Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

What microphone and why?


SH73
 Share

Recommended Posts

You need more mics for doing what..? Recording one's voice..? Your bass cab..? Room ambience..? Birdsong at dawn..? 'Live' singing..? Cymbals..? Budget..? 
I've a fair selection of mics here, for different purposes; my 'go to' source for acquisitions is Superlux, for their value for money, and innate qualities. I have others, for specific uses ('live' singing, guitar cab use, all round ambience and more...), but would be hard pushed to recommend any one over another without having some notion of the use it's to be put to. So...

You need more mic for doing what..? :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly everything depends on what you want them for, if you are just a home recording hobbyist then you don't need to spend your rent money on buying lots of mics,  chances are you can do everything you need with just a SM57 and a condenser mic.

There are lots of options that range from reasonably cheap with very good specs to more expensive ones but like I said before all depends what you're aiming for. 

My advice is this, unless you are trying to put together a studio for commercial use then just buy a SM57 and a good condenser mic like the Rode NT1. That will cover all your recording needs.

I hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

You need more mics for doing what..? Recording one's voice..? Your bass cab..? Room ambience..? Birdsong at dawn..? 'Live' singing..? Cymbals..? Budget..? 
I've a fair selection of mics here, for different purposes; my 'go to' source for acquisitions is Superlux, for their value for money, and innate qualities. I have others, for specific uses ('live' singing, guitar cab use, all round ambience and more...), but would be hard pushed to recommend any one over another without having some notion of the use it's to be put to. So...

You need more mic for doing what..? :/

I was interested what mics other BCs use. I my instance I'm after one for ambience for reasonable price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, SH73 said:

I was interested what mics other BCs use. I my instance I'm after one for ambience for reasonable price.

For ambience, vocal stuff and micing of acoustic instruments, I've a Superlux E205, a budget large-diaphragm condenser mic. Not for 'live' use, but polyvalent, a decent solid weight and easy to set up with no fuss. No frills, either (no switches to go wrong...). For micing the drum set I've a set of Superlux drum mics (DRK F5H3...), again very good value for money. Guitar would be one of our Sennheiser 609 or 906 mics. If I want to mic the bass cab (rather rare...), I'd use one from the Superlux set; probably the FK-2 bass drum mic, or FT-4 tom mics.
Our eldest uses all of these for recording, plus Rode NT1 large diaphragm mics and AKG D5 and C5 vocal mics. We have a few SM57's, for general stuff, but they don't get much use these days, as we don't 'play out' much at all. Not bad for snares, live, though, as they're tough enough to withstand a hit or two (yes, I'm clumsy...).
Hope this helps.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, SH73 said:

I use SM57- for it's  for versatility and reliability. It's meant to be the most popular mic for decades.

Behringer C1 to pair up with SM57 to record accoustic and amp.

Snap! I use those exact same two mics.

I don’t have a great need for recording mics and find the SM57 and C1 have me pretty much covered. I use the SM57 for vocals and bass cab re-amping; and the C1 occasionally for things like piano (it sucks on vocal as it has a big spike in the high end that really messes with sibilance). But to be honest I could easily get by with just the SM57 as I tend to record most instruments DI’d.

I also have a couple of acoustic measurement mics: a UMIK-1 and another cheaper one (can’t remember the brand). They’re obviously for a specific purpose but can be used quite nicely on things like acoustic guitar.

I’ve had an EV RE20 on my wishlist for a long time and keep an eye on eBay and elsewhere for one going cheap, as it would cater for my bass/vocal needs quite perfectly.

And I still hope to find a vintage U47 at a jumble sale... 😉

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For recording basscabs I usually use a Beyerdynamic Opus99 for it´s fat lowend without the usual lowmid dip which most bassdrum mics do have. Occasionally it might be a AKG D12 (sounds oldschool), EV RE20 (neutral) or Neumann U89 (very detailed with exceptionally controlled lowend). If the bassound is distorted, then it´s a SM57. For acoustic bass it´s a U47fet or U89.

For ambience I use Neumann CMV563, SM69fet, U87, Shure VP88, Beyerdynamic M160, depending on what I want to achieve and where the mics are placed in the room.

Looking at the other thread you posted about interfaces it seems that you you´re asking for a mic to record the roomsound of your bass. In 30yrs of recording I never had the desire to do so. But maybe I should give it a try. In an acoustically untreated room the result could be disappointing due to standing waves messing with your lowend. If you have a room with a properly designed acoustic then you could get predictible and useful results. I´d use U87/89/47fet in that case.

A man cannot have enough microphones. But don´t tell missus....

