the picture again...



no electronics modified... and i just pulled all this info from various postings about the web; none of the ideas are mine.

first i would like to point out how easy this mic is to completely dissasemble. maybe its a russian thing. but thank you oktava.

anyway, first thing i took off the plasic disks on both sides of the capsule. they are little HF boosters, after i removed them i tested it. YEAP, removal cuts down on a lot of that 7kish boost.

second i popped out the mesh screens. flattened one of them to seperate the double screen into two single layer screens. put those aside. single screens are supposed to bounce around less HF stuff, double screens are supposed to boost the HF.

then i got out the old dremel and cut out the prison bar grille. i was lazy so i didnt nicely grind down the cuts. These bars are supposed to be the biggest source of the resonances in the mic. my testing confirmed this to be true. removal of these bars should be #1 priority if you are bugged by the "boxiness" of the mic.

then i lined the body with some extra foam i had lying around from my mopad stands. also i superglued some foam below the capsule (you can see it poking out on the bottom). the foam in the body is supposed to cut down on the ringing from the body, the foam under the capsule is supposed to cut down on reflections and resonances.

so, the sound; its certainly less boxy and less bright. still a kinda funky sounding mic, but i think there are going to be some more diverse applications for it now. i really liked my 319 on floor tom, i think the modded 219 should work there. so far i have just tested it on voice and acoustic guitar. on voice it sounded kinda old and funny before, and now it sounds old and funny and slightly more hi fi. for acoustic guitar is sounded like boxy garbage before, now it sounds like a less than ideal, but not boxy garbage mic.

i think what was cool about modding the mic was hearing how important each little bit of the housing is to the sound.

if you can get a free or near free one, its a fun evening.

A tip I've heard for damping housing resonances is to use those moon gel things for drums. It's a problem on a bunch of mics, not just the 219.

Bear

Yes, but the problem with the Oktavas, both ribbon and condensers, is that the cheap potted metal they make them out of is full of tiny voids (sort of like bubbles, if you will…). So, since the ringing is actually inside the metal, no amount of damping will completely get rid of it. Sometimes you just have to accept it as part of the microphone’s character. FWIW, I like the stock 319 on a lot of things.

Wow, none I've ever used except another Oktava...that ribbon of theirs! The body of that mic is...well.......extremely microphonic!

It'll sing all by itself.

War

It's reported in a bunch of the Chinese OEM'ed mics, even the well regarded MXL V67.

Bear

i am not totally convinced by that porous aluminum theory.

i think its more because the 319 (which rings more than the 219) is made of a really thick aluminum tube. basically its a baseball bat.

ever watch a college baseball game? that is what the mic sounds like if you arent careful and you stick it next to a kick drum.

you dont need air bubbles to get that sound.

the 219 is a bit thinner in its body and the the sort of 3-d trapezoid shape seems to not ring as much. its much easier to dampen.

THEN there is the totally different kind of ringing you get from the resonances of the capsule housing, which is way worse in the 219 than the 319...

basically, to me it seems like the mic designers placed durability over sound. stock, i dont see how anyone is gonna damage that 219 through dropping or say, getting bombed. the disadvantage is that it doesnt sound so good.