CharterOak E700 FET Mic -- awesome alternative to AKG 414

[mhschmieder]

I bought a CharterOak E700 FET mic from SoundPure last month (their only authorized dealer, as far as I can tell), and am blown away. This replaces my CAD Equitek E100S FET mic, but like that mic is at least "very good" on any source yet goes way beyond that mic in being natural and flat across the frequency spectrum and being extremely balanced.

It is especially good on bass cabinets, and though it is not ideal to place it against the grille, it can stand closer miking than most condensers -- especially if placed in figure-8 or omni pattern vs. cardioid.

I am hoping to try it on alto sax this weekend, as many people say it is their favorite for that purpose. It doesn't have the usual 8-10 kHz spike that so many condensers have.

Although its shape is closer to the CAD E100S, the mic's pedigree owes more to the older version of the AKG C414, so it is a great option for those frustrated by the current models and the confusion that AKG causes with their variants.

This is also a recommended mic for upright bass, but I haven't tried it yet. Acoustic guitars, other acoustic instruments, guitar cabinet, vocals, and a specific application that surprised me: front of kick drum or even halfway in/out of the kick (when the head isn't removed).

At under $1000, I can't recommend this mic highly enough as an upgrade for those who primarily have budget mics. It also, in my opinion, blows away the Neumann TLM 102, which I sold after several shootouts. In fact, this mic replaced three cheaper mics, so paid for itself.

[mikehalloran]

I see them on Bananas At Large, too.

http://bananas.com/charteroak-e700-dual ... e/dp/10308

It looks like the prie has come down a little from when there were introduced about 7 years ago. Nice to see.

Even better is the response curve. Damn!
http://www.charteroakacoustics.com/prod ... quency.htm

[Phil O]

What AKG did with the 414s naming is a discussion for another day, but I've never been a fan of any of them. I know I'll get criticized for this post, but I don't understand how this mic has reached such status. Although I've never owned one, I've had access to them in jobs outside my own studio. In every situation, I've selected something other than the 414. So, IMO, just about anything is an awesome alternative to AKG 414.

As for the TLM 102, a friend has one that he loves. I heard it and thought it was kind of meh. I know, I'm hard to please.

I've never had the opportunity to use an E700. In fact, I've never even seen one, but the specs look impressive. Glad you found something you like. Hope it sounds better than the AKG.

Phil

[monkey man]

Well Mark, you know the story, and I'm locked in, mate.

Who knows, maybe in a few years (at least), when it comes time to take it up a notch, you'll have another awesome suggestion for me (like to go jump!); unfortunately it has to be the silver 414 for now.

[mhschmieder]

Yeah, MM, knowing you had recently bought the AKG, I made this a new post vs. a response to the other one, hoping you wouldn't see it. After all, it is bad form to drag a monkey through his own poo. Or at least that's what my ape-mother told me in the hut I grew up in. Oh wait, that's a different story...

[monkey man]

Fortunately I'm a clean-up expert, Mark.

I haven't even got the mic yet, but am "locked in". The lay-buy for it and the preamp is 13 months long. The store ordered the wrong pre and wasn't able to return it, so I've been waiting 4 months now for the eBay sale it's trying to make on my behalf(!) to go through, after which the correct one will be ordered. Funny how I managed to get myself into this pickle; it wasn't my doing. The store just seemed to assume that I was somehow responsible. Oh well.

The pre will be great. The mic, along with my TLM-103, will be OK, but one day... one bloody day I'll get a truly good mic!

Thank you for your sensitivity, brother.

[mhschmieder]

It's all relative. But since I have so few relatives, most things are absolute.

Don't fret over your AKG decision -- it's still better than most budget mics, but simply is arguably not as much bang-for-buck as some others. You can get good results from almost any mic, with proper technique.

For me, mic decisions have become more about saving time. Given that I am yet again having to revisit guitar tracks that SOMEONE ELSE recorded (quite poorly, I might add), I am determined to make sure I never have to deal with such a situation again -- just as my vocal mic choice saved me uncountable hours at mix time due to needing zero downstream processing.

[monkey man]

Exactly, Mark.

Where guitar (specifically, mic'd-amp) tracks are concerned, my bugbear is phase cancellation. I might have told you the story of my hearing it when a roomful of AE ears, including a venerated set, was oblivious to said phenomenon in the overhead feed at Melbourne's largest studio complex. I was standing right off to one side, placed the furthest off-centre of everyone, illiciting comments like, "You're dreaming, mate; you'll never hear it from there, and besides, there isn't any". Suffice it to say that once the correlation meter was consulted, my ear wasn't questioned for the rest of that 1-year course.

Interestingly, this has proved to be a bane where choosing Kemper profiles is concerned too, as they're effectively snapshots of folks' mic'd-amp setups, and let's face it, most people aren't attuned to phase cancellation to the point of being "allergic" to it. The "Rig Exchange", with its 7000-odd profiles available to all and sundry for free, is a study in the mass-deliverance of phase-affected tones if ever I saw it.

