Sonic Sensation!!

I've been singing Gospel music for almost 35 years and have recorded my vocals in many of the great studios in the US. I've used many of the best known microphones these studios had to offer. Since building my home studio I have been looking for a great vocal mic with a budget in the $1,500.00 price range. I've found it in the Miktek CV4. While working on my latest project the first thing I noticed was the purity of this mic. It does record everything,so be aware. I love the warm but distinct character this mic produces. My dream of owning a big tube 5K mic is over. I'm very pleased with this Sonic Sensation!

The new centerpiece

This is one of those is that will sound great on just about anything you put it on. It shines on male vocals. It have a very pleasing top end. Silky would be a fine adjective to use. Warm, fast, responsive, true... Others that certainly apply. My new favorite!

amazing

far and away my favorite mic for vocals

Great Sounding mic...BUT

This is real great sounding mic BUT it has some physics problems
1-Shockmount is not Vertical strait ..the mic looks like the tower of Pisa... I give (1 of 5 stars) for its Shockmount..

2- when you want to unplug it ...it is so difficult to press the 5pin cable switch to remove the cable ...because the Shockmount is not Designed well for the mic..
In Total... if you are looking for great sound but you Don't care about the pro looking and Finishing details ...
THIS IS THE TRUE GREAT ONE

HAVE ONE

THE CV4 WAS GIVEN TO ME AT THE NAMM ANAHEIM THIS YEAR, AND GUESS WHAT, IT REPLACED MY NEUMAN U87 IN MY STUDIO, THIS IS NOT A LIE BUT I ALREADY HAVE 3 RECORDING PROJECTS COMING OUT AT THE END OF THIS YEAR AND ALL MY CLIENTS LOVED THE CV4. SORRY NEUMAN YOU HAVE BEEN REPLACED!!!

Dont Think Just Get It!!

Do yourself a favor and get this Mic already. As soon as started A/B ing ing this thing with my older Mic's i was astounded on the difference in detail on every application that i recorded. I truly became a believer after i recorded vocals and acoustic guitar through it. Word of warning however the CV4 is sensitive and has a VERY flat frequency response aside from a slight bump around 700 to 1500 kHz. So if you are used to Mic's with a bit of a Bass rolloff like i was, don't expect that here. It took me a second to get acclimated to this change because it doesn't do well with proximity to vocals, but now it is one of the best sounding microphone's that I have ever heard.

wonderful product truly professional

It's hard to characterize this microphone the way i would all my other mics, it just adds a magic touch to vocals that draws you in and makes you want to listen. There is still a place for my sm7 and my ksm32, but when i need to capture a song that is very vocal present I will grab this all of the time...it just draws you in and puts you right there with the vocals without sounding to harsh. I ran it thru my pacifica into the distressor and completely fell in love. If you can afford it get it. if you can't then start saving.

Awesome

I picked up the demo that SW had available. Sooooo worth it. Wow, I paid even less than street price but you WILL NOT be disappointed regardless of the deal you get. The CV4 is well worth a significantly higher price tag based on comps alone. I recorded a vocalist/guitar in 8 pattern setting and it sounded phenomenal. Since then it just keeps getting better as I experiment with new settings and instrument types. Nothing has sounded sub-par.

Quality tube mic, Silky Vocals

My sweetwater rep Alan Carter pointed this out to me while I was looking for a quality vocal mic.

The sound is instantly fantastic on my female vocalists and sounds incredible on my own male tenor voice. It has a tubey high-end, very graciously soft, and a fat low end. One male vocalist I tried it on didn't work as well, it was a little too deep on him and we needed something more aggressive and forward-sounding.

On acoustic guitar I put it over the player's shoulder and pair it with a brighter mic at the 12th fret, then blend to get incredible imaging.

On top of the fabulous sound, the variety of polar patterns make this microphone outclass most other mics in its price range. With the figure-8 pattern and another mic I can do Mid-Side miking and get that beautiful sound in stereo. This is truly a bargain and i'm extremely pleased to be its owner. Thanks Alan for the advice.

The build and finish are great. I love the carrying case. You are getting a first-class piece of equipment for a very reasonable price.

Your Vocalist Will Kiss You (This Baby Is Emotional)!!!

