Serena: An OPA Alice Condenser Mic from Jules Ryckebusch and JLI Electronics

[@CloudHerdermusic]

Sounds crystal clear on your voice!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Yeah, I’m still pretty astonished how transparent this mic is.

[@SoundSleuth]

Really appreciate the indepth review. You hit everything I discovered with the design.

[@jazzmastert]

Coming at this from a Pro Audio perspective, in contrast to say the “hifi” world, we generally strive for hearing the source as transparently as possible so that we can make judgements more easily and adjust tonality more accurately. Obviously there are mics that get used for their specific tonality but in the era of “in the box” mixing, I think a transparent circuit like this coupled with a good capsule really has a lot to offer.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

My absolute pleasure. What an incredible mic and circuit. The possibilities are truly endless here. This tone is as pure as fresh mountain air.

[@rusj5273]

Dang, that's exactly the microphone I've been looking for... Don't get me wrong with all the other Microphones that has a little something going on with them. Back in school they embraced the clear and clean sound of digital audio tools because would can color it anyway you wanted during and even after. That's gonna be my next Microphone and because it doesn't cost so much.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

The Serena and other OPA Alice mics are such great recording tools for this very reason. Blank slate that you can turn into the sound you want.

[@Danny-Lightning-CSR]

nice.. i like that lola, that sounds awesome

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Yeah, the Lola has girth. It’s like if The Rock was a preamp.

[@TheRecordist]

This was an awesome video!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thank you!

[@lisabethlawrence]

This was so educational! thank you for all your content. I absolutely love the sound of the Lola mic pre too! Wow

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thanks Lisa! The Lola is a true treasure. Like a modern Neve. It's so good on voice.

[@stephendverner]

What a beautiful sounding mic! I am building the cheapy one from your other video with the opa Alice board and the 25mm electret capsule. Can’t wait for the parts to arrive.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Sounds great! Stephen, let me know how you like the OPA Alice with the electret. The OPA Alice is such a great circuit and an amazing deal.

[@mrufino1]

I built that into a $10 bm800/900 mic that I got from Amazon or eBay. It sounds really good. I’ve been wanting to build one with a true condenser capsule.

[@hackinghifi4247]

This was great information and has me thinking. I’d love to hear your opinion on hardware vs eq. For instance julian Krause did a video showing how to take an sm57 and have it sound like an sm7b, and I know there’s software that will analyze your sound from one mic and have it sound like another. Is there a reason why that isn’t done more? The differences in sound can be so subtle from mic to mic, part of me thinks you could do the same with eq given the right tools and education, for much less than we spend on getting all these mics. I know that wouldn’t be as fun but curious on your take! Thanks for all you do.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

The 57 and 7b share the same capsule, but the 7b’s housing gives the response smoother highs and deeper lows so it’s a much easier match to make. EQ can help get closer to another mic’s tone, but it can’t fully replicate it. Each mic has unique qualities-like how it handles transients, harmonics, and off-axis sounds-that EQ alone can’t recreate. EQ can shape the tone but not replicate the second mic’s fundamental characteristics, making it a close approximation but not an exact match.

[@hackinghifi4247]

@ interesting thanks! I didn’t know that. I’d love to hear some back to back and see if I could tell the difference. This mic being so neutral I bet would be great at emulating others mics sounds.

[@Astros52]

Hi Mark! I saw on GroupDIY you mentioned something in your ORS 87 thread about Aliexpress 87s. Are you planning to order/modify one to compare against the real deal? I ask this to satisfy my curiosity! Just built my first DIY mic thanks to you and want to delve deeper and deeper into the topic (I may have a problem... oops) Keep up the great work!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thank you! Luckily, any desire to spend money on modding an Ali 87 was a passing distraction that never materialized into action.

[@knarrs]

First they came for our valves, now they want to take away our fets!😂

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

LOLOL. Nooooo, don't take away my hand-crank Gramophone!

[@garyembar4774]

True Blank Slate; as blank as blank could be!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Taking the mic out of the “tone equation” is a whole new paradigm that deserves some serious exploration. Tomorrow, you’ll hear the Serena through a tube pre.

[@garyembar4774]

@ certainly Mark! In a world of flavoured bottled water, there’s nothing like a bottle of plain water with which one could be whimsical in adding customised flavour on demand; all day, everyday!

