Help me decide on a new microphone, please!!

baritone/tenor... try "Blue Baby Bottle" and Sennheiser has a fairly new large diaphram studio condensor model "MK 4" both in the 399.00 under catagory
 
scottmusic22 said:
I keep going back and forth trying to find the perfect microphone for my voice online, so I really need some help. I'm finding myself making a decent amount of money for an 18 year old lately, but I don't have the opportunity to try mics out really so it's just been a search with no ending point.
Right now I'm using an AKG Perception 220 for vocals and I can get great recordings and it's not ruining anything, but it sure is hard finding it's sweet spot. As someone else said it's great at bringing out the sounds you don't want to hear. It's a bit dull and brittle. The high end isn't incredibly prominent but the chinese sounding grainy artifacts sure are...

I'm a baritone/tenor with a tone that is very tenor-ish, but my range is more like a baritones range. People say I sound like Owl City and I agree, similar smoothness with just a tad more thickness so I don't exactly need a thick sounding microphone. I'm a sucker for some sparkly highs!

So I think I want a somewhat neutral but present condenser microphone that will cut through a loud mix, and still sound nice in a quieter mix.

Some that I'm considering: Shure KSM (32, 44a, 27), Blue Kiwi (may be in my price range in the near future), Rode NT-1000 (maybe I'm just looking for a nice present and bright sound, but I'm willing to spend more for an upgrade)

Some that I'm not considering are: SM7b (My voice sounds too dull through all dynamics I've tried), AKG 414 (I'm not the biggest fan. I tried one on my voice once and didn't really like what I heard), and U87ai seems a bit darker than I want.


By the way my room isn't treated, but I'm getting decent results and I'm buying a reflection filter soon to fix that temporarily since I'm recording in dorm rooms most of the time. So help me out!!!
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It depends on your budget.

At the inexpensive end I would certainly give the Sennheiser MK4 a try as this seems excellent value for money.

Going up, there is the Neumann TLM 102 and TLM 103. The Gefell M930 is also well liked (especially with those that don't like the Neumann TLM 103).

All these are well worth trying and the most expensive is around the £,1000 mark.

All the above are microphones that will last you a lifetime.

Also - Blue microphones are good value and I have heard good things said about the Violet "Black Knight". The JZrange are also worth looking at with some very interesting designs.
 
Not trying to reawaken this thread, but just to give an update I ended up finding a Blue Kiwi in my school's mic locker. Apparently almost no one even knew my school had one! A few people here who had even heard of it even said it sounded like crap, I guess they were blinded by the Neumann name all over the place... So anyway, tried the Kiwi, and whaddya know? I fell in love with it. My dream mic and my very own arrived about a month ago!!! Everyone recording with me including myself sounds like a million bucks through it, and of course they all comment on how great it looks. For anyone looking into this mic, it really is something special. Very neutral (as in definitely not overly bright like many people online claim, I usually have to cut lows/boost highs for vocals), with all the warmth of a nice tube mic but all the articulation of a true solid state, transformerless mic. I personally love it and think I'll be very happy with it as my main vocal mic for a very long time! Thanks for all the help with making my decision everyone!
 
scottmusic22 said:
Not trying to reawaken this thread, but just to give an update I ended up finding a Blue Kiwi in my school's mic locker. Apparently almost no one even knew my school had one! A few people here who had even heard of it even said it sounded like crap, I guess they were blinded by the Neumann name all over the place... So anyway, tried the Kiwi, and whaddya know? I fell in love with it. My dream mic and my very own arrived about a month ago!!! Everyone recording with me including myself sounds like a million bucks through it, and of course they all comment on how great it looks. For anyone looking into this mic, it really is something special. Very neutral (as in definitely not overly bright like many people online claim, I usually have to cut lows/boost highs for vocals), with all the warmth of a nice tube mic but all the articulation of a true solid state, transformerless mic. I personally love it and think I'll be very happy with it as my main vocal mic for a very long time! Thanks for all the help with making my decision everyone!
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Great to hear it works for you man! :)
 
Blue Mic's are a bit underrated. I own a blue mouse, with the transformer, and it is a wonderful mic. great on bass drum, bass amp, and one of my favorite vocal mics, run it through a UA 610 and it's something special. I think some folks don't like how they have there own color/sound.
 
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