I'm very critical on vocals I do a ton of female vocal work from, Pop, R&B, Rock and so forth. I'm currently working a big Commercial Project and I wanted a new vocal sound I looked at everything between $2,000 -$3,000 and Bob Furlong pointed me here. One of the best moves ever. I'm recording to a Focusrite Liquid Channel to a Apogee Rosetta 200 WOW. Please take my advice this Mic is CRAZY the polar patterns are surgical. I have achieved that Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Ke$ha, Mariah Carey Vocal sound. These are not my words, but industry professional whom have called and said "You're Vocals are the S#!?" and that makes me feel good, because we work so hard and spend so much to compete, so to have a product like this that takes some of the pressures away is great, I've only had this beauty for TWO WEEKS!!! Immediate Results!!!

BEWARE!!! This mic will allow you to hear things you have never heard before!!!! This will be scary to singers at first, it's like hearing themselves in 3D literally. I like to feel the vocalist in my heart when I work and the cv4 is emotional when the singers sings "I love you" you feel it when the singer sings "I Hate You" you feel it. Every word, nuance, emotion, diction, phrase, breathe and vocal booth Farts (LOL) are on display. Most microphones captures the voice this microphone captures the HEART!!! Big difference this thing is magical i love it more everyday. No Lie You are going to hear this mic on a national commercial campaign that I'm turning in on Thursday done right here in my home studio mixed by a mixing GENIUS (I legally can't disclose names). If you're into U87, Manley Mics, High-end Blue Mics, ADK, please pay the cv4 a visit this puppy will EAT a lot of the proclaimed BIG DOGS of recording.

I actually opened the mic up to see the NOS Telefunken tube kind of geaky, but i did. I must must say fellow audiophiles I am happy that it comes with such a cool case, because i take it everywhere and believe me i am not shy i run this thing with the SSL pre, Manley Voxbox, Grace, Vipre, 1176 do i need to say more? every studio i go in i pull it out. I want to run it with everything. I like to piss off guys who've paid $3,000 to $5,000 for a mic and I come in with this and destroy their previous vocal recordings. OH! people don't buy high-end mics and pres and you don't have high-end Convertors, it's just pointless.

Conclusion
Get gear that makes sense for you and the results you want not what's popular. I didn't want a Neumann or a Blueberry or a Manley MIc I wanted something different a great sound that's new. It's better to sound new than someone saying oh! you recorded that with a U87 a avalon 737 pre and a Manley Variable Mu. If a person can pick apart your vocal chain then you've lost. I like for guys to say "What The HELL is That?" take a chance on something other than the Norm and you'll be very surprised to find better results at a fraction of the price.

Pretty Flute

I've recorded lots of sources with this guy (had it since july i think it was) and i've loved it across the board but what I really loved was when i recorded a flute. this is the only time i've ever put a mic in front of a flute (or in the same room with one) and not gotten a single ounce of shrill. on every other source i generally just think "man, i wish that's how my ears heard." Actually, my first thought is "that is so natural sounding" but then i realize that's just how i perceive the sound, not how i hear it. this mic tends to make me hear things how i wish they sounded to me anyway.

Wonderful sound, living up to the hype so far

I just finished my first day with my new CV4 mic. Before purchasing, I did a lot of research, talking to Sweetwater, reading reviews, visiting online forums, talking to a few owners. I even was able to get in touch with 2 people at Miktek who were intimately familiar with the mic from both a design and application standpoint. I wanted a studio workhorse that would enhance my rather modest mic locker, and so far, this mic is proving to live up to the promises about it. I tried it on several sources today and am sharing my findings below.

The Cliff Notes version - if you just want to get to the main points, here goes. you can read the other parts for more detail if you want. The mic has a nice bottom - full but not flabby. Its tight and smooth. Mid range feels open and natural, and there is a subtle presence that has a smooth character to it. The top end of the mic opens up nicely. On vocals, this mic seems to be very forgiving, with a large sweet spot, yet with acoustic guitar it responded with great sensitivity to very small changes in placement. Nothing about it is overhyped, no fizzle on the top and no flab on the bottom and no murky low mids, with presence that is smooth and not peaky. When compared to a more "budget friendly" mic in "solo" mode, I found the two very similar in tonal balance, but with the CV4 having a smoothness and richness that is hard to describe but clearly outshined the other mic. Those differences became much more noticeable when auditioning the different tracks in a full band mix. The CV4 sat nicely in the mix without a hint of compression, eq, or effects - a nearly finished sound right out of the gate. The other mic sounded like what it was - a raw track that needed to be massaged in order to work it into the mix. All in all, not bad for a days work. more specific details below:

Acoustic guitar - I found this brought in some of the warmth of a ribbon mic, but with the mid range and high end detail of a small diaphram mic, all with a smooth top end. Very responsive to changes in placement. I particularly liked it as a "body mic" especially when in a figure 8 mode with my cedar wall a couple feet behind it - it really livened up the track. It also did exceptionally well in my situation in the over-the-shoulder mode. if not placed carefully, i could see it being a little too bright for SOME guitars in the traditional 12th fret position, but as an all around mic it was warm and smooth, with ridiculously good detail, and a light top end that is hard to describe...maybe a bit "creamy".

