Going out into the big bad world in hopes of buying a quality, versatile and great sounding microphone to add to your collection can be quite a perplexing challenge, given the vast variety available on the market. After all of the snake oil one has to wade through (careful, you’ll slip!) the only real proof ends up being in the hearing.

Miktek microphones are a somewhat new company based in US music hub Nashville, Tennessee that have burst onto the scene here in South Africa in recent months offering seemingly top class microphones that are already standing up to others costing several times the asking price. But what sets them apart from the usual fodder?

Well, first of all they’re hand made in Nashville. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you need to sell your firstborn to buy one, either, which brings me to my next point: they’re affordable. And I don’t mean R19 000 as opposed to R20 000, I’m talking truly affordable. Next, their capsules are proprietarily designed from the ground up, featuring ultra-thin Mylar diaphragms sputtered with evaporated gold, manufactured to stringent tolerances and quality controlled by real, passionate people. Now if they can only find a way to evaporate diamonds to go with the jewels in rappers’ teeth they might find themselves dominating the world.

But they’re already somewhat taking over. You’ll find their microphones being compared on popular audio forums all over net against Neumanns, Telefunkens and other microphones with heritages going back a lot further than Miktek. And the pros are giving rave reviews as well as their list of fans includes Michael Wagener, Dweezil Zappa and Keb Mo, among others. Michael Wagener, famed LA engineer who has recorded Ozzy Osbourne, Janet Jackson, Metallica and Extreme, reckons the CV4, their flagship microphone coming in at around R15 000, should cost four or five thousand dollars! I agree with him since I’ve heard it and it rocks! Seriously!

The C5MP

The C5MP is a bundled matched pair of C5 small diaphragm pencil condensers. They feature an MK5a .5′ cardioid capsule with a 5-micron Mylar diaphragm sputtered with evaporated gold, an AMI T5 transformer and hand-selected transistors. Every Miktek microphone comes with its own individual serialised frequency response chart, which is a nice touch. It instils the feeling that they give each microphone special attention. In the case of the C5MP, the microphones are supplied with a wooden presentation case, two clips, two shock mounts, windscreens, a stereo bar set for ORTF or X/Y configurations, in a sturdy aluminium carry case.
The C5 is aimed at recording instruments such as violin, acoustic guitar, mandsolin, dobro, brass, woodwind and piano and is claimed to produce “excellent results on drums as overheads or hi-hat mics.’ Well, that was my first thought when I received the C5 pair for review. Overheads it is then!

Sound

The C5s came into my possession at a fortuitous time. It just so happened that one of my Neumann TLM103s, my regular choice for overhead microphones, was in for repairs. I generally tend towards large diaphragm condensers for overheads because I feel they give a bigger representation of the kit and since the overheads are usually my starting point when getting sounds, this is a complete must. For me, that is where the sound of the recorded drum kit starts.

My expectations of the C5s were, well, to be sharply focussed with a tight polar response, fast and bright, as most SDCs are in my experience. I chose to mount them with the stereo mount supplied with the bundle in the X/Y position. I like to use either the ORTF or X/Y position when using SDCs because stereo cancelation into mono is generally quite good. I paired them to my TL Audio C1 dual-channel valve preamp/compressor.

Listening back to just the C5s while the drummer played left me quite astounded at the sheer size of the capture. Quite frankly they were full and commanding with a smooth midrange response and a shiny top end that wasn’t overly hyped. There were no areas in the spectrum that were biting me in the ear and paired with the valve preamps, they were warm as toast.

The bottom end just punched through and despite just being two microphones, the kit sounded fantastic without any close mics. Blended in with the rest of the close mics gave me one of the best drums sounds I have ever gotten and I am happy to say that I am very proud of the results.

The wrap

Simply put, I am a huge fan of Miktek mics. I really can’t fault them in any way and I sincerely hope that they can start winning over the hearts of our local engineers like they have mine. They are definitely high quality, passionately made microphones and our market would be at a loss if they didn’t embrace them.

Tech box:

Type: Small diaphragm condenser
Polar pattern: Cardioid
Frequency response: 20~20000Hz
Sensitivity: 32.4 dBV/Pa
Equivalent noise level: 17dB
Dynamic range: 109dB
S/N ratio: 77dB
Max. SPL: 126dB
Power supply: 48V phantom
Power consumption: 0.5mA