Garage Band Recording Setup? $500 budget

So you recommend I just get a SDC for vocals? Like the AKG p170 for vocals? Or which do you recommend thats decently cheap

I'm just saying don't rule SDC's out because of something you've read on the net.

I've got an Alesis DEQ830. It's a decent enough eq. Yet, it's stereo brother, the DEQ230 gets the name "worst EQ ever" on the net. One of the things you can read about the DEQ830 is that it's terribly noisy. Hiss. And it is, if you don't RTFM. If you go from unbalanced out to balanced in, you can't leave pin 3 hanging in the air, or hiss will occur. There's even a big fat line around it. But since nobody RTFM, it gets a bad rap. And that's a pity, since Alesis already discontinued it because of the bad internet rap.

The same goes for mics. I'm a bit of a fan of MXL. Like a lot of the mic vendors out there, they select the better Chinese stuff, buy a large number and sell them with some decent support. But they have reasonable prices. Almost as cheap as buying directly from China. Some others tell you a bit of lies and sell a 50$ mic for 350$ and get respected for it.

So buy cheap, try and if you really can't get results, sell with a small loss. Buy something else and try again. That will teach you which mic goes with which voice.

It's not about the gear. It's about listening. Once you have a lot of experience you will be able to tell which of your mics adapt best to some source. But still, even if you have a bunch of Neumann's, sometimes an MXL will be better. Not often, but surprise is still happening after years and years of recording.

Have a look at MXL, if you're US based.

If you're in Europe, have a look at the T-bones from Thomann. And if you like searching, try Superlux. Dirt cheap, as good as most others, but hard to find.They have an SDC for like 29 € (on sale at Thomann). Superlux is a big Taiwanese manufacturer that builds the ADA8000 and 8200 for... Behringer. And they sell limited quantities under their own label, at prices below Behringer's.

I've kept more of my cheap mics over the years than my "expensive" ones. And I will never buy a 5.000$ mic. That's madness, unless it's an ultrasonic or underwater mic. Sure, a Sennheiser MKH, that's 1.000$ well spent. It's a special case. If you need to record outdoors, while it's wet, the MKH will outlive any other condenser, because it's AC polarised and not DC polarised, so it doesn't attract water. For normal use, there are equally good sounding mics for 1/4 the price.

You can also find some lesser known boutique mics for reasonable prices. But that's an adventure for when you've got some idea how your ideal mic should behave.

Links:

The MXL603, a "classic" sdc
MXL® Microphones - MXL 603 PAIR Instrument Microphone

The 770:
MXL® Microphones - Project Studio Microphones

The 2003:
MXL® Microphones - MXL 2003A Instrument Microphone

The Behringer B2:
B-2 PRO | Large Diaphragm | Microphones | Behringer | Categories | MUSIC Tribe

B5:
B-5 | Condenser | Microphones | Behringer | Categories | MUSIC Tribe

T-Bone SC140:
https://www.thomann.de/nl/the_tbone_sc_140_stereoset_bundle.htm

SC400:
https://www.thomann.de/nl/the_tbone_sc400_grossmembranmikro.htm

Superlux E205:
https://www.thomann.de/nl/superlux_e205.htm

Hi10 (29 € sdc)
https://www.thomann.de/nl/superlux_hi_10.htm

S502
https://www.thomann.de/nl/superlux_s502.htm

The last one, the S502, is a special case. Clone of a very expensive DPA ORTF stereo mic. Sounds ALMOST the same. For me, it's good enough and ridiculously cheap compared to the original.
 
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