IRPA MKE-7

The MKE-7, a beautifully designed Soviet condenser microphone, was developed and manufactured in the 1980’s by IRPA (Popov Institute) in Leningrad. These are relatively rare mics, and each one was hand made at the Popov Institute.

The MKE-7 is an electret condenser mic, and just like any vintage IRPA/Oktava mic with an MK## is a tube condenser and every MK##m mic is a solid-state condenser, every MKE-## is an electret condenser. Electret capsules differ from “traditional" externally polarized condensers in that their backplate is pre-charged and doesn’t require an external polarization voltage like other condensers, but they still require external power for their amplifiers. Many early electret microphone capsules have lost their charge over time, causing low output, poor noise-floor, and skewed frequency response, but every IRPA MKE-7 I’ve ever heard is operating as it should. Almost 95% of modern condenser microphones now use electret capsules due to their excellent price to performance ratio. The MKE-7’s elecret capsule screws onto the microphone below the grill, and very closely resembles the KK84-capsule that is used in the tube MK15 and MK12 mics. 

As you can see from the photos, the MKE-7 is a very well made microphone with excellent attention to detail. The beautiful grill pattern is almost identical to that of a LOMO 19a18. The sturdy and handsome connector and stand mount are very well made, and the mic neatly screws onto its own proprietary desk stand. Although it isn’t pictured here, the MKE-7 came with its own beautiful wooden box with red velvet lining, and every one had its date and serial number painted onto its body by hand, presumably by the same person because the handwriting is identical on every mic we’ve seen. The ergonimics of this microphone strongly indicate that it was designed to be a conference or speech microphone to be placed on a desk to capture a speaker's voice. This would imply that it does a good job picking up mid-range frequencies, which it most certainly does with grace, making it a great colorful microphone on acoustic guitars, snare drums, and guitar amps. It has a gentle low frequency  roll off, a present but smooth midrange, and a soft top end that suits musical instruments quite well.If you would like to hear the MKE-7 used to record an entire song, please listen below.