Obviously it always depends where these OH tracks needs to sit..
You’re right, the OC818 are on the “bright” side of things (although with the polar patterns and distance/positioning you could change its behaviour a bit)..
But I (almost always) find myself (with other mics) boosting the 4 and 8k (or up) on the drum bus..
So while they’re modern LDC, they fare quite well on OH.

howdy

Cheu

Thanyavermuh! James Lehmann!

My one liners are to attract the reader with low patience so that they will read the post.

I do NOT seek to make anyone look like a second class citizen.

It IS remarkable how similar mics sound on the same source.
It's because of the sound of the source.

i also have a u89 and lately i have been using it as a hihat mic, with a tlm 170m on ride both in hyper cardioid...B+O BM5 stereo ribbon either right under the ride getting plenty of kik and snare or up higher as traditional oh's....and an old 1950's shure 55s elvis mic on kik rez, senheisser cardioid lav hanging over the kik beater and a 1970's beyer m201or m88 (both mics also hyper cardioid) on snare top...the lav gets quite a bit of snare sizzle, so dont need snare bottom...i use a double xlr cable with one end wired out of phase for my top and bottom tom mics (i alternate between 414 eb's in hyper for more chilled open stuff and 421's for heavier rock stuff) so i only need 1 preamp per tom and ive been loving the drum tones and vibe im getting from this setup...ive used slight variations of this setup for 3 albums im currently in the process of finishing...2 had a lot of brushes and rods...very spacious sounding...the 3rd album is heavy guitars and a lot of smashing the crap outta the drums...for this band i changed the kik rez to a d112 for more punch/smack...as opposed to the shure, which had a really nice 'knock' to the kik sound.

All that being said...i feel like the B+O bm5 could have done the job all on its own for the two chilled albums..the sound i got from this mic under the ride was friggin awesome...drummer was aware not to smash the ride or id get a mad low end 'woof'.......the kik and snare sounded fantastic with plenty of cymbal, hh, ride and toms etc in the capture too.

Never tried the coles tho..or these sexy looking AEA ribbons...have you seen any of the youtube videos using just one stereo ribbon to record live performances from bands?...some of them are amazing, check them out of you havent seen them....i must try it out sometime

I certainly wouldn't buy a used B&O ribbon mic today! They were always fragile and there's a 95% likelihood that it's damaged. The Royer SF-12 is its modern descendant and comes with a warranty. The Royer SF-24 is the same mic with an active output stage; the SF-24V is a tube version. AEA makes several stereo ribbon mics, including the R88, R88A, and the new N28.

If the OP loves TLM-170's, but uses them only in cardioid pattern, a pair of TLM-193's offer that same sound for half the money. They are astonishingly good percussion mics.

David

i only bought mine a few months ago, so disregard that last comment (respectfully)

The stereo Samar ribbons are fabulous. David - I think you would like Mark at Samar. To me, you both seem to have a lot in common in terms of high end audio quality.

Yeah, forgot about Samar. I don't personally own any of those mics, but Mark Fouxman is the real deal: a cross-disciplinary expert.

My concern was that folks might just be buying trouble, but I poked around on the internet and found out that there's a company called XAudia that seems to be in the business of reconditioning and reselling old B&O ribbon mics. It seems that maybe Mark at Samar can re-ribbon them as well, so I guess these mics aren't quite the orphans I though they were.

David

Xaudia have a very good service and they also do their own design.. (called extint audio).
Stewart Tavener at Xaudia is great to deal with.

Btw I’m still waiting for my bm5 since 7 years..
Who knows maybe at some point Mark at Samar will ship it back..
Maybe you can ask him to ship it back to me..

