over 300 listens, and comments from only 4 people. what are the rest of you hearing?

After listening on computer speakers and headphones, I think the MKH20 is far superior to OM1. The tonal accuracy and detail is much better, I can hear the vibrato, tonal variation and dynamics more clearly. The OM1 seems flat and slightly compressed and a bit diffuse by comparison.

Thanks for the test! One question: these are stereo files and I think I hear some stereo reverb. Am I right?

jule - each file is a single mono mic with a teeny bit of a stereo verb just to give it a little space. my room is quite dead.

Ah, thanks! Makes sense. I was just a little confused.

Not really sure what to say. Hmm.... Well, the OM1 is pretty smooth. One might say too smooth. It lacks a fair amount of detail and texture that the MKH20 picks up. For this particular flutist, in this particular room, that smoothness works well. That is, it is more flattering to my ears. But overall I'm on the MKH20's side of the bandwagon.

What I really learned, is that close miking a flutist is probably not a good idea. From listening to these tests, I'll probably raise my 1m closest distance to maybe 2m for flute.

These tests jnorman are nice.
Me too I find the MKH20 are more flattering than the OM1.
One thing, we hear more the room with the MKH20 or it would be better to say that the acoustic is more integrated with the direct sound with the OM1. So I find the OM1 more natural.
It would have been better to post without added verb to listen that.
Myself i find that the little capsule of the OM1 keep the acoustic more natural. Normal because of its non directivity.

To go on a more complex sound I post a bass voice +baroque orchestra with only a pair of OM1... but I don't have a comparison with other omnis, only with MC930 in the same church, similar orchestra but not the same performance.
In this acoustic I prefer the OM1. More sound fulness.

And to add some proofs to the capacities of these little mics, here is a a little bit of a recent concert, Beethoven piano concerto, recorded only with a couple of OM1's in a good big concert hall

That was a nice sounding recording! I need to get myself a "good big concert hall."

How did you get both piano and the orchestra so nicely, with just one pair?

Could you say something about the positioning of your OM1 pair?

Thank you.

DG

Yes, only a pair of OM1, 2,5m in front of the piano and 3m high. The piano was just behind the conductor.
The important point was that the mics were aligned with the open lid of the piano. So they saw all the inside of the piano and didn(t get the lid reflections

Hi I was researching alternatives to the behringer b5 (with omni capsule) and it seems the OM1 is a much better choice. I'd like to get a confirmation that it'd be a good match for me.

I play violin (all styles, but my lessons use classical repertoire). I was using a at2020 but i found it a bit harsh. I spent money upgrading violins but my recordings were still harsh.

I got a cheap behringer c-2 to experiment with stereo (X/Y) but still a bit harsh. I also got a Sony pcm-m10 portable recorder which has omni mics and I was shocked that the sound of my violin was so good! So I thought I should get myself a pair of omnis for using with the PC.

Would the OM1 be good for solo violin and also violin + piano as well as small acoustical ensembles?

Thanks

The OM1 and indeed the CM3 will not give you any harshness - so they might be indeed what you're after. I don't know what the Sony's mic sound like but the OM1 has been used with good/great success in mono and stereo on violin and other instruments, as you'll hear if you do a quick search on Gearslutz. But whether you need Omnis or not is up to you, we cannot say. If you plan on experimenting with various mic setups, they're a good investment.

Here is a little violin recording in my lounge with my OM1's

The violin sounds great to me. Were you using both in an A/B pattern?

Also I hear some noise but I can't make out what it is. Maybe you were moving around or something? One of my concerns with omnis is picking up too many unwanted sounds.

Thanks for sharing your recording.

It'll certainly work. How good it will be depends on way too many variables to account for here. Like, the acoustic you're recording in. The players and their instruments. The music being played. Where you place the mics. etc. etc. etc.

There is perhaps no greater value in an omni mic than the OM1. But there are a number of mics out there that are better in one or more aspects. So it depends on what you want to accomplish, how you define good, where you plan to use them, and with whom.

The background noise is his breathing...it's all part of the territory when you are relatively close miking in a small space like a lounge room !

In a larger space it should become lost, particularly if you're miking at a greater distance.

However, if it bothers you now in this sample, you might want to take steps to identify it early in your recording and eliminate it on the spot (don't expect to be be able to filter it out later in post)

Some of the ways of doing this are angling the mics so they have less on axis sensitivity to the nose/mouth, miking over the shoulder or somewhat behind. Experimentation (and playback review) time is the key here, before serious recording begins.....

How close is close? I've been putting my mic about 1m away.

Did you use 2 OM1 in A/B?

Thanks

To me 1 metre is really close...a recipe for capturing bow rasp and breaths (assuming we're talking violins here) !

In a lounge room that could be justified to avoid picking up too much of the small, boxy room tone acoustic.

In a concert hall you want to be 3 or 4 times that distance, to capture the hall acoustic...and at that distance you'd lose the breathing, which is a nice bonus.

mathieujm can tell you about his array in the example he just posted here, I tend to use 2 OM1's in AB when I record

My Lounge room is not very large, so I had to reduce the mic-violin distance to nearly 60cm.
Yes my setup was a AB, but not 30cm , but 15cm

sounds nice...what does "nok" mean?

This sounds wonderful! Beautifully balanced, from just 2 mics...

After doing lots of googling, I'm convinced that the OM1 is one of the best values in its price range. Before I place my order, I would like to know if the OM1 would be better for me (solo violin or violin+accompanying instrument (piano/uke)) or the CM3? I didn't realize the CM3 was a wide cardioid, and in looking at the polar pattern it looks close to an omni. The advantage of this would be that it wouldn't pick up as much sound behind. I've never tried a wide cardioid.

Thanks

Buy them both, they are low cost... and then you have more alternatives available to you for different situations !

The CM3 still behaves very much like a Cardioid though. You have to deal with proximity effect and slight off axis colouration, although it is better than on a lot of SDC's currently on the market. Wherever you buy your CM3 or OM1, your dealer will (should?) let you swap them for the other if you realize you made a mistake. But as pointed out... they're affordable enough to justify having both models in your kit.

Comparing to Schoeps MK21, wich is a wide cardioid capsule, CM3 has tighter pattern. To my ears, it is wider than most typical card SDC but not as wide as MK21.

Just a sidebar, if you care to comment...

How do you estimate the pattern? Do you set up a mic, and walk across in front of it (or around it) while speaking or singing, and then listen to the recorded audio, and form an opinion based on the results? Or, perhaps, set the CM3 and the reference mic on the same stand, in front of actual performers, and observe, "Oh, player A has less presence than player B in the CM3 recorded data (compared to the MK21), and player A is positioned thus-and-so, with respect to player B, so I know the CM3 polar pattern is narrower than MK21." Or maybe you make actual measurements of the mic's response to a certain test tone, as you maneuver the source around the mic (or rotate the mic)? Or perhaps just an experienced and educated impression from general use. Or some other means that I haven't thought of.

Thank you for any comments.

DG

I listen to recording I made with MK21 and CM3. The MK21 always sounds closer to omni, the CM3 closer to cardioid. It's my experience.

Beside that, read how Roger @ Line Audio describes a pattern of the mic on his website. It's what I hear when I listen to what I recorded.

Has anyone compared the OM1 compare to the Naiant X-O?

CM3 is closest to MK22, also tonally, which is smooth and non-bright in character.