AUSTRIAN AUDIO OC18 and OC818 FROM £599

Austrian Audio’s two new microphones – the OC18 and OC818 - share the same capsule, the newly designed CKR12. Both are large-diaphragm condenser designs with identical cases, though the OC18 is black while the OC818 is silver. The main operational difference between the two mics is the single fixed-cardioid polar pattern of the OC18 instead of the multi-pattern capability of the OC818. Each of the mics is available as a ‘studio’ version or a matched ‘live’ pair. On test here is the black OC18 studio and a pair of the live OC818s in silver.

As you might expect, the ceramic CKR12 capsule is based upon the legendary CK12 capsule found in vintage AKG C12 mics, and early versions of the AKG C414. In fact, the new CKR12 capsule was developed by AKG engineers seeking to design a capsule that faithfully