Edited by jensenmann
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, jensenmann said:

For recording basscabs I usually use a Beyerdynamic Opus99 for it´s fat lowend without the usual lowmid dip which most bassdrum mics do have. Occasionally it might be a AKG D12 (sounds oldschool), EV RE20 (neutral) or Neumann U89 (very detailed with exceptionally controlled lowend). If the bassound is distorted, then it´s a SM57. For acoustic bass it´s a U47fet or U89.

For ambience I use Neumann CMV563, SM69fet, U87, Shure VP88, Beyerdynamic M160, depending on what I want to achieve and where the mics are placed in the room. If ambience means for you spot micing in an orchestral context, then I use Neumann KM84 or Beyerdynamic MC930/950.

A man cannot have enough microphones. But don´t tell missus....

Wow. You must have good hearing to use a particular microphone for a given purpose.  Two new mics arrived today to record ambience and acoustics. As you say never enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You´ll buy twice. The best ist the enemy of the good....

You can use even the lousiest microphone if the situation requires exactly this sound (e.g. SM57 on guitar cabs). In other circumstances it will sound lousy, though (e.g. SM57 on violin).  With improving hearing abilities and monitoring situation you´ll realize the strengths and weaknesses of your microphones, esp. if you compare them to other mics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

As already said horses for courses, use what ever you have to hand, once you have a good signal your good to go, For my own point of view mics are one of them things i put into the "the more you spend the less you get" category,  great for studios who can afford a great chunk of cash for just that little bit extra, where their gear would be able to make good use of that "little bit extra".

I have done recording and PA hire for a while now enough to find a couple of little gems that for the money is well worth seeking out,

1,  in case you are looking for an alternative to your 58, i have a few 58s and know it will do a 58 and then some, its wide open and warm as hell, and will cover allot of ground is a AKG C5, there are two here a D5 which is a dynamic and the C5 which is a hand held condenser, its the C5 we want, i have had mine for live use since it came out, i use it for studio as well and it still sounds great.  I think it might be worth you checking it out.

2, Is my secret weapon, uuwwww eeerrrr misses,  and can say for deffo it is well worth the hunt, if you can find one thats not been abused, they do pop on ebay now and again about 1 a year, but soon get snapped up by people and studios who know about them, i know one studio constantly looking just for spares, Its a Roytek CM200WB  very good Neumann u87 clone/copy, too good infact, early ones were hand made in italy and comes in a flight case with shock mount, there are two, a black one which has a low cut switch inside and a silver one, which is the one to look out for has a low cut on the front and -10db switch on the front, i have a couple of condensers for recording but this kills them and is my goto for vocals, i have the black one and the silver the silver is better, i have not long got the black one for £25, yep £25 !  and if i catch another on ebay al be there also.        http://www.etnow.com/news/2001/10/compelling-case-for-roytek-studio-mic

here is a pic of it...

http://homestudioitalia.com/forum/mercatino-di-homestudioitalia/-vendo-hardware-da-studio-e-live/101788-pr-vendo-microfono-a-condensatore-roytek-cm-200-wb

 

Drum mics i found is another horses for courses thing, i have tried a fair few sets over the years and still have a few sets, i have found that the larger diaphrams like the akg D and the shure while being very good microphones, and would sound great at a stadium gig but for me at a pub gig i dont want all that extra bottom end and end up having to roll off all that extra boom via the eq, im after a more focused tight bass drum sound with snap to it that a smaller size ( tighter) diaphram will give me but still at just that freq that hits you in the chest without the boom, and the one i use all the time to get that is the bass drum mic from the cheap Audio technica drum mic kit ( below), which keep your eyes open you can pick up for £60, for the over heads i use the condensers out of the Red 5 drum kit which are very good which "dad3353" put me onto, good shout dad.

Just while im on about them overheads here is a great tip  from a drum friend of mine who owns a studio and is very particular about drum sounds, and more to the point works great, if you want to really focus in on a point of the kit and not get too much of the room, get a toilet roll tube chop it in half and tape it over the head of the mic  so the head is in the middle, you can use foam all round the base to hold the tube central you can then move that up and down exposing as much as the side vents as you want letting in as much room as you want, and if you have it over the head will narrow what you get into the tube, its large enough not to cover the vents even when you go over the full head of the mic so wont strangle the sound too much, works great live when i don't want stage bleed in the overheads, im surprised the drum mic makers have not yet made something like this, anyway  works a treat for me, hope it works for you too. ...i can see you at a gig now running the bog to see if there are any empty tubes lying around 🙂

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audio-Technica-MBDK5-Drum-Mic-5-Pack/362450928686?hash=item5463c2442e:g:~DMAAOSwAPtb0x9C:rk:10:pf:0

Edited by funkgod
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...