Sorry about the words getting cut off in the music examples, not sure what happened there, as it didn't look like that when it was editing it. Perhaps davinci doesnt like rescaling at the last min.🤪
EV dynamics are underrated. My vintage RE-15 (which you also see on old TV shows a lot) is one of my favorite mics ever. Even the modern ND series is incredible.
Everyone knows the RE-20 and, yeah, you're right, no one talks about anything else. When I did the kick mic video, the EV PL33 was a "woah" moment for that. I've never heard of anyone using that mic, always the 52, D12, D112 or something, and that mic was just almost perfect. Some of the other smaller dynamics like 635 just sit really well. Their condenser, nd66, though... a little rough around the edges! Thanks for checking it out!
Great comparison! That 635-ND sounds amazing on distorted guitars. I like how the 635A sounds on snare as well but I'd be worried about hi-hat bleed with an omni up close. I have heard of some using it as a "crotch mic" for the kit above the kick drum, usually for some saturated parallel processing. Might be good for a one mic motown-sound mix as well.
I was surprised how even it sounded as an overhead tonally. You're probably on to something with making it a catchall mic. Some other folks have mentioned this as well. I love darker mics when it comes to cymbals, its just less i have to do at mix time. Thanks for the comment and checking out the video!
I’ve been told many times I should have at least one, yet I have not picked one up yet. I think they sound pretty good on a lot of sources. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for checkin it out. I've had one laying in the closet for a long time and I don't think I've ever used it in any capacity for a session. I picked up the ND and the new(er) A-B for the video. I really liked it on the congas, very even tone. Most directional mics have weird spikes on certain frequencies that dont handle the freq. range of most percussion. (the 441 is probably my fav but damn its expensive and if you have multiple things you need to mic at once... cha ching!)
Excellent demo thank you, both sounded really excellent on the Marshall cabinet, I also liked the N/D on the grand piano. There's also the 631 which IIRC came out between the 630 and 635A. The tech specs are nearly identical, the body is shiny chrome. The 631 tends to cost 25% less on the second hand market. Earlier this year, I bought a pair of NOS for under $100/ea.
Great video, and yes, those are actually pretty cool mics. We had a couple in a church I attended in the early 80's. Didn't realize the connection with the old 635 until now! I do have to take exception to your explanation of omni mics (7:25). Omni DOES mean it will "hear" from behind it. Not as well, but it does work from behind. This is because the sound from the rear diffracts around the head of the mic, and then hits the diaphragm. The highs will be rolled off because they don't diffract well. The pattern at low frequencies is a sphere, becoming more depressed at the rear and sides as frequency rises. The reason the audio dropped off when you turned the mic around is that your roughly doubled the distance from your mouth to the diaphragm. The ports on a cardioid mic are there to provide directivity by directing sound to the back of the diaphragm in just the right way so as to cancel out sounds reaching the front of the diaphragm, but from the rear. Omni mics need no such ports. Yoko ended the Beatles. What John saw in her I'll never know, and I think Paul McCartney might agree with me.
Thanks for the comment. In regards to the omni thing, yes youre right about the sound going around, but thats the case with any mic, just a property of how sound propagates and not really a property of the element. The reason the body of this (and all other omnis for that matter) is closed off is to keep sound from cancelling out behind the diaphragm. Sound coming in via a port would start to turn the omni pattern into cardioid. For a condenser with two polaraized capsules (omni mode) its more of a true omni directional pattern with the capsule being the center of the sphere. Dynamic, unported, is more like a sphere in front of the capsule. At least thats hows its been described to me by shure, akg and sennheiser. Might be s good topic to experiment with and see what the reality of the situation is though. Dont think ive ever taken the time to do that! Lol Yoko sucked… maybe thats what john saw, or rather experienced. hahahaha.
@@meistudiony You may have a point about Yoko! Anyway, I think we're both arguing the same point about omni mics, just from different directions - so to speak. Check out any measurement microphone, and notice how the element is made very small, and the diaphragm is very close to the front of the mic. Usually, the element is at the end of a long, slender stem. The whole idea is to keep the mic body out of the way so that higher frequencies from the sides and rear can get to the diaphragm. And the smaller the diaphragm, the less change there is in high-frequency response due to angle of incidence. Since the wavelength of a 20kHz wave in air is about 0.68 inch - and of course lower frequencies are longer - keeping the diaphragm below 0.25 inch provides an almost perfect omni response.
@@ScottGrammer the design for the measuring mics is spot on. The small electrets are also pretty flat as far as response goes. There was a model of panasonic capsules that was amazing off the shelf but,of couse, they discontinued it.
@@meistudiony I remember some small, cheap Panasonic capsule you could buy in the 80's. They were more or less "project" capsules, but were flat within a dB of so from 20-18k. And you could buy them for like $3 each!
Sorry about the words getting cut off in the music examples, not sure what happened there, as it didn't look like that when it was editing it. Perhaps davinci doesnt like rescaling at the last min.🤪
Always reminds me of the AKG D19 series. Sound different though
The Shure SM61 and SM 63 are very similar. I'm pretty sure they still make the SM63. .
Yes they are. I should have brought this up since they even copied the “L” version and made an sm63L long handle. Thanks for checking out the video!
I’m very lucky to have some great mics (U87, etc), but the 635a is probably my favorite. Great video!
