Microphone for my home studio

thompavl

New member
Hello everyone. I would like to buy a microphone for my home studio to recording some acoustic instruments like nylon /acoustic guitar and some traditional instr like bouzouki ,baglama etc. budget 150-300€. Has anyone used one of the following microphones? Rode nt1 or nt2a, Akg c214, Shure sm 81 , octava mk319 for this proportion ? Thanks
 
Hello everyone. I would like to buy a microphone for my home studio to recording some acoustic instruments like nylon /acoustic guitar and some traditional instr like bouzouki ,baglama etc. budget 150-300€. Has anyone used one of the following microphones? Rode nt1 or nt2a, Akg c214, Shure sm 81 , octava mk319 for this proportion ? Thanks

I can only make a suggestion based on the most problematic instrument in that group? Probably the nylon strung acoustic, you are going to need a very low noise "system" and that starts with the microphone. Now, I have not checked the specs of the whole list but the NT1 with a noise figure of 4.5dB and healthy sensitivity of -20dBV/Pa will be fine. this MUST of course be married up to a decent quality Audio Interface which you have not mentioned.

There is little point in recommending any particular AI until I know your precise plans. Just you recording or with friends? How many? Do you intend to 'build songs' from several recordings? There are however some guidelines...

Do NOT buy anything with fewer that TWO microphone inputs.
Do NOT buy THE latest model/version of anything. Often have bugs (men did not go to the Moon with Win10! or even XP?)
DO buy a decent brand even if it has fewer inputs, bells and whistles. I would suggest £100 or so as THE bottom line.
If you know what MIDI is make sure you get an AI that has the ports. (if you don't, read about it, might like it!)

Not the only good one by any means but the Steinberg UR22 has been around quite a while now, on generation 2 and is noted for its quiet mic inputs.

Then! There is recording software! Called a DAW, but we shall leave that for another day...?

Dave.
 
hello Dave. Thank you for your comment. First of all, when I refer to guitar I mean rhythmic mainly. The purpose of the recording is to record the part of the instruments I play in productions of others. Let me say that the whole process is not at a professional level. But I'm interested in buying a microphone that will not need upgrading soon so I can upgrade the rest of the equipment. I am currently using an external focus card of Focusrite 2i2, lsr 305 studio monitor and cubase software.
 
hello Dave. Thank you for your comment. First of all, when I refer to guitar I mean rhythmic mainly. The purpose of the recording is to record the part of the instruments I play in productions of others. Let me say that the whole process is not at a professional level. But I'm interested in buying a microphone that will not need upgrading soon so I can upgrade the rest of the equipment. I am currently using an external focus card of Focusrite 2i2, lsr 305 studio monitor and cubase software.

Ok, so if you are not looking to record really quiet 'picked gut' I would go for Small Diaphragm Capacitors and I really like the look of the SE Electronics sE8s. Just under £300 for a matched pair they get a very good write up in Sound on Sound March 2018. Self noise at 13dBA/Pa is commendably and unusually low for an SDC and 25mV/Pa sensitivity very healthy. They also sport 10&20dB pads* and two HP filter (bass cut) settings.

*The 2i2 is a very favourite AI it seems and F'rite are noted for clean preamps. They have though not been blessed with a great deal of headroom on the budget end of the AI range. Rarely causes any problems but those pads just MIGHT be handy!

Dave.
 
I've been using my AKG C214 for a few years now and think it's a very good microphone. It's often what I used for steel-string acoustic guitar. (It's the primary source of sound in the video I posted in the thread I posted here, though there's a lot of bleed into the Miktek.)

I've heard good things about the newer RØDE NT1 too.

My first choice these days, though, is a Miktek MK300 - not sure it's readily available where you're at, but either of the first 2 should be fine for what you're doing.

Keep in mind that LDCs are going to pick up more of everything, so your recording space becomes much more a part of the track.

With all that, I often track with an XY pair of SDCs because it's easy to be a little bit lazier about the setup and I can always use the balance between the 2 mics to help adjust for slight imperfections in positioning, and spend a little less time on EQ and compression. At least I've convinced myself it's a time-saver. But, TBH, that's in something where the guitar might be more present, and if you don't have a good LDC, I'd probably go there first.
 
