Mics for under $100 - that just may work for you.

Just thought i would add my own two-penneth, having asked for advice recently on a usb mic for sopranos and asked my youtube friends what they use (it was just for posting lap-top-studio songs on internet). I eventually went for the Samson C01u as it was in my budget. Compare to what i was using, Have to say I'm not disappointed! Once you have fiddled around a bit with levels and defaults on Windows7 I don't think i get a bad sound at all.(Used Mixcraft for the recording). I thought i would post a link to a couple of songs i have done with this mic for all those thinking about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUoQVdGODu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3DXsm7vu7o
At around $80, the Samson C01u might be a consideration for people looking for a USB mic, but it's hard to know if it's right from listening to those complete tracks - without any other mics to compare it to. Is that a raw track, without any compression, reverb, or eq? What other mics have you used?

It's a common problem here; many people assume that because a particular mic works great for them, it will also work great for everybody. That isn't always true. For example, Guitar Junkie said:
I have to say the track I liked the least was the TLM103
but here's a track using only the TLM103 for ALL the vocals and acoustic instruments:



My point is that any mic may work just fine for a particular song or singer, if it's reasonably free from very ragged response - and you spend some time with mic placement and eq. But, it's important to really understand what you're hearing. Having several mics to compare, and being able to isolate each element, is important to finding a suitable mic for a particular situation.
 
This is sticky material.

Now, enough talk about selotape... :laughings:

I'm sorry :o

But seriously, this should be stickied. Why should it be stickied? So that all the newbs who come to this forum to ask about cheap but brilliant mics... will continue to do so after overlooking this.

Sad but true.

Good stuff Harvey!
 
As a follow up to the original post, he listened to all the tracks for a week and he's going with the MXL V67g as his vocal mic and a couple of Behringer ECM8000's for guitar.
 
Good stuff Harvey!

Hmm, Harvey already has three stickies, but I'd consider it. I do get concerned with threads that are basically a lot of external links, especially downloads, those have a habit of going away after a while. But Harvey has a pretty good track record of hosting stuff on his site.

I'll wait to hear what Harvey thinks . . .
 
As a follow up to the original post, he listened to all the tracks for a week and he's going with the MXL V67g as his vocal mic and a couple of Behringer ECM8000's for guitar.

He made some solid choices. I've been watching this thread for a few days, and thought I'd throw in my comments.

I own 3 of the 4 mics on Harvey's list, (I don't have the MXL V67, but have heard it) and they're all good choices.

I have used the ecm8000's on drums, acoustic guitars, vocals, and all kinds of stuff. With their omni pattern they are very forgiving of placement. Just get them in the vicinity of something and hit record, and you're going to get something useable. They're very decent on acoustic guitar and drums, and surprisingly good for vocals. A pair of these will do nicely for singer/songwriter types who prefer to play and sing at the same time.

The '57 needs no introduction I suppose, but I am frequently surprised and how good it can sound on almost anything. I have recorded acoustic guitar tracks with a '57 that did not hang their head in shame next to SM81 tracks.

The MXL603 is a bright little beast. Care in placement is key. It doesn't work for everything, but when it works it WORKS. I like it for acoustic guitar lead parts. It brings the wound strings to life.
 
Hmm, Harvey already has three stickies, but I'd consider it. I do get concerned with threads that are basically a lot of external links, especially downloads, those have a habit of going away after a while. But Harvey has a pretty good track record of hosting stuff on his site.

I'll wait to hear what Harvey thinks . . .
Lemme see how much room I have on my hosting server; 32 Meg is a pretty good sized file to store.
 
Hmm, Harvey already has three stickies, but I'd consider it. I do get concerned with threads that are basically a lot of external links, especially downloads, those have a habit of going away after a while. But Harvey has a pretty good track record of hosting stuff on his site.

I'll wait to hear what Harvey thinks . . .
Apparently, I have a ton of free space available on my server, so storing it won't be a problem for me.
 
I have used the ecm8000's on drums, acoustic guitars, vocals, and all kinds of stuff. With their omni pattern they are very forgiving of placement. Just get them in the vicinity of something and hit record, and you're going to get something useable. They're very decent on acoustic guitar and drums, and surprisingly good for vocals. A pair of these will do nicely for singer/songwriter types who prefer to play and sing at the same time.

I record an acoustic player who prefers singing and playing at the same time. I'm interested in how you would place a pair of ECM8000s.

I've tried several techniques with mixed results:

1) AT 4047 on vox, MK319 pointed at bridge
2) Pair of Oktava MC012s in X/Y pair
3) Single AT4047 angled to get a good balance between vox and guitar
 
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Hi Phil,

I certainly don't claim to be an expert, but here's what's worked for me.

A spaced pair of omnis, one at the neck height of the guitar, and the other just barely over the singer's head (height-wise) and each one backed off 2.5 to 3 feet out in front of the performer. As far as width goes, one mic is almost out to the headstock, and the other higher mic just outside of the guitars lower bout.

While this is not exactlty symetrical, it seems to work in my set up. And since they're omnis, they can even be pointed at the floor to avoid wind blasts.

Also, since they're not close miced the sound is quite natural, but of course you need a halfway decent sounding room to get away with this.
 
ECM8000 is with a 6mm cheap mic capsule, the cost of the mic capsule should be around 0.1~0.2USD? just the same mic capsule as the one used in your cellphone, can the mic capsule feature good sound?

certainly, because the mic capsule is an omni capsule, the frequency response is more smooth than other mic capsules, the sound may different from the other capsule which is with directional polar pattern.

the ECM8000 mic capsule is with higher noise level, should not good for recording, the noise level of the ECM8000 mic is around 30dB-A, around 10~15dB higher than normal condenser mics.

I once used the IK media measurement mic (http://www.ikmultimedia.com/arc/features/), it is much better quality than other low cost measurement mics.
the mic capsule is with gold plated diaphragm, studio mic design, omni directional, low noise level around 14dB-A, high sensitivity around -30dBV. flat frequency response as a standard measurement mic.
seems the IKmedia measurement mic is from Beijing 797 http://www.797audio.com/cms/detail.php?id=143
 
the ECM8000 mic capsule is with higher noise level, should not good for recording, the noise level of the ECM8000 mic is around 30dB-A, around 10~15dB higher than normal condenser mics.
John,

Back in 2001, I started a thread here about the ECM8000. Here's part of the first post in that thread:

"The only sticking point with very small diaphragm condenser mics is usually the high self-noise. That's not really a problem if you use these mics as overheads to record drums. It may be a problem for recording quiet acoustic guitars. I went ahead and ordered a pair.

Am I recommending them? Yes, and no. If you're gonna use them as drum overheads, go ahead and order a pair. At the price ($70 for a pair), you can't really go wrong, and there's not too many ways they could have screwed up the sound, except for self-noise.

If you want to use it for acoustic guitar, you might want to hold off till I get mine in, and I'll see if they're as quiet enough."
 
Our recordings of stand up bass have never been better after taking Harveys advice on recording it with the ECM8000.
I was very surprised with the results for I would have never thought that a SDC such as the very inexpensive ECM8000 could do justice on such an instrument.
Only goes to show.



:cool:
 
Dynamic omnis can also sound good

Hi,

Dynamic omnis are also generally inexpensive. For the most part they are bandwidth limited compared to condenser omnis but that bass and treble roll off is often just what you want. They also suffer less from wind noise than condensers if you're ever recording outside. I put a foam windscreen over dynamic omnis as a spaced pair outside for the least wind noise.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
I've had pretty good luck with a cad GXL2400. Stay away from the 2200. the 2400 and a senhiser 421 seem to handle most situations.
 
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