Vocal mic for under £350 in the UK

G

glamslam

New member
Hi all,
I've just returned to recording after taking a two year break. I've bought a new MacBook (2GHz with 2Gig RAM running Logic) and a Presonus Firebox. The next purchase I need to make is a decent condenser mic. I've read a couple of the mic posts here but Audio Technica - which seem to be the most popular 'affordable' choice - are slightly out of my price range (ideally under £350 - even better if I can purchase for cheaper on ebay!). Can you guys recommend another model / make that's readily available in the UK?

The last mic I used that I liked was a Rode NTK - used for breathy "intimate" R&B / pop male tenor vocals. Does anyone have any similar suggestions?
Like I said, I've been out of the market for only two years but it seems that there's so much more out there that I don't know about. Any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks in advance (and sincerest apologies for my newbie question!)
 
Hi. What are you going to be recording? I put a thread like the one above in the SOS forum (UK) and the most popular choice was the Rode K2. These go for £349 in the UK.
 
Hi!
Yeah the K2 came up in the poll in this forum too and I already know I like Rode mics. It's going to be used to record male tenor vocals for 80S funk / soul / r&b / hip-hop so I'm looking for something with quite a 'breathy' warm sound...though I expect that has more to do with the preamp I'm using...

Have you tried out the K2 at all?
 
No I haven't. I've essentially been asking the same question as you. I'm torn between 3 mics - Rode K2, Audio Technica 4040 and Shure SM7b.
 
I own the K2, replaced the tube with a Telefunken NOS 6922 tube, and it sounds great. Very warm, full sound, not brittle on the high-end (which it can be, and was a bit, with the stock tube in it).

kidvybes suggests a good set of tubes for replacement, as the Telefunken are amn expensive (80 bucks USD, mine was) - but the ones he suggests, which are prob better than the Telefunken anyway, go for 30-40 USD on ebay.

I have a very quick recording using the K2, positioned to record guitar and vocals at the same time, so it isn't a perfect representation of what the K2 can do, but it can be found here:



An impromptu performance, It was basically positioned halfway down between my mouth and the soundhole of the guitar, angled up toward my face a bit, so, the vocals aren't as rich as they would be on a solo vocal track.

Have at it!
 
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