Most Versatile Vocal Mic Up To $500

T

Twinnesota

New member
Looking for a versatile vocal mic for recording vocals in home studio.
Preamps include MPA Gold with Mullards and a DMP-3.
Do acoustic work and want a mic that will sound good on soft as well as "belted vocals.
Help a lost soul, please
Thanks,
T
 
twin,
Of those listed I have a T-3 and it gets a lot of use.
It sounds good to very good on most voices except really muffled type voices where you need a bright edge.

Of my other under $500 mics 2 others that get a lot of use are MXL V67G and a Studio projects B-3.
I have a bunch of mics, these just seem to hit the "good mark" on a larger variety of occasions.
 
OK, so what did we buy?
We put the following mikes side by side for a "shootout":

Shure KSM32
Rode NTK
AKG C214

Same preamp and settings. No compression.

Tried mics with voice at 2-3", and at 8" or so.

KSM32--nice, but had to get close to mic to get it to really reproduce well.
NTK--nice and warm but somewhat sibilant.
C214--Great from both distances. Nice response to everything that went into it.

Bought the C214, it just outperfromed the others across the board.

The 214 is the "same" mic as the 414 without the variable patterns.

T
 
I actually just bought a c214 as well. I tested it out side by side with a Baby Bottle and NTk. And the c214 was the best hands down. It sounded so much more open. It is $600 vs $500 though. I saw someone mentioned a GT57, I have that mic, but started to have problems with it, probably my fault though, but anyway..... it sounded horrible in my opinion on distorted guitar, awesome on bass, and pretty good on vocals, and it's kinda heavy and kinda loud. The c214 sounded awesome on any kind of guitar (haven't tried bass yet) and amazing on vocals. I'd say get the c214 if you can.

Twinnesota said:
OK, so what did we buy?
We put the following mikes side by side for a "shootout":

Shure KSM32
Rode NTK
AKG C214

Same preamp and settings. No compression.

Tried mics with voice at 2-3", and at 8" or so.

KSM32--nice, but had to get close to mic to get it to really reproduce well.
NTK--nice and warm but somewhat sibilant.
C214--Great from both distances. Nice response to everything that went into it.

Bought the C214, it just outperfromed the others across the board.

The 214 is the "same" mic as the 414 without the variable patterns.

T
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