milab dc-196 info

[zilver]

Has anyone tried this new mic ?
I have a dc 96-b that i like a lot and i'd want to know if the new version sounds the same. I read somewhere that they used a new 'improved' (?) capsule.
I hope they just added pattern choice and pre-attenuation.

Any information is very welcome.

Thanks,

Hans

[Remoteness]

I own two DC196s and I haven't had a chance to use them as of yet.
I'll do my best to post what I think of the mics...

As you may already know, I own one XY82, six VIP50s, six DC96Bs and the two DC196s.

As you can tell, I really love Milab microphones.

[mr.gefell]

bump ?

[audiothings]

i have also been asking around and no info is forthcoming...

the strange and suspicious thing is that it lists at about $1120, which is less than the dc96b or the embla, but its noise spec (12 dBA) is way better than the other two mics from their line...

looking forward to remoteness' review...

respect,

[mr.gefell]

hey audiothings,
i actually bumped this for you.

I have had the pleasure of trying a dc-196, but this was at a recent expo.
I have one comment that is ; when changing the pattern there is a a couple of seconds silence .

The cost has come down because the mic does not use op-amps and transformers in the electronic path.

[mr.gefell]

just to ad ..Milab informed the other day that the surround (SRND360) microphone will be released in April.


nice

[zilver]

Originally Posted by mr.gefell

I have had the pleasure of trying a dc-196, but this was at a recent expo.
I have one comment that is ; when changing the pattern there is a a couple of seconds silence.

That's normal, the capsule has to be polarized differently.

Originally Posted by mr.gefell

The cost has come down because the mic does not use op-amps and transformers in the electronic path.

Hmmm. no op-amps ? I think they're not expensive. But the transformer is......

Anyway i'm also very curious about the finding of Mr. Steve Remote.

Cheers, Hans

[zilver]

Anyone tried it yet ?

Cheers,
Hans

[Remoteness]

I mentioned this in a few other threads about Milab...

I finally got a chance to use my new Milab DC196s on congas and I was very happy with the results...

I also had a Royer R121 and an overhead with one of my micro gobos to help with the rear lobe containment.

Here's a thread about the show we recorded at the Blue Note with Conrad Herwig et al.

I plan to talk about our mic placements, techniques and such.

If you like, come on by and check the thread out.

[mr.gefell]

Sound on sound review:

swedish manufacturers Milab have always ploughed their own furrow
when it comes to microphone design and, though they’re not the only company to
do it, their flirtation with rectangular microphone diaphragms might seem a little odd to those of us brought up on the notion that mic diaphragms should be round.A circular diaphragm produces a polar pattern that is identical in the vertical and horizontal plains, but because of thiss ymmetry, a circular diaphragm also has a single pronounced resonance that needsto be tamed by damping. By contrast, a rectangular diaphragm will have oneresonant frequency associated with its length and a different one with its width, so the effect of the resonance is distributed and thereby diminished.
Another unusual characteristic of a rectangular diaphragm is that it has
a different directional pattern in the horizontal plane to the one it has in the
vertical plane. If the microphone is placed vertically, so that the diaphragm’s longer axis is upright, it will exhibit a wider directional pattern in the horizontal plane than in the vertical, in much the same way as a line-array loudspeaker does. This can be of benefit when you’re trying to minimise spill or reflections from specific directions.This lack of symmetry can also be exploited in other ways when you’re miking voices or instruments. For example, a vertical setup when recording vocals would focus mainly on the mouth, whereas a horizontal
mounting position would cover all of the head and also pick up some chest
resonances, producing a different tonal colour. Similarly, if you’re miking acoustic
instruments that radiate from a large surface, such as the acoustic guitar, microphone orientation can be used to home in on the more desirable attributes of the instrument or to minimise less desirable attributes. Once you appreciate these differences between the rectangular diaphragm and the conventional circle, the whole concept starts to make a lot more sense.

