Microphones Tech oversight please

[Zugzwang]

Dear technical adepts:
I want to follow Pete Thomas's instructions for The Famous DIY Saxophone Clipon Microphone
but have failed to get a Realistic 33-1063 electret tie pin microphone.
I've bought a qtx TCM1 tie-clip microphone.
Could you please confirm that as far as you can see, the specs match. I understand the original was a freak of nature, so am not asking for any quality assurance - just that there isn't a basic reason (e.g. the original was wireless, this isn't etc) that would make this £7.99 experiment fail.
(I haven't added links for the two mics because I thought it easier for you to paste into your preferred local search engine)
Thanks in advance very much
Ps Of course the down side for you is that another excuse for me not posting sound clips will be removed

 

[kevgermany]

If it sounds bad you can always blame the fact you couldn't get the right mic.

Should work, though I've no idea if it'll be any good. Cheap enough to experiment, though.

 

[Jazzaferri]

Oddly enough, specifications on a mic have little to do with how it sounds recording specific instruments.

Some pretty expensive mics with great specs do not reproduce the sound of say an acoustic guitar well, but will be superb with voice or sax or whatever. This is the reason why a good recording engineer will have a cupboard full of mics.

The only way to know is to try it. Placement is also an important issue. 6" can mean a big difference in performance.

 

[Targa]

Oddly enough, specifications on a mic have little to do with how it sounds recording specific instruments.

Some pretty expensive mics with great specs do not reproduce the sound of say an acoustic guitar well, but will be superb with voice or sax or whatever. This is the reason why a good recording engineer will have a cupboard full of mics.

The only way to know is to try it. Placement is also an important issue. 6" can mean a big difference in performance.

I can't see anyone disagreeing with that.

 

[Jazzaferri]

I don't think that the particular Realistic mic referred to is still available. I tried to get one over here several years and it had been replaced by a slightly different mic by a different mfr. Wasn't the same at all except that it worked....at least for a short while....I gave up and bought a DPA 4099 for sax

 

[Ivan]

...I gave up an bought a DPA 4099 for sax

That's cheating

Conflict of interest: I missed out the middle man and went straight for the DPA

 

[Jazzaferri]

Caught me out @Ivan

 

[Zugzwang]

Thanks for the thumbs up, one more thing please before I head for self-amalgamating tape and self-tapping screws (it's going to be the Four Candles sketch, isn't it?):
In the instructions PT called it an omnidirectional mic, but the spec said unidirectional. I bought unidirectional…
Cheers

 

[Pete Thomas]

Thanks for the thumbs up, one more thing please before I head for self-amalgamating tape and self-tapping screws (it's going to be the Four Candles sketch, isn't it?):
In the instructions PT called it an omnidirectional mic, but the spec said unidirectional. I bought unidirectional…
Cheers

The Realistic mic is indeed omni, which would contribute a great deal to is sound quaulity. A unidirectional mic in this situation would not work so well IMO.

I am not aware of any other cheap mic (with or without the same specs) that will have the same sound quality as the Realistic I mentioned. Even more expensive tiepin ics (Sony etc) are not very useful for this purpose.

It is worth persevering in the hunt for the Tandy/Realistic.

 

[Jules]

From my experience the critical thing for a gigging mic- anything above an ‘ok’ sound reproduction level, is how feedback resistant it is. I’ve had a few bodged tie clip mic set ups on my saxes and flute down the ages which actually sounded fine but, in the vast majority of cases fed back horrendously. That’s been the real deal breaker. Conversely my DPA 4099 was quite useable with King Salami, who tended to be nastily loud on-stage, to a degree that I could hunch down right in front of the monitor wedges in the knowledge it wasn’t going to result in screaming feedback….

 

[ellinas]

I have this mic ... i found it on ebay unused with original packaging and everything .... its very sensitive, it records sax really well in an acoustically treated room but i'm not sure i would gig with such a sensitive mic.....

 

[Zugzwang]

Thanks @Pete Thomas for the clarification- it was described by Maplins as unidirectional. I will keep looking for the Realistic.
Btw, not looking for a gigging mic, (aargh!) just a step up from recording on my phone.
Ps @ellinas - if you don't want it any more …?

 

[Pete Thomas]

Thanks @Pete Thomas for the clarification- it was described by Maplins as unidirectional.

The 1063 is omni, a cheap unidirectional tiepin is not likely to sound very good

 

[Zugzwang]

Understood. Have swopped for (cheap) omni. And as @kevgermany suggests, at least I'll have something on which to blame my sound
(Ps have got self-tapping bzps ??, and a strip of copper-coloured metal. Now for the easy bit )