NMD - 12 Gauge Red

[rickenbackerkid]

Well, I got my Red. Worth $50 for sure. Sound is dark, smooth, soft on transients, and it doesn’t have a lot of headroom, I.E. the mic was clipping before the preamp, and it’s clipping is nasty I would say that this will limit them a lot, won’t be any good on drums, loud guitar amps, or brass. Mine is a bit noisy too.
However, I think it will be a useful mic to have around as a ‘color’ mic for instruments that need to sit back in the mix.

Why do it with EQ when you can do it a vibey sounding $50 mic?

I recorded my Weissenborn with it just now, and it captured it beautifully in a soft intimate way. Very nice.

I just hope the headroom is high enough to use it as a drum room mic or overhead, as I can see it working really well over a chilled out jazz kit.

Verdict : Win for the money. Win full stop for an interesting sound on some sources. Utter fail as a versatile, chuck-in-front-of-anything mic.
I give it: , glad I got one, will be getting another for a stereo pair.

[bender]

Well, I got my Red. Worth $50 for sure. Sound is dark, smooth, soft on transients, and it doesn’t have a lot of headroom, I.E. the mic was clipping before the preamp, and it’s clipping is nasty I would say that this will limit them a lot, won’t be any good on drums, loud guitar amps, or brass. Mine is a bit noisy too.
However, I think it will be a useful mic to have around as a ‘color’ mic for instruments that need to sit back in the mix.

Why do it with EQ when you can do it a vibey sounding $50 mic?

I recorded my Weissenborn with it just now, and it captured it beautifully in a soft intimate way. Very nice.

I just hope the headroom is high enough to use it as a drum room mic or overhead, as I can see it working really well over a chilled out jazz kit.

Verdict : Win for the money. Win full stop for an interesting sound on some sources. Utter fail as a versatile, chuck-in-front-of-anything mic.
I give it: , glad I got one, will be getting another for a stereo pair.

I've used mine as overheads and they came up great. Also with a (fairly) loud guitar amp and a Tenor sax- no trouble on either. A small diaphpragm condenser is never going to be great as a close mic.

[rickenbackerkid]

Good to hear, looking forward to more experiments with mine.

[jeremyb]

My red and green arrived today thanks to Ed, looking forward to some quiet time at home to record my amp!

[alanp]

I seriously need to get some kind of XLR supporting soundcard thingy for my computer. As it is, I'm waiting for Friday to roll around before I can try mine

[rickenbackerkid]

Further experiments reveal that this mic is also great on my Lowden, warm to use a buzz word, rolled off treble to be more honest, but in a nice way, and not so dark that there is no clarity. I’m becoming more and more impressed with it.

[bender]

Further experiments reveal that this mic is also great on my Lowden, warm to use a buzz word, rolled off treble to be more honest, but in a nice way, and not so dark that there is no clarity. I’m becoming more and more impressed with it.

I wouldn't be surprised if what you're hearing as rolled-off treble isn't just that it's not hyped the was most mics are. I reckon these are quite neutral if anything. Ribbons are waaaaaaay darker. I'm not a fan of mics that emphasise hi frequencies too much (e.g. most mid-low end condensers- I'm looking at you Rode).

[bender]

I seriously need to get some kind of XLR supporting soundcard thingy for my computer. As it is, I'm waiting for Friday to roll around before I can try mine

You just need something with a proper microphone preamp and phantom power. My mixer has XLRs for the line level inputs as well.

[bender]

My red and green arrived today thanks to Ed, looking forward to some quiet time at home to record my amp!

Place them about a foot away from the speaker (if not more).

[Kris]

got mine today -looking forward to giving them a crack!

[rickenbackerkid]

I wouldn't be surprised if what you're hearing as rolled-off treble isn't just that it's not hyped the was most mics are. I reckon these are quite neutral if anything. Ribbons are waaaaaaay darker. I'm not a fan of mics that emphasise hi frequencies too much (e.g. most mid-low end condensers- I'm looking at you Rode).

Ha ha, I’m not fan of low end condensers either. I say rolled off treble in comparison to (A) how the guitar sounds acoustically, and (B) a SM57, which is the mic I tend to compare everything to.

I don’t have any condensers here to compare it too, but I have a used Shure Beta87 and a lovely shiny Octava MK-012 floating around on a ship on the ocean blue heading for the sunny shores of NZ.

[calling card]

Mine's still rolling around in a courier van/ship somewhere. I noticed in the recent Neil Young backstage pics those mics that were up real close if not on the grill cloth. What breed of mic is that?

[rickenbackerkid]

Mine's still rolling around in a courier van/ship somewhere. I noticed in the recent Neil Young backstage pics those mics that were up real close if not on the grill cloth. What breed of mic is that?

on the guitar amps? both had older black Sennheiser e609’s, I think Neil’s amp had a ribbon too, looked vaguely like a Cascade Fathead, but not 100 on that one.

[calling card]

Yes, guitar amps. So ribbons take the sonic beating then?

[alanp]

You just need something with a proper microphone preamp and phantom power. My mixer has XLRs for the line level inputs as well.

Only place I can use mics is at church, with the Yamaha mixer there. It has phantom power for ch 1-8, and a separate phantom power for ch 9-16

Like I said, I really need to get one of those pre-amp computer interface thingies...