{"id":10223,"date":"2017-03-27T08:30:03","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T15:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimeandtheforcesofevil.com\/blog\/?p=10223"},"modified":"2017-03-27T00:05:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T07:05:15","slug":"lets-listen-to-an-rk-47-microphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimeandtheforcesofevil.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/27\/lets-listen-to-an-rk-47-microphone\/","title":{"rendered":"let’s listen to an rk-47 microphone!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Build reports are nice enough. (I wrote up a little errata post yesterday, by the by<\/a>.) But the real question, of course, is how does the RK-47\/990B kit mic sound?<\/em><\/p>\n

Early impressions are surprisingly good. Even with only the single microphone, there’s a sense of presence and space – even with a purely mono signal path – that I normally have to dual-mic to attain. Also, it has tremendous precision – this is a mic capable of great subtlety. And the amount of gain built into the microphone itself is crazy – this is one spicy meatball of a microphone. That’s something you won’t hear in recordings, but it results in a lower noise floor, which is always good.<\/p>\n

Let’s start with some unsubtle differences, ones that’ll show up on laptop speakers. Because while I’ve never liked the MXL-990, they sell a zillion of ’em, and we should make a couple of direct comparisons.<\/p>\n

Here’s a snippet of chords from “Lukey,” alternating between the MXL-990 (unaltered factory) and the RK-47\/990B. It starts with the MXL-990, then transitions in-song to the RK-47, then back and forth. It ends with the RK-47. It’s a pure mono signal path until prepped for uploading to Soundcloud.<\/p>\n