SOUND ON SOUND

[transversal]

hey yall, does anyone know what the lead vocal mic used in these videos is? it's not familiar to me and i haven't found it in any online stores. the way the videos are shot + the image quality also won't let me spot any brand names or markers on the mic itself. if anyone knows the maker and model, let me know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxyaxnorUlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CdFtk8Fk2A

there also seems to be a wireless version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrMe9q3cOVU

[Sam Spoons]

The one in the first video looks like an AKG C5900

[James Perrett]

The middle one is definitely one of the AKG Tri Power mics but I wouldn't like to say which one. I know a singer who used to use one but now prefers an Audix OM5 as the AKG is one of those mics that only works well on certain voices.

[Sam Spoons]

IIRC there were only two Tri-Power mics, the D3600 and C5900. I have both (though both and no longer working) and the head/grill is different, the one with the square windows is the C5900, the D3600 has slots.

I preferred the C5900 to the D3600 (just another SM58 style dynamic), but as you say it was not anything special by modern standards. In fact I seem to remember it shared it's capsule with the C1000 :crazy:

edit :- there were 7 dynamics but all had the slotted grill, I can't find any other capacitor versions apart from the C5900 pictured above.

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/all-round-sound/2952

[Wonks]

The radio mic version the C5900M, had a very different look to it indeed.

[Sam Spoons]

Indeed



as did, what I assume is, the 'mk2' version C5900M?

But I'm not sure the wireless mic in the third vid is a C5900 though I think it probably is (at the very bottom of the page) :- http://www.soundlease.com/radio.htm

[transversal]

you're right, that's the mic! i'm assuming it wasn't a very popular model - maybe that's why it was discontinued? it's not a model i see very often

[Wonks]

Manufacturers are always updating their lines. It gives the marketing people something to do. They have a reputation for being quite easy to break if dropped, certainly not as robust as an SM58!

[Sam Spoons]

That may well be true, given that both mine are broken. They looked solid enough but internal the capacitor had a fair bit of fragile plastic. Not AKG's finest hour I'm afraid.

If the OP is looking for something with similar characteristics then the SE-H1 will get him in the ballpark* for SM58 money, or take a look at live vocal capacitors from Sennheiser and Neumann.

* I have five and really like them.

[Wonks]

sE no longer make the H1. In fact they don't make any handheld condensers at all at the moment.

[Sam Spoons]

True (Neumann KMS104 it is then :D ) but there are a few still around the retail marketplace.

WRT the Tri-Power AKGs, it was not such a daft concept as it might at first appear if only because putting a mic down on a table, only to catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye, rolling towards the edge and, subsequently falling, grill first, to the floor is one of those "oh sh1t" moments we've all experienced.......

[blinddrew]

if only because putting a mic down on a table, only to catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye, rolling towards the edge and, subsequently falling, grill first, to the floor is one of those "oh sh1t" moments we've all experienced.......

Occasionally amplified by sticking your foot out to try and break the fall but getting that wrong too and booting the damn thing across the room... :headbang: :oops:

[ManFromGlass]

or a mic stand or boom arm failing and watching as it takes the mic with it in slow motion to the floor - just out of reach!