Its crazy to me how many people love the mic but it never makes one of those “Top 20” mics or other lists. Thanks for watching!
Loved the history and test of this mic. Killer job PAGS!
Thank ya much B. Appreciate you checkin it out!
First!!
Second!!
Just recently bought a 635a it works great as a cover all just over the kick pointed between the snare /tom with a Coles overhead.
Interesting. So youre getting kick batter side, some snare and toms all in that one mic. Are you also close micing everything as well?
EV dynamics are underrated. My vintage RE-15 (which you also see on old TV shows a lot) is one of my favorite mics ever. Even the modern ND series is incredible.
Everyone knows the RE-20 and, yeah, you're right, no one talks about anything else. When I did the kick mic video, the EV PL33 was a "woah" moment for that. I've never heard of anyone using that mic, always the 52, D12, D112 or something, and that mic was just almost perfect. Some of the other smaller dynamics like 635 just sit really well. Their condenser, nd66, though... a little rough around the edges! Thanks for checking it out!
635a is what house of kush uses for Vox in sneaky little devil! tempted to try it
Greg Scott is a true mad scientist and artist. Love that dude.
Great comparison! That 635-ND sounds amazing on distorted guitars. I like how the 635A sounds on snare as well but I'd be worried about hi-hat bleed with an omni up close. I have heard of some using it as a "crotch mic" for the kit above the kick drum, usually for some saturated parallel processing. Might be good for a one mic motown-sound mix as well.
I was surprised how even it sounded as an overhead tonally. You're probably on to something with making it a catchall mic. Some other folks have mentioned this as well. I love darker mics when it comes to cymbals, its just less i have to do at mix time. Thanks for the comment and checking out the video!
I’ve been told many times I should have at least one, yet I have not picked one up yet. I think they sound pretty good on a lot of sources. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for checkin it out. I've had one laying in the closet for a long time and I don't think I've ever used it in any capacity for a session. I picked up the ND and the new(er) A-B for the video. I really liked it on the congas, very even tone. Most directional mics have weird spikes on certain frequencies that dont handle the freq. range of most percussion. (the 441 is probably my fav but damn its expensive and if you have multiple things you need to mic at once... cha ching!)
Excellent demo thank you, both sounded really excellent on the Marshall cabinet, I also liked the N/D on the grand piano. There's also the 631 which IIRC came out between the 630 and 635A. The tech specs are nearly identical, the body is shiny chrome. The 631 tends to cost 25% less on the second hand market. Earlier this year, I bought a pair of NOS for under $100/ea.
Thanks for checking it out and yeah, you're right about that 631, just found one for $85 in great condition with the original box!
@@meistudiony Excellent score!
Great video, and yes, those are actually pretty cool mics. We had a couple in a church I attended in the early 80's. Didn't realize the connection with the old 635 until now!
I do have to take exception to your explanation of omni mics (7:25). Omni DOES mean it will "hear" from behind it. Not as well, but it does work from behind. This is because the sound from the rear diffracts around the head of the mic, and then hits the diaphragm. The highs will be rolled off because they don't diffract well. The pattern at low frequencies is a sphere, becoming more depressed at the rear and sides as frequency rises.
The reason the audio dropped off when you turned the mic around is that your roughly doubled the distance from your mouth to the diaphragm. The ports on a cardioid mic are there to provide directivity by directing sound to the back of the diaphragm in just the right way so as to cancel out sounds reaching the front of the diaphragm, but from the rear. Omni mics need no such ports.
Yoko ended the Beatles. What John saw in her I'll never know, and I think Paul McCartney might agree with me.
Thanks for the comment. In regards to the omni thing, yes youre right about the sound going around, but thats the case with any mic, just a property of how sound propagates and not really a property of the element. The reason the body of this (and all other omnis for that matter) is closed off is to keep sound from cancelling out behind the diaphragm. Sound coming in via a port would start to turn the omni pattern into cardioid. For a condenser with two polaraized capsules (omni mode) its more of a true omni directional pattern with the capsule being the center of the sphere. Dynamic, unported, is more like a sphere in front of the capsule. At least thats hows its been described to me by shure, akg and sennheiser. Might be s good topic to experiment with and see what the reality of the situation is though. Dont think ive ever taken the time to do that! Lol
Yoko sucked… maybe thats what john saw, or rather experienced. hahahaha.
@@meistudiony You may have a point about Yoko! Anyway, I think we're both arguing the same point about omni mics, just from different directions - so to speak. Check out any measurement microphone, and notice how the element is made very small, and the diaphragm is very close to the front of the mic. Usually, the element is at the end of a long, slender stem. The whole idea is to keep the mic body out of the way so that higher frequencies from the sides and rear can get to the diaphragm. And the smaller the diaphragm, the less change there is in high-frequency response due to angle of incidence. Since the wavelength of a 20kHz wave in air is about 0.68 inch - and of course lower frequencies are longer - keeping the diaphragm below 0.25 inch provides an almost perfect omni response.
@@ScottGrammer the design for the measuring mics is spot on. The small electrets are also pretty flat as far as response goes. There was a model of panasonic capsules that was amazing off the shelf but,of couse, they discontinued it.
@@meistudiony I remember some small, cheap Panasonic capsule you could buy in the 80's. They were more or less "project" capsules, but were flat within a dB of so from 20-18k. And you could buy them for like $3 each!
@@ScottGrammer probably the same ones. They were made up until a few years ago.