Help me with this decision

six

six

New member
So far I've made my vocal recordings thru an sm85-type of dynamic mic and I've always wanted to buy a condenser-mic as soon as I have a _little_ money left.
So what I found - for my budget - are the Rode NT3 and the AKG C2000B.
I know they're low-end and I won't get any Neumann-results with one of these but at least they'll do a better job than my dynamic mic, wouldn't they?

So which one should I buy (and NO, I don't want to spend more money... I'd buy some other things first)?


thanks
six
 
In that price range youll want to also look at the Marshall MXLv67 and the SP C1....my personal fav is the Marshall.....
 
... and if I only have the choice between those two?

(it seems I can't find the other ones around here)
 
Hi Six
If it's just for recording vocals I'd go with the AKG.
The NT3 is a nice mic, but its small diaphram makes it more suited to instruments. ie. drum overheads, accoustic guitar, horns etc.
Everyone will have their own opinions here, but I like to use a large diaphram on the voice.

Just my $0.02

Mark
 
The C2000B is a small diaphram, it has a 1/2" diaphram. Most of the prices I've seen don't include the shockmount(H100), but it does come with the C3000B. For a small amount of money ,be a better vocal mic and it's a good all-around mic for percussion, acoustic guitars, percussion.

The reviews on the 2000B were good but said it was a very midrange heavy mic. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the application.

I think a Shure SM58 is a good vocal mic to have too. Flattering on the voice, it won't pick up your hard drive noise, can be hand held, sounds great on guitar cabinets. A wise $100 investment until you can afford a really good LD condenser.
 
thanks for your replies:

gidge: no mxl-dealers in switzerland....

wide awake: the h100 is included with the offer I saw. there's something funny going on about that mid-range: the review I read said that the akg was far less middy than the rode.

and what I don't get is: how can it sound middy when the frequency response looks as flat as flat can?
I mean I have this dynamic mic which really sounds the way the FR looks.

by the way: both - the rode and the akg - are sold as 'bargain' at the cheapest music-store in the whole country... you know what this means: They're damn close to the price they're sold in the U.S. , ha! :)
 
six said:
thanks for your replies:

and what I don't get is: how can it sound middy when the frequency response looks as flat as flat can?
I mean I have this dynamic mic which really sounds the way the FR looks.
Click to expand...
Don't believe all the response curves you see.
 
we're missing the point.

He said he is using a "SM58 type" microphone. Not the real thing. Maybe you should take a look at a regular old SM58? ALl the knockoffs bar a few jump to the same level. None sound the same as they don't want to.

There is a seller for marshall in Milan, Italy. Now thats all of maybe 2 or 3 hours drive from you? Maybe a little more i don't have my continent highway distances measured out.

P.S. - i heard about the guy who shot 12 people or so of the Zug government last week? thats a bit rough.
 
six

We have a Studio Projects distributor in Sweded, Norway, and Denmark. They are Midwest Audio so they are not that far, and have all the models in stock.

Midwest Audio Norway
Alvvoeien 124
Godvik, Norway 5174
voice: +47 55 50 63 00
fax: +47 55 50 63 10
url: www.midwestaudio.com
email: paul@midwestaudio.com


Midwest Audio Sweden
Utmarksvegen 6
44239 Kungelv, Sweden
voice: +46 30 32 30 825
fax: +46 30 35 78 22
url: www.midwestaudio.com
email: paul@midwestaudio.com
 
kristian: 14 people. QUITE rough I'd say. the guy had been a police officer until 1998. and thursday he walked into the government dressed as a police man with a swiss army rifle, a pump action, a SIG and some explosive... and no one stopped him.
that's zugerland live: the police staff walks around like the toughest NY cops... but only to hand out parking fines. and when there's REAL trouble no one's around.
but back to the microphones: is the akg such a bad choice that I have to drive to italy, pay customs when coming back and have a fuel-bill of about a third of the mic-price?
I don't ask this to jeer... I really want to know.
I mean I once drove to italy to get some cheap motorcycle-parts. But at that time I did it to save money - and I really did!
so if that mxl sounds just a tiny bit better but the akg would be acceptable (according to the reviews it's quite fine) I surely won't take on a 1-day-trip.

hey... there once was this page where a guy compared a lot of mics doing mp3-files, but I don't know where it was any more.
 
The AKG wouldn't be bad at all no. Why are you going to pay customs? :D what do you think glove compartments are for? And last time i checked the Italian/Swiss border wasn't exactly hard to just drive across. But that was a while ago, i thought it would be better.

random story - I drove in 15 hours from Ljubljana, Slovenia to London 1000 miles. That include the chunnel, all rest stops (food/bathroom). That was awesome this summer. And the slovenian/Austrian border was the only one that had checks, and that is because Slovenia isn't part of the EU. Switzerland is part as well right?
 
ok... the akg arrived today (does somebody want to slap me? ;) )

WOW! I don't think my dynamic mic is that bad... but HELL... THAT's what I call a difference!

since the first day I recorded my stuff I've been trying to fit those damn vocals into my mixes. It never really worked unless I tweaked them so much that they sounded unnatural.

"double your vocal tracks", "use a barely audible delay", "buy a good pre-amp", "take singing lessons"...
nothing really helped. ok, I didn't buy a new pre-amp and there wasn't any money for singing lessons either :).

and now I sing thru that low-end condensor and everything sound's better than it ever did.
none of these heady, nosey, gay (sorry for that one) sounding frequencies anymore.

until this morning I really considered to stop singing at all cause I started to believe that my voice sucks that much.
THANK YOU, INVENTOR OF THE CONDENSOR MIC! you made my day! ;)

but I still wonder how the dude in that pro-studio f*cked up my vocals so much. I mean - it was a condensor mic too :-), probably 5 times as expensive as mine + a nice room and far better mixing gear.
ok, I may have made a little progress in singing in 1 and a half years... but that much? no way. I'll go and beat my money out of him ;).

thank you guys for your tips - and sorry for buying the akg in the end ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top