I’m not a gear head, as far as I can remember I have never even posted a review before. But I had to get a new mic since my studio’s sole LDC bit the dust, so I thought I’d write a review on it for all you gear head types.
After much research I plumped for an Oktava MK 319, for which I paid £100 second hand.
The switches on the back for the LPF and 10db pad look and feel like they belong on a £1 child’s toy. They wobble all over the place when you use them (they do actually work though).
It sounds very good. On vocals it has just a touch of professional-sounding smooth poshness going on, I wasn’t expecting that. So far it has also worked admirably on acoustic guitar and violin.
From the frequency response chart it looks like it has a 5dB dip at 6.2k which may help prevent sibilance, and a slight boost at 10-11k which may give vocals some “air”.
The switches look dodgy, even in photos. It’s an unusual looking mic, but looks pretty cool, yet simple and functional. How do you mount it? No shock mount? A picture on the Oktava site shows some rinky-dink sleeve/ring thing that looks dodgy also. Way too lightweight to handle that large mic? It looks like there’s an optional accessory shock mount that’s pretty decent (reminiscent of the AT4040 s/m) for about €/$25.