Milab’s DC196 is a deceptively small capacitor microphone, just 145mm long,
that houses a larger capsule than one would expect, comprising a pair of back-to-back rectangular diaphragms. It has a switchable pattern (cardioid, omni or figure-of-eight) and claims to have better than typical built-in pop protection. The capsule is mounted on a rubber shockmount and for high SPL applications there’s a switchable attenuator that comes before the preamp circuitry. A phantom power source of 48V is required, and the balanced output is
conventionally wired on an XLR connector. The mic’s frequency response covers the full 20Hz to 20kHz, the provided graph showing only the barest hint of a presence rise around 10kHz and a gradual roll-off above 15kHz, to around 6dB down at 20kHz. The most obvious presence rise (and this is still very small) is in figure-of-eight mode, where a hint of ‘bass tip-up’ (which would produce a small proximity effect) is also evident. Clearly, these microphones are designed to be flat rather than flattering. A maximum SPL of 132dB can be accommodated without the attenuator, so with the latter switched in the maximum SPL
handling is a massive 144dB. Even so, this is also a fairly sensitive microphone
(21.5mV/Pa ± 1dB at 1kHz), and with a self-noise of only 12dB (A-weighted) it is
perfectly capable of recording the most delicate sources too.

[mr.gefell]

continued...


It seems that engineers use these mics for avery wide range of applications, and even though the mic may look a bit lost in a vocal booth it has a reputation as a very good vocal microphone. It is also widely used around drum kits and in front of guitar amplifiers, in addition to the more obvious acoustic instrument sources, so it would appear to be very versatile. The review models came as a matched pair in a mahogany box, which makes a nice change to the usual camera case. I had to do a double take when I opened the box, as these mics really are quite small. The DC196 is little larger than a pencil mic, yet it has
the physical shape of a typical side-address capacitor microphone, giving the impression that it was built after some Spinal Tap Stonehenge’-style error, where dimensions were given in inches but the mic was built in centimetres. Size aside, this mic is very ruggedly built, with the attenuator switch recessed into a slot in the body so that it can’t be operated unintentionally — or even intentionally, unless you have a ball pen, toothpick or other similar prodding
instrument about your person! Changing the mic’s pattern is less of a challenge, as the small rotary control is shaped so that it can be easily gripped. The capsule fills almost the entire basket, so the diaphragm area is probably comparable with that of a a typical large-diaphragm studio mic.A compact, rubber-lined stand adaptor accompanies each mic, providing the benefits of more conventional shockmounts but without taking up so much space. I really like this soft rubber shockmount, which is very effective, easy to slide the mic into and very secure.


Tested with sung and spoken vocals, the DC196 comes over as generally honest, but with a high-end smoothness reminiscent of a ribbon mic — and without the
bandwidth-limitation penalty of such a mic. The recordings I made with the mic responded easily to gentle EQ, but other than the exceptional smoothness of tone there was no obvious tonal leaning. As a mic for electric guitar cabinets, the
DC196 performs brilliantly, capturing something very close to the perceived sound
of the amp in the room but again with a polished high end devoid of the harshness that often arises when more conventional capacitor mics are used in this application. Cranking the amp up loud didn’t upset the
mic a bit, and because of its extended low-end response the DC196 is equally at
home capturing bass sounds. I did most of my tests in cardioid mode, but the omni and figure-of-eight patterns also work fine. They’re not quite as transparent as those of the best dedicated omni or dedicated figure-of-eight models, but that’s the nature of dual-diaphragm mics with switchable patterns, and the alternative patterns are still very good. Acoustic guitar was also
easy to record with this microphone and, as expected, changing mic positions gave a wide variety of tonal options.

