What is a good vocal mic?

[Autumn Dervish]

Can someone tell me a good choice for a vocal mic for recording? Money isn't an option.

Thanks in advance!
Brandon

[DigitMus]

Originally Posted by Autumn Dervish

Money isn't an option.

Ummm...do you mean you have no money? Or did you mean it isn't a problem?

I have about 70 microphones, and no one of them is the right mic for every voice. They range in cost from about $500 - $10,000. It would help to know what genre(s) of music and styles/types of vocalists you want to record. I suggest you go to the microphone forum and do a search using the term "vocal" or "vocals". This being 'Home Recording' the most popular models discussed here tend toward the lower budget - and fortunately in the last decade or so, lower budget microphones have proliferated and improved greatly in quality over what was available before. Good Luck!

[manning1]

ad. there are a million answers. you have to demo a few and see which you like best. there are cheap ones like CAD gxl for 50 bucks that a lot of folks seem to like, frankly i'm a fan of all mics with the beyer label.
but CAD are making quite a name for themselves. they also have higher level mics(check web site). yet other people like the cheap marshall mics like v67.
ive always also had good results out of sennheiser 441/421.
you can sometimes find a steal on old ev dynamics.
then there are expensive mics like shure, brauner, audio technica on up to the neumanns. a lot of folks like akg 414's.
ive owned neumanns. sold them. you can build a nice mic locker for the price
of a neumann.
heres an example of a cheap mic...i'm into diy
i modded a cheap shack 40 buck pzm. used it on lead vocs on this song "limeyrap".
at soundclick.com/bmanning
now listen to the top neumann on "the wrecker " song.
not a lot of diff imho.
just because a mic is cheap doesnt mean its bad. just a question of finding the right cheap mic.
as i said a million possible solutions.
peace.

[Autumn Dervish]

I'm doing harder punk rock stuff. I have a guy at guitar center who will let me borrow any mic they have for a couple days to record and i'm wondering which one to pick.

[Cloneboy Studio]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RefMicGoldS/

That ought to do just nicely since money is no object.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by Autumn Dervish

Can someone tell me a good choice for a vocal mic for recording? Money isn't an option.

The best choice is the one that sounds best for the vocal you are recording. You have to try a variety of them out to find that answer.

For some people, in a given song context, an SM58 is a better choice than a Neumann U87...

[RD423]

I agree with everyone here but if u just want a basic mic to start out with I would go with the akg c2000 or the 3000 because that is like a basic condensor with the right pre and compressor hooked up to it. The only thing you would have to do is tweak the eq either the high or lows a bit depending on the person's vocals.