A hypothetical Q: If I'm getting nice sounds w/ my cheap mics, do I bother upgrading?

[junplugged]

In other words, ok, I have some experience w/ placements, and I know a little theory, I am basically in control of my mic'ing and getting pretty good results.

Is there any real reason to satisfy my curiosity of the potential improvement in using a mic that is 8 times or 10 times the price of one in my current set?

Or, is the law of diminishing returns present here meaning that I might get only a 5 to 10% clearer or only a slightly different EQ curve or only a negligible amount of higher output.

Or have I already answered my own question? Hmmm, I can feel the itchy gear bug leaving my physical body as I type.

 

[sdelsolray]

In other words, ok, I have some experience w/ placements, and I know a little theory, I am basically in control of my mic'ing and getting pretty good results.

Is there any real reason to satisfy my curiosity of the potential improvement in using a mic that is 8 times or 10 times the price of one in my current set?

Or, is the law of diminishing returns present here meaning that I might get only a 5 to 10% clearer or only a slightly different EQ curve or only a negligible amount of higher output.

Or have I already answered my own question? Hmmm, I can feel the itchy gear bug leaving my physical body as I type.

There's more to "potential improvement" than just a mic that costs 8 times to 10 times the price of your current mic. It would be a start. Your preamp, converters, monitors and room each also make a difference. Top end pres, converters and monitors, like mics, can cost 5 to 10 times as much as entry level gear. Once combined, many can hear a world of difference. Others might hear little, if any, difference.

I believe you have to look at the whole system. For sure, adding a world class mic will improve things. Adding the mic and a world class pre will improve things more. Etc.

I recently had a friend over, who is an excellent fingerstyle acoustic guitar player, and who knows practically nothing about recording stuff. He's interested in recording though. So I had him put a set of headphones on and ran the following two signal chains for him to hear live:

Cascade VX20 LD mic
Digi001 pre
Digi001 converter

Microtech Gefell UMT 800 mic
Pendulum Audio MDP-1a pre
RME ADI-8 Pro converters

My friend has a good ear for music. He's been playing for years. After hearing these two different signal chains he basically said it was like night and day. One was OK. The other was better than anything he had ever heard. He was simply stunned by the high end signal chain.

That's with just one mic on one source.

 

[Warhead]

Depending on what you have, it could make a huge difference. But, having said that...I'd rather hear a good song recorded with a $200 mic than a crappy song recorded with a $20,000 mic.

Variety of mics helps also, but just a few all purpose mics can get the artist's message across. It all depends on the source you're mic'ing up also, a crap drum set is of course not going to benefit (much) from a $50,000 signal chain to your recorder. Even worse, if the player can't play then you're just screwed.

But yeah I agree with sdelsoray (I think we're the only two on this board who lucked out and picked up a CAD VX2 before they discontinued them!), when comparing apples to apples situations the gear can shine and add a new element to the recording.

War

 

[Big Kenny]

BY all means....upgrade.....feed the monster......buy the gear,,.......

 

[MadAudio]

Settle down! Get that G.A.S. under control!

Actually, jung - if I can call you that, 'cause I know familiarity breeds contempt - I've read a lot of your posts since I first joined, and I think you've got some good gear and a good ear. If you can afford it, why not? I think you have the good sense by now not to rush into a purchase. Wish I could say the same for myself, and I've been into this for years!

Is there anything in particular you've got your eye on right now, or is this just a whaddayathink kinda question?

 

[sdelsolray]

Depending on what you have, it could make a huge difference. But, having said that...I'd rather hear a good song recorded with a $200 mic than a crappy song recorded with a $20,000 mic.

Variety of mics helps also, but just a few all purpose mics can get the artist's message across. It all depends on the source you're mic'ing up also, a crap drum set is of course not going to benefit (much) from a $50,000 signal chain to your recorder. Even worse, if the player can't play then you're just screwed.

But yeah I agree with sdelsoray (I think we're the only two on this board who lucked out and picked up a CAD VX2 before they discontinued them!), when comparing apples to apples situations the gear can shine and add a new element to the recording.

War

That VX2 is one wicked mic. I wonder how many are actually out there. Could be a classic someday.

 

[junplugged]

Ok, I pretty much know what I'm going to do now. I have enough gear at the moment to do what I need to do for a while, and I'm getting what I need to get out of it. I'll work with it and actually complete something.

If and when I decide to upgrade, I'll shop for the whole chain. I may not get it all at once, but I'll know that each section upgraded is dependent on the others.

I'm pretty sure I'll be upgrading everything eventually, but at least now I have a starting point. And I'll only expect incremental improvements with each new piece.

Thanks for replies, time to use what I got.

 

[junplugged]

Settle down! Get that G.A.S. under control!

Actually, jung - if I can call you that, 'cause I know familiarity breeds contempt - I've read a lot of your posts since I first joined, and I think you've got some good gear and and good ear. If you can afford it, why not? I think you have the good sense by now not to rush into a purchase. Wish I could say the same for myself, and I've been into this for years!

Is there anything in particula eye on right now, or is this just a whaddayathink kinda question?

looks like a case of simultypia. Thanks for those words, sometimes I think I have a good ear, and other times, I don't hear what I think I'm supposed to be hearing.

No matter what tho, I've been doing this long enough to know that I have a feel when I play. I can access that energy flow that makes me know that nothing matters but being there, playing, and I mean nothing, as in no perfection, no virtuosity, and it comes thru live and I think it's coming thru canned too. As long as I can capture enough of that in the can/on the disk, I'll be ok, and I think I'll be creating something worth listening to. I just will have to balance the tech side with the feel side now. It's time to get producing, complete project 1, evaluate, change, repeat.

 

[chessparov]

It will simplify things to have a "sound" you're aiming for in mind when you record something. By getting familiar with how your present mics sound different from one another vs. "better/worse" kind of thinking that'll help.

For example...

The EV 635a works great on me for blues, whereas a EV RE15 is preferred on rockabilly, and a SM57 (or 545) for hard rock vocals.

It's like golfing, you wouldn't just use one club for the whole 18 holes-right?

Probably done on my vocal mic collection, might just pick up one or two
more eventually down the road. (tube mic and/or a ribbon)

There are SO many excellent ones under $200 that can do serious "damage"
though. (meant in the good sense!) No direct correlation between cost
and appropriate tone on a specific source either.

Chris

 

[chessrock]

Mics are a lot like chicks.

There was somewhere I was planning on going with that statement.

Seriously, but unfortunately I lost my train of thought.

But just remember that mics are like chicks . . . don't just upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Do it because you fall in love with a specific microphone, and you can't live without it. That's the only way to do it.

Then you have to break the news to your other microphone gently. And hope it doesn't go all schitz and stalk you.

 

[deadhippy]

As I type, there is a disgruntled radio shack pro series eyeballing me with malicious intent.

Pray for me, for I fear for my life...

 

[Warhead]

That VX2 is one wicked mic. I wonder how many are actually out there. Could be a classic someday.

Been thinking about snagging a used one for a pair myself...

War