What's your Favorite Vocal Mic? Why?

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WhiteNite007

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I'm interested in seeing what other peoples favorite mics are and why. I am slowly building my tool kit of recording gear and the more I can have that can be best for certain situations, I'm sure will help me out a bunch. Let me know what you guys think, I'm just curious :)
 
I'm not sure which microphone is my favorite microphone for vocals but I do know that my choice would vary between singers. One mic might sound good with a breathy female vocal while get real ugly on a male death metal vocal.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure if I've found my "favorite" mic for vocals yet but from my small collection I find myself reaching for the AT4050 and the V67G more so than others. They seem to fit my voice better.
But I've also used a 57 before for some raunchier stuff and it worked fine.
Go figure.
 
ive only got two...so which ever ones in the stand at the time...generally its an 835..does me fine :)
 
Those are all good vocal mics, but in my opinion wouldn't vocal compression be a big concern with the style of music? With the growling, I'm sure it goes very high to very low tones at times, you need the right compression. I'm sure you're aware of this, but I find starting with a good compression setting will help out a lot more before a new mic will. And since you don't want to pay too much I'd try messing around with the equipment you already have. The right amount of compression can go a far way.
 
bennie08 said:
Those are all good vocal mics, but in my opinion wouldn't vocal compression be a big concern with the style of music? With the growling, I'm sure it goes very high to very low tones at times, you need the right compression. I'm sure you're aware of this, but I find starting with a good compression setting will help out a lot more before a new mic will. And since you don't want to pay too much I'd try messing around with the equipment you already have. The right amount of compression can go a far way.
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Yeah, but he's asking about mics. A nice pre-amp might also help, but that wasn't the question.

Aside from that, good sound starts at the source. It's much more important to have a good mic than it is to try to salvage the sound of a shitty mic with compression.
 
I have a Stephen Paul modified Neumann U87. I have yet to hear it not sound great with any singer, male or female. I can't imagine it.

I always run it through a Jensen (John Hardy) mic pre and Summit TLA-100 compressor.

To me, it's way, way more important to get a great mic than a great pre or a compressor. The mic is the transducer and transducers are more noticeable than mid-stream electronics. My U87 through no compressor and a crap mic pre still sounds great, because it is in the first place.
 
AT4047...its an inexpensive version of the u47 ...just the perfect mic for all arround vocal use...I normally use it with a Neve 1073 or API 512 clone with much success...coupled with a KSM44 in omni for a bigger vocal sound sometimes.
 
 
My faves are sm7b and md441. both can handle high volume and range of frequencies without distorting and give my voice a smooth quality. I use with a slap back delay and a touch of small room or chamber reverb. Dynamics rule.
 
I have several but the go-to is an early 80's U87 which, like was noted by dintymoore in his post, sounds great no matter what the source or the chain. It has spent some time in Klaus Heyne's laboratory and though not modded, it was certainly brought up to original German specs and thoroughly cleansed of any bad Juju it had conjured up over its many years of use. Right now its perfection.
 
In my opinion the Rode NT 1 does a quite pretty job and it is inexpensive too, about 230$.
 
blue baby bottles sound amazing if you have about $500 sitting around
 
My standards are B.L.U.E. Kiwi, Shure SM7b, AKG C414B-ULS, Oktava MK319, Rode NTK, and AKG C2000B. Every one of them has been proven to work on somebody in some situation. I'd love to own a U47, but failing in that, I may buy a Lawson L47.-Richie
 
I like small condensor mics for acoustic instruments and large condensors for my vocals cause I have a big mouth. I like the 58 too cause I can almost fit it in my mouth:D
 
I like me some Rode NT2 and some AKG C3000, in most cases I'll get what I want out of one of the two.
 
Cad m179...because it's the best quality mic I have.
 
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