[@greggawhite]

Wow! This is impressive! Was just considering getting a Clarion or Atlantis Mic.....now THIS is a real contender. How would you compare it to the Clarion?

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

I would say it's a vastly different mic than the Clarion. I know what I want and the Clarion delivers it right out of the box without much concern over what follows it in the chain, but the Serena offers a wide world of choices given that you really have to pair it with the right preamp, so it's a tone shaper's dream. The Clarion gives me a short cut to what I want for my particular use case, and the Serena is a great addition to the toolkit because it opens up a world of experimentation. Of course, the issue with a blank slate is not becoming paralyzed by all the choices in front of you and staying on target. Overall, the Serena is pretty fantastic, especially for the price, but it may require you to also look closely at the rest of your rig to get the most out of it.

[@Hectagonist]

I actually built this circuit after I saw your other OPA Alice video! I've had this reskinned Neumann m7 capsule laying around for years because it started bottoming out with aggressive plosives (I swapped in a BeesNeez M7). I also had a dead NT1000 laying around so I figured why not get the OPA Alice and put together a functioning microphone. Well, it sounds absolutely stellar! Took some finagling to get the circuit in there (and the capsule definitely needs another reskin) but this thing is impressive. Its transparency really lets the quality of the capsule inside shine true. The low end extension, headroom, and quickness of the OPA1642 make it perfect for bass or in front of a kick drum, classic applications for the U47 FET. Conversely, given the relative flatness of the M7 and the clean circuit it needs a generous amount of top end added for a modern vocal sound. Your choice of K67 for VO was a good one. Now the question is where should I send the capsule for a reskin? Leaning towards BeesNeez again but there must be some good options in the states?

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

That’s excellent! The OPA Alice circuit pairs so well with lots of different capsules to give you a ton of different mic possibilities that all have the same incredible specs. I have a few different ones here and I love them. I bet the person to contact to ask who could reskin that m7 is Arienne from Arienne Audio. ArienneAudio.com. She’s a capsule wizard!

[@soundofthegardenwatc]

You have a in the box chain on it?

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Just using the built in EQ, gate and a very, very light kiss of the compressor on the MT-48.

[@badmiddens]

been hoping you would do this one! probably not a mic for me, as I'm no sculptor! I know I'm kind of a broken record, but is there any other mic out of the box that you think this reminds you of? the top end on this kind of reminds me of my old NT1-A

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

I actually was thinking about this yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a mic like this, so I don’t have a reference to compare it to.

[@badmiddens]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff So, I have a JLI-103 cap and a great clone body. I think I'll buy the Alice and Hex circuits from JLI and see what happens

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

@@badmiddens I have been curious about the JLI-103 and how well it would do on a flat circuit and the OPA Alice will definitely be the test. If you do, please let me know how it sounds.

[@badmiddens]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff I will!

[@robertsaca3512]

Yeah that mic positioning is woeful.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

LOL. And why is that?

[@MKD371]

It's not woeful in the slightest. In fact it's how Bruce Sweden would position his vocal mic. So not sure what you are referring to with its position.

[@NickG6489]

Strangely...I actually want to hear more of it flat. There's something really attention getting about that sound while I was wearing my new Sony MDR-M1 headphones.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

For sure, Nick! I plan a lot more experimentation with the Serena and I promise there will be some more of it flat, with the full sound through a clean pre, coming soon just for you.

[@RobertRafai]

Ohhhh sound is perfect on this mic. But what is more important, get more jobs with it, not only one. May be this mic will open doors for more jobs at that company in the future, who knows, I wish you luck!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thank you very much, Robert! I agree. I do believe an extremely transparent mic like this will be a secret weapon for certain types of VO work so I’m hoping it does keep opening doors.

[@mixedbyna]

this mic might actually swap out my aston and slate mic out...

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

What I really like is that the Serena is that it's not a gimmick. Just a great platform upon which you can build any number of sounds, so if you want a versatile mic in your tool kit, it will always have a place.

[@BoydTimothy]

Sounds excellent! I gotta stop watching your vids ... my pocketbook is draining. ;)

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Aw, c'mon, like you could stop watching even if you wanted to. The gear calls to you! It's calling your name like those two twins in The Shining... "Timothy! Timothy! Come play with us! Forever, and ever, and ever, and ever..."