Soundman OKM II Classic/Studio Solo

These are a great pair of binaural microphones and, if binaural recordings interest you I definitely recommend getting these.

Upon receiving the microphones, they came in a solid wood box,suppose to the usual cardboard sleeve you get with most microphones at this price. Inside the box the microphones came in a handy plastic case which allows you to collect the cable quickly without tangling it.

I bought the model with out the A3 adapter as I bought the Xlr variant instead. I did this as it allows me much more freedom in where I use the microphone as the regular Model requires plug in power and a 1/8 jack input.

Regarding sound, the microphones have a very transparent signal that's very close to the physical sound. The binaural effect is very noticeable but it becomes very chaotic when there multiple sound sources.

The big negative I have with these microphones is the noise floor. While recording with These microphones connected to a zoom H6 the noise floor is very noticeable when the gain is set to between 6 and 7. While i rarely need to push the signal this hot, it's definitely something to consider when recording quieter sources.

The Soundman OKM II microphones are truly excellent binaural microphones. So far, I've recorded street ambience, a choir in a Cathedral and done some nature recording with them and have been really pleased with the quality of the results. The noise floor is slightly noticeable for extremely quiet nature recordings (as you might expect) but, in practice, when playing back the recordings in a real-world environment I find it acceptable. For louder recordings, even for quiet street ambience, the noise floor is barely noticeable. I would, however, definitely recommend getting the Soundman windshields to go with them to avoid any wind interference and I have been using them with the A3 XLR adaptor. This set-up has given me great results free from wind noise and full of clarity and immersive directionality.

I bought these to get portable binaural recordings using my own head (I'm an artist and like acknowledging the presence of the sound recordist) and this set-up is perfect. I can walk around surreptitiously capturing audio that sounds extremely close to the sounds my ears capture. The Soundman mics are great for capturing the body sounds I want (footsteps, clothes sounds, deliberate breathing) and are good for excluding the sounds I don't want (pulse, unwanted breaths, swallowing, etc.), so I can choreograph my own movements to emphasise (or not) my own presence during the recordings according to what I want. The frequency response, to my ears, sounds very open and gives an accurate representation of traffic rumbles, high bird calls, and literal airiness as the wind moves through trees, etc.

Especially for the price, I would definitely recommend them to anyone interested in binaural recording or for simply and easily creating high quality ambient recordings. I've already had lots of compliments from sound recordists and others on the recordings I've made with the OKMs and I've only had them a few months! These seem to be a popular choice for theatre (and other) sound designers and I can see why. I also believe these do extremely well compared with the Neumann head (which isn't as easy to walk around with as your own head!).

The way you use them is to put the microphones in your ears just like headphones and thus create the recordings exactly as you heard them while recording. An alternative is to clip them on your shoulders to create the so called pseudo-binaural recordings. For quite an affordable price you get an excellent sound. About the reliability I'm not so sure. The cheaper Solo model didn't last me for very long time, let's hope the Studio model with a bit better cable will last me a little longer.

Bought to replace a cheaper brand. They produce a really transparent sound. Clear and defined. Better than the 80 euro pair they replaced.

They do fall out of your ears, and of course you can't listen while you record. The pair they are replacing allowed monitoring, but gave feedback whilst monitoring so it's a moot point.

Very pleased overall, hopefully they'll last a long time