Ok, so if you are not looking to record really quiet 'picked gut' I would go for Small Diaphragm Capacitors and I really like the look of the SE Electronics sE8s. Just under £300 for a matched pair they get a very good write up in Sound on Sound March 2018. Self noise at 13dBA/Pa is commendably and unusually low for an SDC and 25mV/Pa sensitivity very healthy. They also sport 10&20dB pads* and two HP filter (bass cut) settings.
Dave.

I've had the SE mics in to demo and they were very good and useful. I didn't buy them simply because I have so many quality SDC's in my mic locker.

It's good advice to look at the SDC for all types of acoustic instrument work especially if your recording environment is not up to snuff. An SDC will take out a lot of the room sound in a way that allows a clear capture of the instrument.

As far as your original list, I have owned or still own all of the mics you have listed and they all were capable of reproducing the acoustic instruments to a very good level. Although I never liked my MK319 on gut string guitar...at least until I modded the resonator disc.The Shure SM81 is a classic! Every studio should have at least one. I owned 5 at one time and they were used on everything but especially drums. Makes a great vocal mic BTW for any reading this who might not know. You have to have the optional first generation pop filter they made for them or some sort of sock for the 'plosives' but they sound great on vocals! Who knew.....I sold all my Rode mics when I started buying Neumanns.
 
Hey thanks a lot for your answers. I will probably buy a pair o sdc microphones for this project. As I see for this price the line audio CM3 is really good and neutral microphones. So when I take it I will post my review.
 
Hey thanks a lot for your answers. I will probably buy a pair o sdc microphones for this project. As I see for this price the line audio CM3 is really good and neutral microphones. So when I take it I will post my review.

That I shall be interested to hear. Slightly off T? Since I have given my SM57 to my son I have since ordered a Prodipe TT1 dynamic. These run about £40 here and I shall be interested in people's comments. Mind you! You will have to put up with a 1/2 minute or so I my inane babble!

Dave.
 
I see you are in Greece. As all those microphones on the list I have used except oddly the SM81, I suspect all would do the job wonderfully - but differently. Some are brighter, others warmer, some you could probably identify by listening, others would be harder to pick out. The real question is which ones you personally like the sound of. Can you buy from a dealer who offers a no quibble refund if you don't want them, and try a couple, returning the ones that don't work for you.

In all the years I have been buying microphones, I've discovered that the mics that get BAD comment are the ones to avoid, but all the GOOD comments are due to personal preference. I have a Audio Technica that got excellent reviews and I never use it because I don't like it. I have some 319s which I do use from time to time on things they'll flatter, but just recently I've started using a few others when I discovered by accident they work nicely on things I'd not tried. What I've done is built up a mic collection that can do most jobs, most of the time. Your ears might hate mine. However, I also note that I usually only dislike a mic I have bought when I get a new one I like better. With the exception of one microphone, I loved every one I bought, one at a time!

None of your choice ring any alarm bells.
 
Couple of clips of me and the Prodipe TT1.

You will I am sure all tell me what you think of the basic mic's sound? I think it is pretty good but rather prone to 'popping'. Then, my SM57 'popped' pretty badly, could it be ME?!

I have tried two remedies,
1) a high pass filter at around 180Hz

2) backing off the mic by about a foot (lips were nearly brushing the foam pop screen before) . Naturally this results in a considerable drop of signal level which I made up by normalizing in Samplitude. This was recorded in my living room which is well stuffed with carpet, big sofa and chair, heavy curtains and a lot of junk both soft ('ers!) and hard (mostly mine).

Done with the KA6 and the mic gain was maxed out. As I think you can see, this still results in a good S/N ratio (5am this btw) even when the signal is boosted but I have to say, were I to be doing a lot of vox pops, I would invest in a pre amp of some sort.

I also have some comments to make regarding close use of SDCs but that can/will have to wait.

Dave.
 

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Not as technical as the rest of the comments, but I will say that I use the NT-1 and the Focusrite 2i2 as my main vocal and acoustic setup with great results(to me at least).
 
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