itty bitty condensers?

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:07 pm

I was on this forum about a month ago and somebody had posted a link to check out some itty bitty condensers that only cost like $20 a pair, I think. I didn't save the link and now I can't remember what the hell they were called.

Remy, I think you were the one who posted the link.......maybe not, but hopefully you can help me find these wee bastards.

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:55 pm

Hmm..... I can not imagine any condenser microphone for $20 that will be of even decent quality, let alone a pair. I am very skeptical of the person who told you this (and I doubt it would have been RemyRAD) so I am very curious to see if this unfolds.

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:46 pm

Maybe the "World Famous" Behringer C-2?? Think it's around 50$ / pair.

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:04 pm

The itty bitty condenser microphones I was speaking of, were the Sennheiser MKE2, Sony's ECM44, the Countrymen and Tram's. But they're certainly not $20. More like $200 and up. However, one can purchase just the capsule without the microphone body that has the electronics and battery with xlr connector. The capsules can be had for much less money than the entire microphone. We purchased them as the replacements for the body pack wireless microphone packs, when new microphone elements were required.

I did mention that one can purchase small Taiwanese, miniature condenser microphone capsules from Radio Shaft, for as little as $.98. Some of these capsules are actually quite useful since many low-cost condenser microphones of various manufacturers use the same Taiwanese capsule manufacturers.

Because of their inexpensive cost, all is a crapshoot. We used to have a small hamburger joint here in the DC area, that used to advertise " buy them by the bag". I believe the same holds true of the Radio Shaft capsules. You might get some good ones. You might get some bad ones.

Case in point is the highly regarded Crown series of PZM microphones. About 18 years ago Crown licensed Radio Shaft to produce a consumer oriented PZM microphone. It sounded quite good and as I discovered through my relentless investigations, that the capsule used in the cheap Radio Shaft model had been manufactured in Taiwan by the same Taiwanese manufacturer that supplied Crown their capsules. Crown's capsules had needed very exacting standards, specifications and were all individually calibrated before delivering. The Radio Shaft version also had very exacting standards. They wanted exactly 100,000 of them by a certain date. Which I'm sure they received? Were they all as good as the ones delivered to Crown? Of course not. But some came very close. You know how to play the lottery don't you? Keep buying them things!

I won
Ms. Remy Ann David's

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:02 am

I think the "itty-bitty" mics mentioned are probably the Naiant MSH-1's...
http://www.naiant.com/studiostore/microphones.html

I got a pair of them several months ago for $45 including shipping, so it looks like the price went up a bit. If you are a budget home studio person (like me), these are pretty decent for the money. I did acoustic guitar overdubs for some of my band's songs with these, and they sounded fine. I tried them as drum overheads, and they sounded very nice, but I thought the stereo spread was not happening like I wanted. That was probably due to my inexperience with omni mics and how to position them properly to get that stereo image. I think the next time I record drums I'll give them another go. Anyway...hope this helps! Andy

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:50 pm

I FOUND EM!!! These were the mics I was thinking of. The Karma K-Micro

http://www.karmamics.com/kmicro.html

I realize that for a microphone of this size, I won't be able to use em in every situation, but I figured, for $20 a pair, I can definately afford to give em a shot. It looks like the manufacturer may sell drum mic kits with k micros (maybe for toms, similar to Shure beta 98s?)

Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:03 pm

It's very cute. He is using those Radio Shaft Taiwanese capsules. They are available in numerous sizes. His drum kit microphone system is indicated as being cardioid? But by the looks of the microphones on the toms, there are no air holes behind the capsule diaphragm. This indicates an Omni directional microphone. It might as well have Radio Shaft printed on the microphone. Although he is probably delivering a more interesting product than Radio Shaft?

So he is an enthusiastic entrepreneurial manufacturer of crappy microphones for enthusiastic enthusiast's of recording. You can still make good recordings with these things. Engineering chops are engineering chops. You either have them? Or, you don't.

Go get them!
Ms. Remy Ann David

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