What's your Favorite Vocal Mic? Why?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteNite007
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May as well jump in here with my first post.

I like the Project Studio C1 for vocals. mainly because it is the only large diaphram mic I own. But it does sound great. I use the SM58 alot too.

John
 
M. Joly modded Oktava MK319. Great midrange and no sibilance issues. Second choice:(go ahead and laugh) SM57 or Sennheiser 835.
 
Can't imagine not having a SM7b for most stuff, U47FET is nice for some of the ladies... Been meaning to get a workout with Avantone's C12 clone...
 
Recorded several very nice tracks with a Shure SM 57 or a 58. Three keys to making these cheap mics "work" were 1) a great performance 2) many passes in mix down (using Eq and compression) getting the vocal to "sit" in the mix 3) a great performance.

IMO #1 and #3 more important than anything else and if you have that, and time for the mix, you are 90% there

That being said, I love my Rode K-2 tube LDC because 1) I love the way it sounds ( classic old school tube mic warmth with great sensitivity) 2) for my voice, when I track it right, it sits in the mix without a lot of work 3) It was reasonably priced at $650 bucks.
 
My ADK TT/CE :cool:

It just has that "oooooh" factor when you sing through it... :) no matter who or type of voice. Being a dual-diaphragm multi-pattern tube mic...I can dial in about 19 different tonal flavors with it.
 
e835...becuase ive only got two mics and I cant break this one :)
 
$100 vocals mics

Hi,

If you're like me and can't afford expensive mics here are my favorite vocals mics from my collection. I don't have anything that cost much more than $100 used.

AT4054 - The 4050 was mentioned several times. This is it's stage ready brother. The 4055 is the same mic with no bass rolloff. Rare as hen's teeth. These are two of my favorite mics. I use them all the time. Cardiod condensers.

Beyer M400 - A dynamic mic often compared to the SM7. Great vocals mic for raw vocals. Also great on guitar cab and even acoustic instruments. This mic has better high end detail than most dynamics.

AKG D770 - I bought this and the D690 after reading a review on this bbs and everyone loves singing through it. The D690 is a hyper cardiod and is really designed for instruments but it also is good to sing through.

EV PL80 - I don't have a new one. Just vintage. It's a live music classic and also good for recording. Recently reissued for $150 new.

All of these mics are good for live performance as well as recording.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
darrin_h2000 said:
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.
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erm, sort of pushing the generalities here eh? it's not an inexpensive version of the u47, it bears very little aural resemblance to a real vintage u47. but it is defintely less un-u47-like than most modern affordable mics.

it's a very good mic, but just saying, if you use a u47 sometime you'll be surprised at how different one sounds.

I still +1 the 4047 though :-)
 
oh, and +1 on 4054 and 4055, 4055 if available.

a steal of a mic. just because it looks like a typical stage mic it costs way less than the 4050 and IS THE SAME MIC, sounds almost exactly the same, maybe slightly easier to use actually.

but they are like $250 or $300 used often, so cheap for what you get but still pricey.
 
Your tool kit has to do with what YOU need. Therefore YOUR can only tell what kind of mic YOU need. However i personally like the at4040 and u87 and r121.
But im a chicken so why the hell would you listen to me?!?
 
AT4047...its an inexpensive version of the u47
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I would never consider putting those two mics in the same paragraph. The only thing I ever found in common with the two was the "47" part.

Are they actually marketing the 4047 as a U47 clone...?
 
I'm nobody. I don't know anything. My opinion means ziltch!

Now with that disclaimer out of the way....

I've used SM57s & SM58s extensively for drums, guitar & vocals.

But I've been playing live for the last 20+ years...so I use what I got.

I just bought my first dedicated studio mic (Blue Bluebird).

It's head & shoulders above what I had been using.

But then, I also bought a Focusrite Trakmaster Pro and now I'm using my walk-in closet as an isolation booth.

Between the three changes, it's night & day.

The Bluebird was $200 off of Ebay...the Trakmaster was $150. (also Ebay)

I'd put this mic up against most I've heard. Great sound for the $$$.

But then, I've never heard or used an SM7b.

So, what do I know? :p
 
Ephi82 said:
Recorded several very nice tracks with a Shure SM 57 or a 58. Three keys to making these cheap mics "work" were 1) a great performance 2) many passes in mix down (using Eq and compression) getting the vocal to "sit" in the mix 3) a great performance.

IMO #1 and #3 more important than anything else and if you have that, and time for the mix, you are 90% there

That being said, I love my Rode K-2 tube LDC because 1) I love the way it sounds ( classic old school tube mic warmth with great sensitivity) 2) for my voice, when I track it right, it sits in the mix without a lot of work 3) It was reasonably priced at $650 bucks.
Click to expand...

A great performance does nothing to make a mic "work" any better than a lousy performance, other than the fact that it captured a great performance.
 
MCI2424 said:
A great performance does nothing to make a mic "work" any better than a lousy performance, other than the fact that it captured a great performance.
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My point was that performance is more important that gear, every time. It's still a great performance if recorded by a SM-57 or a U-47.

You can help an "audience" ignore the sonic limitations of the recording IF the performance is great, IMO
 
MCI2424 said:
A great performance does nothing to make a mic "work" any better than a lousy performance, other than the fact that it captured a great performance.
Click to expand...

By the way, I agree with your quote!

""Tascam, Fostex or Studers don't make hit records...........people do"
 
MCI2424 said:
A great performance does nothing to make a mic "work" any better than a lousy performance, other than the fact that it captured a great performance.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree. A mic is not a point-and-shoot camera that captures a performance. To a vocalist, it's a tool that is used as a component to create a great performance. It's an instrument that the vocalist plays. Is the way a guitarist frets and picks a guitar part of the performance? Yes. If you ignore the proximity field of a mic, and hit it too hard or too soft, you don't know how to use that mic, and the performance will suffer. If a vocalist sings the same way into every mic, their mic technique is not very good, and they have a few things to learn. And if you think that 2 different mics will give the same results from the same vocal performance, you may have overlooked one of the fundamental differences between amateur and professional singers.

You have to hit tube mics a little harder, to overdrive them a bit on purpose. You have to soften aspirated consonants more on small diaphragm mics, because they are prone to popping. You have to be careful when flirting with the proximity field on hypercardioid mics, because the proximity effect is more abrupt than gradual, and movement variations between on and off axis will suck, wheras cardioids tend to be more forgiving.

If the mic was 10' from the singer, what you say might be true, but as long as I am 6-12" from a mic, I need to know what kind of polar pattern it has, where the proximity field begins, and how abrupt it is. That's one of the reasons I was very surprised when one frequent poster here said he prefers to record vocals with an omni. Well, not me. The proximity effect is my friend, and if you take it away from me, it's like taking compression away from a bass player, or distortion from a lead guitarist. The big difference is, though-
You can compress the bass player later, you can reamp a guitar (although it will still affect the performance), but you can't add proximity effect in post production. Thanks, but no thanks, I will keep my nice directional vocal mics.-Richie
 
My M audio Sputnik is my baby!! Its so crisp and warm : )
 
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