Quote:
Originally Posted by
ddy
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i started working professionally in 1978, so back in the days of tape but long after the 421 got introduced. i have no idea what happend to my old 421's before i got them (admittely very cheap) but in their poor state, they were an obstacle, not an asset so i used other mics and eventually gave the 421's away.
the new ones (we're now in mid-80's) measured* more close together and performed better (the drum kits got bigger so i bought five 421's iirc) - they got regular use, mostly on toms for which they were okay but physically annoying!
i admit that things (in terms of my 'love' for the 421's) didn't change much since, neither with the version II (90's i guess?) nor the 521 (or however the cheap reincarnation without 'rumpelfilter' was called?)...
...and your superior technical knowledge won't bring me closer to the 421's either (or the u87 for that matter) - but perhaps you'll be comforted to know that i'm absolutely okay to use the e-904's (we're still talking about toms?) and if we were even talking about the 441(which i used yesterday with bob mintzer), my mood would brighten considerably!
* and yes, i regularly 'measure' and compare my mics, for decades in the same room, in the same position in front of the same speaker and in comparison to the same two b&k's - measurement gear has changed a bit though...
I'll be 76 later this year, otherwise known as "old as ****." My mom bought me my first tape recorder when I was nine years old.
Do you have any e-609? Half a million years ago, when a friend brought one to my studio, we both thought it sounded VERY much like an "original recipe" 421. I'm referring to the black body ones here in the US. As you mention, there were earlier models, but I don't know if they evolved the recipe.
The MD421 have been used on toms for a long time. Don't know if they are today or not. I used them for voiceovers and found them quite good for that until DAWs with CRT monitors came out in the late 1990s. The early CRTs spewed a circle of RF noise and if the mic was sitting in front of the CRT, (because dynamic mics use a coil of wire moving in a magnetic field) the coil would pickup the RF noise projected by the monitor.
I switched to a Gefell M71. It's a condenser mic, so no coil for a pickup. The early M71 had some RF problems, presumably because East Germany didn't have the fierce RF environment we have here. A few well-placed components inside the mic, and the RF was thwarted.
Yes, I am very comforted! The MD441 is a lovely dynamic. I used it on-the-air back in the mid 1970s at an AM radio station. I got pretty familiar with it, talking into it every day. The MD431 is also quite nice and has a very tight pattern.