More to the point you alluded to, I can't stand having to try to mix sources that are thusly affected. I've refused to mic my brother's amp for years 'cause I knew that between the boxy-sounding room and my signal chain, I'd have spent more time fighting his tracks than everything else combined, and wasn't prepared to put myself through this. This is why I've switched from L6 to Kemper; it's not just that the latter's tones sound authentic to me, but also that, using the right "profiles", I can be guaranteed not to have to fight this losing battle whilst mixing guitar tracks.

Hopefully the "generic" silver AKG will do the job for my vocal noodling at any rate. Phase will not be an issue, and neither will pitch thanks to DP's pitch engine.

Once again, and as always, thank you for your time, Mark.

It's all relative. But since I have so few relatives, most things are absolute.

Too funny!

[Phil O]

...I am yet again having to revisit guitar tracks that SOMEONE ELSE recorded (quite poorly, I might add), I am determined to make sure I never have to deal with such a situation again...

Don't knock it. There's money in them thar hills. I have (not by choice) become known for fixing stuff that's gone bad. When you've made a bad choice,recorded at the wrong studio and ended up with a mess who you gonna call? Phil.

I always tell my clients that there's not much that can be done - you know, the polished turd thing. But they keep bringing me stuff to fix and I keep getting paid. I just wish I could find a way to get them to come to me first!

Phil

[mhschmieder]

Haha, good one. Luckily, this time the message got through that maybe it would be better to have me be the recording engineer right from the start.

I've been loaning my new mics to potential clients, then critiquing their results, but even with improper technique what they're doing sounds better than what I was handed the last few times. They know they still need me, so getting to try out the mics in advance is working in my favour vs. making me obsolete.

[James Steele]

Interesting discussion. On the 414 issue, I bought one on its reputation many years ago *assuming* it would be a good vocal mic for me and fought with it for a while. Then I tried a friend's Red Type B, fell in love, and that's been MY vocal mic for years now. Never warmed to the 414. I had a 414B-ULS for what it's worth.

As for phase on guitar tracks, I tried getting "cute" and recording my speaker cabinet with multiple mics for variety and just gave up, since I'm really not all that great an engineer. I just couldn't seem to get rid of phasing issues. I ended up just using ONE microphone, and that's the Groove Tubes GT-66 tube mic. My favorite mic for guitar cabinets now. Has high end because it's a condenser, but the tube in the circuitry seems to smooth out any harshness. I did acquire a MD-421 since then, but haven't felt eager to venture into new territory away from my tried-and-true yet. I know a lot of people like 421s on guitar amps.

Oh well... my 2 cents.

[monkey man]

Makes sense, James.

The 421 has been popular for bass, both amps and acoustic, for decades AFAICR. If bass response is important to you, you might want to check one out, but IMHO sweet highs and warm mids should trump a better bass response for guitar-cab mic'ing every time, James. You're going to filter the lows in the mix anyway.

... who you gonna call? Phil.

Phil

Er... Phil-O-Buster, surely?

Isn't that just the ticket? I've "established" this nickname for you over the years, and this pooportunetitty has been a long time coming, mate!

[mhschmieder]

For a long time, I used just the MD421 on bass and guitar cabs, but a couple of years ago I added an on-the-grille condenser to the mix. Mostly the CAD e100s that I just sold in favour of the similar (but better) CharterOak E700.

I had it wrong though; I should have been using the condenser further back. Granted, I had the low cut engaged, but I hadn't really done enough experiments before, as I "already" had a room mic using a ribbon (though this came a bit after the addition of the FET condenser to the grille).

I now feel the ribbon is better as close as it can get before proximity effect sets in (different for each ribbon model), and the condenser is best as a room mic -- IF using all three (plus DI), of course. This has to do with what happens to the frequency balance, transients, dynamics, etc.

If I was to pick just one mic for a cabinet, at this point it would be the E700s, somewhat close, and mixed with DI for bass but probably on its own (with maybe an ambient room mic far away) for guitar.

I always listen (and test) for phase issues, but maybe it's because I record with single-driver cabinets for bass and dual-driver for guitar (usually -- sometimes a client insists on their 4x12).

I find 4x12 (and larger) stacks tend to be more difficult with multiple mics. Some put all the mics on just one driver, up close. Then I wonder, why are we bothering vs. going with a Mesa 2x12 Rectifier cabinet?

[mikehalloran]

Some put all the mics on just one driver, up close.

And some put multiple mics on the different drivers knowing that only one will make it to the mix.

I am not naming names…

Mt Groove Tubes 5sm gets used for guitar cabinets sometimes. It was their first FET mic and so old it doesn't show up on the discontinued list (yes, I know they sold to Fender in 2008).

[mhschmieder]

Oh, I just realized that there is still a difference in how a mic on "one out of four" drivers will sound vs. a mic on "one out of two", if otherwise the specs are the same for both cabinets. Partly it has to do with the interactions of the drivers, but also with the cabinet (even though ideally this should be minimized if not eliminated). I still feel 4x12 leads to muddiness though.