They both sound nice, overall they sound similar, the 34mm sounds slightly warmer, but i think either one would make most people happy. great singing as always.
The 25mm capsule captures more of the transients of the guitar and less of the boom. Your recording environment is extremely well-treated, so it's hard to tell, but I believe the 25mm version captures fewer room acoustics due to being less sensitive, and one can always use the proximity effect to get more bass response. I own two 25mm and use them as a stereo pair for my accordion, and they work so much better than other mics I own - 2x MXL CR21, Neat King Bee, 2x Zoom ZPC-1, SM57, gooseneck clips I don't remember the brand... I thought SDCs were the way to go, but I discovered there's a "right" capsule size/microphone for each application and environment! Thanks for the great video, it was really informative and fun to watch!
As an American, I really appreciated the conversion, LOL! As a Journeyman Toolmaker, I am constantly going between Imperial and Metric units of measure, as well as fractions and decimal equivalents. And then there is memorizing tap drill sizes, and then letter and wire gauge drill sizes. I will be glad to retire. I am not listening through headphones, but I do notice the 35mm mic sounds "fuller" in my Bose Soundlink II bluetooth speaker. Kudos to Mike for sending the mic, as well as his measuring tape story. I also noticed the measuring tape from the UK is in INCHES. However, I am ashamed I did not get your reference at the end of the video. So when does your musical tour start??
Hahahaha. Been there, done that. Hahaha. No more tours for me! Ah yes! You know metric well, then! Excellent! You’re right about the fuller sound. I agree. The reference at the end was Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride. Hahaha.
@@TheRecordist - Ah, thank you. I saw it once. I enjoyed it (in a theater) but not much committed to long term memory. I appreciate the challenge though. Keep 'em coming.
@@TheRecordist I don't mean to nitpick. I just wanted to add a comment as a passing audio nerd. LOL There's nothing inherently wrong with being an electric microphone. The 25mm version is also quite well-made. Good review! Thank you.
Looking to buy a pair of 25mm 414's to use as overhead mics for live drums (I only do live work, next to no studio stuff), but will they handle the volume of a loud drummer? Currently using a pair of Sennheiser E614's, but recently attended a few festivals as a band technician, where we had large diaphragm condensers as overheads and I liked working with them. One of them used actual C414s from AKG and it made me wonder if the Bai Fei Li version would be up for the task.
Hey there. Well, the BFL C-414 is nothing like a real C-414. Those are really expensive mics that are fantastic. This might get the drum job done, but I can’t be sure because I don’t have drums in my studio, so I never tested that. They’re cheap enough, though. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
Do you have try? I wanna try too 25mm for jazz drums in live application (i think for percussionnist it will be great ..but maybe 2x SM81 will be better for the drummer)
To me, the 34mm wasn’t so focused on higher frequency information and captured more mid and low end. However, the low end was really controlled sounding to my ears, not muddy in anyway so for my money I would go for the 34mm because I don’t like how often modern microphones neuter lower frequencies to achieve a sense of clarity. I think a flatter less overhyped high-end can take EQ really well. Less chance of siblings that the microphone picks up. Thank you for the entertaining videos!
The songs got me ("a little more than free" is a banger) and a purchased a Bai Fei Li 25mm c-414!!!....it's pretty cool! Question: if I wanted to record a live bar band, would any of the Bai Fei Li line be better than using the 25mm BFL C-414.
Hahaha. Thanks! Well, normally you’d take a line off the mixing board, but that’s for slightly larger venues. Barring that, ideally, you’d have dynamic mics all around miking all the amps and drums and a multichannel recorder to capture it all. Having just a stereo set of condenser mics in front of the band is not ideal and it won’t sound fabulous. Also, you run the risk of clipping the mics as the sound pressure levels may be higher than the mics can take. If it were me, I’d rather a couple of Shure SM57 mics pointed at the band if I only had left and right available on my recorder. This would be the best bet. Hope that helps!
@@TheRecordist Thank you for the advice with the Shure SM57. I'm new to being a sound guy and there's so much choice overload I didn't even know where to begin. I do have A LOT of flexibility and a cool situation. I've got a 6 channel Tascam field recorder and I have access to every instrument through my mixer w/o mics (electronic drum kit, keys in, and I tapped the guitar signals into the mixer too). So lots of signal possibilities!!!! Thanks again
Hi loved the vid, I don't really have a good headset, they sound the same to my ears haha maybe I'm just ignorant. What can you suggest for VO/VA the 34mm or the 25mm?
Why? Why are you peaking my curiosity again when I've been just fine with the OG C-414? The 34mm does sound less tinny on the top end with the guitar so for speech, I would assume it translate to less sibilance and just a slightly fuller sound. I think it sounds a bit better than the OG. ugh.
@@TheRecordist Well, I received it today and compared it for myself. It's a better mic than the original C-414 because of the increase clarity in the mids. The OG 414 was a bit too smoothed out. I think I like it even better than the earthworks ethos with only 5 min of testing.
Ok. Wow. So the 25mm capsule was the one i was impressed with initially. I assumed it must have been the other one.... I'll finish watching this and see if I need to try to cancel my order! 😁
Hey there. Well, you can do a simple mod to the P120 that will have it sounding more like a vintage U87i. I did a video where I did the mod to a P220. Same mic, less options. Check my channel for that video. If I were to pick one, it would be that one.
