear, socks and hoodies I buy new, and food, obviously. Hard to find second-hand hoodies that haven't lost their shape and cosiness.
Well, at least you haven't gone as far as to freegan.

I say it all in my sig, for me, anything is a big purchase. Under $15 to try a mic, that makes my drums sound better, to the drummer, I did right. If I'd done wrong, oh well, at least I hadn't bought a $500 mic that sounded no better than my $30 ones.
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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