I own and use a C12VR and absolutely love it especially when paired with an Avalon 2022. I was looking at getting a JZ mic during the Black Friday sale and the V12 was one that I liked. After listening to this I'm glad I did not buy the V12. Not that it was horribly bad but that it wasn't that good and was not different enough to be useful to me. This video confirmed for me the reason I prefer the sound of tube mics for things like this. Maybe the V67 would've been a decent choice at the sale price but at full price I'd look toward a tube mic for only a couple hundred more. Plus I prefer buying from Sweetwater where I can return the mic if I don't like it and I get 24 or more months at 0% interest. Sorry, JZ you'll have to do better.
This is great man, really helpful. When you isolate your kick drum recoding how come you cant hear any of the other drums? is this how it should be when recording drums?
"better" is not an objective concept. If we want to be objective we talk about technical qualities, like how the mic handles transients, detailing, self noise, build quality. Flat doesn't mean better, hyped isn't better too. When we talk about tone characteristics the best one always depends on the context and the desired sound. In this exemple neumann sounded better to my ears because the vocalist has a deep low voice that sounded too muffled with vintage 11 (witch has a broad low end bump about 80hz). The extra top end on the TLM102 helps a lot to make his voice more even and brighter. In a female voice maybe the v11 sounds a lot "better". That said I think both mics are GREAT character mics in oposite directions. Sometimes both are great but sometimes one is overdaker and the other is overbrighter. Definitely both aren't GREAT all purpose mics (unless you really like the characteristic of one of them and want to print it in all your jobs).
Schoeps winner here. Or 87 2nd. Maybe none of these would be my choice, but AKG. Snare is dull in the bt mic. I wanted to like them, they LOOK awesome. If they were a hair more open, it's just that the transient in the snare sounds dull to me. They are definitely...er...warm maybe. Just not really what I need in OH mic. Might be good on a thin, tinny Takamine or Taylor gtr? Interestingly, the shoeps sounded the worst on the crash when it was ridden. Spitty, and harsh. Everywhere else, it was the best though. The 87 was maybe the most well behaved and even through the entire range of playing through the song. Not as fast and open as the cmc6, but even, and held uo during the ridden crash cymbal. So did the BT, but the BT was slow, sounded eq'd or something through the entire track. I once stuck up a pair of original Baby Bottles over the kit. Reminds me of that. No transient. Slow. OTOH, those baby bottles worked perfectly on congas for some reason. So maybe these would work well there. That baby bottle 1st gen was good on gtr cab too. Clean fender, single coil. Cut the spiky transients. Bet these work there too.
Hi there great video , I have no idea still how to use it. My preamp impedance goes up to 3K and I'm using a Mic as a input. Shall I set the impedance level higher or lower for best results for Mic (vocals) - thanks!
In general, you want the preamp impedance setting to be MUCH (at least 5x) higher than the mic's impedance. If you have a 3k pre impedance and a 600 ohm mic impedance you're golden.
Thanks, Rook! Luc always nails his takes which made this video in particular a little easier to show the true value of impedance and its affect on the signal.
AKG sounded pleasantly darker compared with the JZ. Probably a combo of being an older mic & being a tube microphone. The AKG had its own magic. The flute was an interesting choice since it has a lot of air & breath as well as timbral qualities that cut very strong. So hearing the ability of the mics to soften edge also shows here and I think the AKG did well with that. The JZ however, didn't tame the bite, but rather it translated the bite. Which gives me the impression that the JZ has an honest, bright response compared with the AKG which had a darker more colored response. Almost as if it's made a mix decision for the flute. Whereas the JZ could also be processed to saturate & compress to the sound heard & felt from the AKG. Imo, an argument could be made that the JZ is more versatile whereas the AKG is more curated. Just my opinion. Thank you for the comparison. The V12 sounds amazing & useful (and worth the value added)!
Quick but important question - other than the external shell, is there anything different from the JZ V12 from 10 yrs or so ago? In particular electronically. Would also love to hear a more on-mic VO, narration style sample rather than just chatting off axis a couple of feet away :) Cheers