It’s a shame because his mics are good products.

howdy

Cheu

I hear you....before buying this i came here for a quick check as i also had the worry that it could end up being an expensive door stop...the reviews were all favorable and i also came across XAudia, so i sent them an email before i bought it....Stewart from Xaudia quoted about 250-300 for the full ribbon and magnate upgrade that they do (i think they can also replace the bit that connects the two mics which is apparently a bit flimsy), so i decided to buy the mic...but as i turned out it was in excellent condition and im really digging it at the moment...good to know i can get it fixed in the future tho!

I also came across a nice 1950's shure 55s for quite cheap recently..but seller mentioned that it needed loads of gain and was a bit noisy, so i guessed it wasn't in great functional condition...but, i loved the look of it with the red grill material, so i decided to give it a try, knowing it would make a cool piece for the studio even if it didnt work.....it was noisy as hell!!...damn

Then i noticed the switch on the under side of the mic...L/M/H....it was on low, switched it to high(or vise versa) and it was perfect....yay!!...so often worth a try in my opinion..that being said i have a lot of other mics and good studio gear and i'm always buying something...i work in video too, so its endless!
My partner is very understanding to my mic addiction tho..thankfully!!!

Yeah..their mics look wicked...the reviews are all positive on here.

I didnt like your comment about your mic not coming back tho....what happened there?... get in touch with them, get it back..its an amazing mic

Nope. Any time you have energy conversion - acoustical to electrical and vice versa - sound can change significantly. The source is the source and while it’s extremely important, the mics can shape it from dark and boxy to bright and airy.

Ok so you’ve added “similar” now. Similar as in what? Topology? Capsule?

i think he meant the sound is similar..not similar microphones...either way he's wrong

Big ups for Stewart at X-Audia, the UK ribbon king. And what a lovely human, too! Done lots of business with Stewart over the years, always top quality everything.

That’s reality..
I wrote more than 50 emails..
called them several times etc..
What can I tell you..
But don’t want to derail this thread..
Might try again..

howdy

Cheu

I think you would love the Sanken CU41...
I would rather invest in a flea 49 pair than the Neumann reissues, more vibe and less expensive.
You might enjoy a km84 or km86 pair as well.
I wouldnt advise the advise the km56 or 54 due to the tube.

Noooooo.....one of the guys that works out of our studio turned phantom on with my BM5 plugged in and blew the top ribbon..gutted aint the word, i was so happy that this was the original ribbon and sounded sooo good..

been there with old rca 44 and 77 of mine. not a big deal duder... ribbons are more of a disposable item than a dynamic/condenser capsule.
they come back from repair sounding better than before everytime. I try to think of microphone maintenance as a blessing in disguise sometimes. i can play tricks on myself, easily.

BTW-
I got the pair of OC-818s and compared to the TLM 170s on overheads and I realized how much presence peak the Neumann have dialed in, but sounds really good. I think I prefer the 170 over the 818 but it's close, and really subjective. The170 seems to have a low end rolloff that mixes pretty well with kick mic. (the less eqing in post the better,hopefully none,

i really like using mics as the EQ instead of an eq. The 818 has a ton of low end, to the point where you barely need a bass drum mic. Both are very useful overheads and are great utility mics, but pretty different sounding. Ill take the 170s first. Which means the hunt continues.... what's my next pair now???
those Sanken and Milab/pearl ideas are right in line with what im thinking. maybe flea m49? but are they threisch m7? ive already got that covered.

i needed to hear that..thanks.
Might wait a while and do a few more sessions with it before i send it for re ribboning....have really been enjoying the results with it recently, mainly in M/S and the centre mic always sounds great..so that might do me for a bit.

This is totally curve-ball suggestion based only on good old 'internet hearsay' rather than any practical experience on my part but you could maybe try hunting down a pair of the short-lived and relatively unknown Neumann TLM127s.

There's a rather interesting thread here with some quite surprising feedback on how good this mic actually is and what makes it so unique: e.g. the overall smoothness and in particular the complete lack of any discernible bass-end roll off, as reported by a guy who uses them to record church organs which can have fundamentals down to 20Hz or lower.