[mr.gefell]

.....
I know there’s a fashion at the moment for buying microphones that have an obvious character or colour, but I quickly warmed to the ‘tell it like it is’ honesty of the DC196, and because it does respond so willingly to EQ it’s easy to dial in a bit of a presence peak if you feel you need one. This isn’t a cheap microphone, but at the same time it isn’t stratospherically priced either, especially when you consider its professional pedigree. If you need a versatile all-rounder that excels at
smoothing out difficult sources without robbing them of all their high-end detail,
this is a microphone well worth considering.

alternatives:

In terms of smoothness, accuracy and selectable patterns, this mic could be compared to the Pearl TL4, which is probably its closest competitor. The likes of
the Sennheiser MKH80 and the Brauner Phantom V are also worth considering. Slightly more coloured (characterful) mics for comparison would be the
Neumann TLM170 or U89, the AKG C414B XLS and the Beyer MC840. Two mics that are similarly smooth sounding are the SE ribbon mic and the Rode NT2A,
but they are not equivalent in terms of design or polar-pattern flexibility.

summary
The DC196 is a great all-rounder that manages to
avoid adding an obvious character to the sound
but also manages to avoid sounding bland. Very
versatile and refined.

[fifthcircle]

I don't know Milab mics at all... Where can I go to hear/demo them. Sounds like something interesting to have in the kit.

--Ben

[Remoteness]

From what Milab tells me, I'm the only cat State side that sells them so...

Give me a jingle.

The only problem is that Milab hasn't made any demo units available at "demo" pricing.
That has been a big problem for us.

If applicable, call me or PM me to discuss this further...

I may have a demo solution for you.

[fifthcircle]

I probably won't be buying mics for another few months (gotta see how the summer will treat me- my largest and pretty much only summer client that i've had for the past 10 years just went out of business). Summer ain't lookin' good right now. We'll see what happens.

--Ben

[audiothings]

the DC196 comes over as generally honest, but with a high-end smoothness reminiscent of a ribbon mic — and without the bandwidth-limitation penalty of such a mic.

many thanks mr.gefell, this is exactly what i'd hoped to hear...

i wonder if there is any copyright infringement in posting such material, i wouldn't want you to get into any trouble on this account... in any case i'm glad you posted it

[mr.gefell]

Originally Posted by audiothings

many thanks mr.gefell, this is exactly what i'd hoped to hear...

i wonder if there is any copyright infringement in posting such material, i wouldn't want you to get into any trouble on this account... in any case i'm glad you posted it

it's all about the ishq .... u know

[mr.gefell]

it's a small mic for sure

[hughesmr]

I believe that Fred Hohman, who runs the Pro Organo CD label out of South Bend, IN, uses some Milab mics. He might be worth contacting to confirm that as fact and to ask any questions.

Zarex Corporation / Pro Organo CDs - Midnight Pipes - Music Scores - MP3 distribution - Classical Music Audio / Video

[mljung]

Originally Posted by mr.gefell

it's a small mic for sure

ohh yes it is - and it's a good 'un-hyped' mic that actually sounds good not only in cardioid, but is better than other LDC's I have tried in fig8 and omni.

[mr.gefell]

Originally Posted by mljung

ohh yes it is - and it's a good 'un-hyped' mic that actually sounds good not only in cardioid, but is better than other LDC's I have tried in fig8 and omni.

I'm enjoying the omni mode.Hope i can run a pair of them in blumlein.

[mljung]

Originally Posted by mr.gefell

I'm enjoying the omni mode.Hope i can run a pair of them in blumlein.

Yes me too - the omni is very omni. What I mean is that they record a very uniform sound all the way round, compared to pressure omni's and typical LCD's in omni mode. And top and bottum are attenuated because of it's rectangular diaphragm.
I don't think they'll have the reach to use them as orchestral main omni setup, because their lack of directionallity, but they have fantastic reach in cardioid and I think in Fig8 as well; I reckon a Blumlein recording would be very good with these, the question here would be if they have enough power in the lo-freq region.
[Milab should consider building a stereo version]

Best,
M

[mr.gefell]

Originally Posted by mljung

[Milab should consider building a stereo version]

Best,
M

Yes i would love a new version of st-8!