Electric guitar - used a couple feet back on a Matchless Chieftain in cardioid mode it nicely captured the amp sound with a splash of room. The detail in the amp reverb and a subtle delay effect came through with flying colors, and the music was full bodied with a bit of richness to it. I can't say that the mic did some amazing thing to the sound - it really just comes down to the fact that on playback over the monitors, it sounded like it did when it came from the amp but with a hint of "sweetness" that I'm not used to hearing when I record it.

Female vocal - on a teenage alto voice, the sound was very natural, with a subtle sweetness to it. The vocals had a nice presence while still somehow managing to be slightly softened. Sibilance performance seemed good, a little better than I had expected, and the top end definitely felt more open and airy than I have been used to hearing on her voice. On past recordings I have used a hint of the 12k shelving on my preamps to try to create this sound, but with this mic that sound was already there, and very smoothly done at that. When switching from cardioid to a more omni directional pattern, there is a very subtle increase in the "air" - after hearing this, I analyzed the audio and confirmed a bit more energy in the track in the 10-11k range. Up close, the mic was very rich and breathy, and would be fantastic on an intimate vocal piece.

Male vocal - on a low tenor, the mic delivered good body and warmth, while maintaining very good definition. vocals were present but smooth and natural feeling, and the top end was again more airy and creamy than I am used to hearing. as with the female vocal, getting up on the mic yielded a great intimate sound, and when backing off and belting it out, it performed well also.

my new standard

Got this mic last week and wow. Makes my other vocal mics sound less than awesome. Quick overview...

+ Lows are solid and not hyped, highs are nice on vocals that need sparkle. Mids are what I'm raving about. Keeps all the frequencies without harshness, and the whole mic feels like the vocals are 2 inches closer than on my other mics at the same distance. The 9 pickup patterns are amazing. I've found myself just cycling through them with headphones on till I find the sound I like. Sometimes it's surprised me. Nice packaging.

- only one and that is through my UA610 highs can get a little crispy on vox with a lot of rasp/highs or on bright acoustics. Settled on using my api's and having really bright vocalists sing a touch above the capsule and problem solved. Small issue and sometimes the high end is exactly what is needed to give the track sparkle.

Overall this is my new go-to vocal mic. Getting the mids and low mids right without eq has been awesome for me. I put this up against a u87 and was happy to keep this mic. It seems to keep the detail and adds character. The fact that it's built in Nashville is nice too.

Really Nice Sound

I really do love the sound this mic produces. If you take the mic apart, you will immediately notice a fine level of detail. Great looking board, German NOS tube, transformer, etc. The highs are present, but not harsh. Mids and lows are very pleasing as well. I have used this on many vocalists that seem to really like the character it imparts. Let me say it one more time just to be clear: This thing ROCKS sonically.

The only thing I don't like about this microphone package is the accessories/finishing touches. I realize that they had to skimp on accessories to keep cost down, but dang, I would have paid 150 more dollars to have a higher quality shockmount, a less cheap looking frame and grill, so forth. From the exterior (the case, the shockmount, the quasi-generic psu, the glued on decals) this appears to be a somewhat cheap mik. The sound blows me away, I just wish the rest of the package did. I actually saw a similar (well it looked identical, but for the sake of not knowing for certain I'll say similar) made in china shockmount on a 50 dollar samson condenser. Really?? This is a 1400 dollar microphone.

Hey, and while you're at it, maybe you could put some neutrik connectors on your included 7-pin cable. Also the case could use some dramatic improvements. I mean, I guess it's made out of aluminum, but hey, so are soda cans. Nice glued on decal.

In the end, I would just say manage your expectations. When I pull this microphone out, I expect it to sound really good. I just don't feel really proud of the package.

Not Impressed.

For Vocals: Not at all what I was expecting, considering all of the praise that others have for this mic. Lows are fine, mids are very weak, and the top....don't even get me started on the top! Not silky, and way, way too high of a 5-8k presence peak. Sorry, not my cup of tea at all!! But I suppose it's best to try and see for yourself.