Austrian Audio OC818 Studio Set

As a long-time AKG user/fan, I was intrigued when Austrian Audio opened shop in Vienna.

My old pair of AKG K240M headphones was about to give up the ghost and, needing a replacement set, I was considering the Austrian Audio Hi-X55 when I saw Thomann was gifting the headphones with the purchase of an OC818.

I didn't think I needed another microphone but the reviews all seemed to indicate the bundle bordered on being a no-brainer.

I am so glad I took the chance.

First thing, I had to record an acoustic guitar in stereo—OC818 to the rescue. A simple set up of one mic placed 12" in front of the neck/body join produced the most pleasing stereo image I had ever achieved at home.

Next, I was asked to quickly record a drum kit. The OC818 as an overhead was ideal. Again, just one mic stand, no phase issues, and AA Polar Designer Plugin enabled me to quickly get the sound the client wanted.

Next on the list is to put the OC818 on my spinet piano, use it to record an old Leslie 16, and to simultaneously record a pair of vocalists.

Another microphone was not on my wishlist, but, so far, this one mic has sped up my workflow and delivered results way above what I expected from a sub-$1K mic.

PS. And it's made in Austria!

In my small home studio, I was in search of a high-class vocal microphone that could also serve other purposes. I decided to try out this microphone, being compared with the old school AKGs, hoping it would elevate my recordings.
However, it didn't quite meet my expectations for vocals. There's a strange, sharp hiss in the high frequencies that doesn't sound good to my ears. After noticing this, I found others mentioning the same issue on Reddit, and realized this "sharpness" is very audible even in samples of other, cheaper AU microphones on Thomann. The polar pattern feature is pretty cool, but overall, I feel this microphone is too much for my needs.
In the end, I think I'll opt for the SE44000, which offers a much smoother sound at a more affordable price. It seems like a better fit for my home studio setup. Still this is probably a really amazing microphone for someone else.

At its most basic, single XLR to my Apollo, it sounds fantastic, I was happy with just that. I was going to get the UA sphere mic, but I wanted something flexible like that but with a character of its own. I also suspected with the dual capsule design that it would work with the sphere plugins. Plug the 2nd XLR to the mini XLR and you have all the glorious flexibility of a full mic locker (Ocean Way) and they sound incredible with this mic. You might loose the side by side accuracy, but I doubt it’s night and day and who cares when it sounds this good. Blown away…AA have their own plugin but the Ocean Way mic locker I got on sale for 53 euros. I also got 400 euro headphones free with this mic at the time. Absolutely delighted. Thanks Thomann