My First Mic/Setup - Any Help Appreciated!

foxcatcher64

New member
Hey all,

This is my first post on this forum so I hope I won't get laughed off the site for my lack of knowledge!

I'm an experienced guitar player and vocalist, and I've been playing guitar and singing for the past 10 years. Recently, I've really been tempted to start recording music of my own. I've done a little bit of research and found out that for my applications, it's best that I purchase an interface with phantom power and a good mic.

I'm mostly going to be recording male vocals and acoustic guitar. I've already ordered the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, which will connect to my laptop running Pro Tools. I've narrowed my search down to two microphones. They are very different, and I'm having trouble deciding between the two, which is mostly why I'm here! The two microphones in question are as follows:

1. Shure SM57 - The legendary, classic microphone. I've used it several times live and have been blown away by the quality of sounds that emanates from this little guy. I've heard nothing but great things about it in the studio, and it's price point and reliability make it an enticing choice.

2. Audio-Technica AT2020 - Most of my confusion lies here. For my applications, do I necessarily need a condenser mic? This one also sounds great to my ears, and it seems solid in construction from the limited experience I have with it.

I know that I can't really go wrong with either mic, but I am curious as to which one will serve me better. Again, I'm purely recording male vocals, acoustic guitar and maybe a little bit of electric guitar as well. Any insight is appreciated, and thank you all in advance!

- Hayden Godfrey
 
Hi,
I'd vote 57 as a first mic for a few reasons.
It's been around longer than most of us so you know what you're getting there in quality/durability etc.

If the environment is less than ideal I always go with a dynamic and get it as close to the source as I can, to minimise the recorded room ambience.
You'd most likely want to do that anyway with electric guitar - 57 is a staple here.
I can think of other mics I'd want to do vocal with but a 57 with a pop filter should work just fine.

For acoustic, again, maybe a 57 wouldn't be a first choice but there's plenty of people doing it with fine results.

It's a can't-go-wrong mic that you'll always keep, even if you add other mics to the collection.
 
SM57 would be a good first mic. Buy from a reputable dealer/seller as unfortunately there are counterfeits out there that aren't quite up to Shure standards or quality and it's usually hard to tell the real from fake.
 
Why not get them both? Try them both out and return the one you don't like. Check return policies.

Also, many, if not most, people here use two mics for recording vocals and acoustic guitar. If you're going to do one take, it might be worth it to record the voice on one mic and the acoustic on another. Getting it to pick up the vocal and guitar at the same time, with a good quality and representation, is difficult, though not impossible.
 
There's much better sounding budget condensers than the AT2020.

One thing.....you will keep the 57 a lot longer than any 'budget' mic.
 
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