Best Microphone for $300-400???

[dabahng]

I am getting ready to purchase an Mbox Mini 2 so I can start recording at home on my Macbook Pro. I am looking to spend less than a grand on everything. Any ideas on the best microphone that I can get for around $300-400???? I am going to just be recording in my home, no booth or anything and do a little mixing myself but nothing crazy. I work out of several studios that do the mixing but I want what I record to sound good and when I take the protools sessions to the other studios, giving the engineers quality to work with. Any feedback is very helpful.

 

[Massive Master]

Sort of depends on what you're recording...

Vocals? It should be illegal not to own at least one SM7b.

Acoustic instruments? You can hardly go wrong with a SM81. Oktava MC012 wouldn't hurt if you need to keep the budget uber-low (so you can get the 7b also).

 

[dabahng]

I will be recording vocals only

 

[TheChikenMaster]

I vote for the at 4040 for an all around mic.
But it should be illegal not to own a sm7, so get it or the beast will get you.

 

[chevy32]

+1 with chicken, awesome mic

 

[TheRecProducer]

BLUE Baby Bottle is my favorite mic in that price range.

 

[FreshChops]

I can't speak in comparison to some of the others mentioned here.... but check out the Groove Tubes GT-67. It's a tube valve and multi-pattern condenser.

They're harder to find but pop-up here and there. I see one on ebay right now in your price range. I forget, but I think they were priced between $600-900 when new, so $3-400 is quite a bargain.

I have a pair and love them. For a first mic, the multi-pattern is priceless. the tube valve is exceptionally full and warm, ideal for vocals.

 

[moresound]

I am getting ready to purchase an Mbox Mini 2 so I can start recording at home on my Macbook Pro. I am looking to spend less than a grand on everything. Any ideas on the best microphone that I can get for around $300-400???? I am going to just be recording in my home, no booth or anything and do a little mixing myself but nothing crazy. I work out of several studios that do the mixing but I want what I record to sound good and when I take the protools sessions to the other studios, giving the engineers quality to work with. Any feedback is very helpful.

Take a look in the microphone forum *best mic for under $100.* thread.

And take a look at the post of *EV re-20*, the EV re-20 is a GREAT vocal microphone.

 

[M1Fanatic]

Used MD 441. Shop around, it might take awhile to find one at $400. They're out there.

My last one was $320 in new condition. I spent another $60 on the original NIB Sennheiser mount and still came in under $400.

Not owning a 441 should be a felony. Not owning an SM7 is a class D misdemeanor.

 

[moresound]

Used MD 441. Shop around, it might take awhile to find one at $400. They're out there.

My last one was $320 in new condition. I spent another $60 on the original NIB Sennheiser mount and still came in under $400.

Not owning a 441 should be a felony. Not owning an SM7 is a class D misdemeanor.

AND .....not owning an EV re-20 is an automatic death penalty!!

 

[M1Fanatic]

Get a rope...

 

[TheChikenMaster]

my concern is more on the interface, a crappy interface will make any mic sound just as bad

 

[thajeremy]

with the exception of the GT mic that someone mentioned...I have every other mic mentioned in this thread....go with the SM7b

 

[chessparov]

IMHO this would be one good plan...

1) Get a Primacoustic "Voxguard" ($100) to reduce negative acoustics "heard" by any microphone.

2) Also obtain the relatively new FETHead ($100), that'll reduce the mic pre gain needed
for step #3 below, in order to help avoid audible pre noise.

3) Buy a new Electro-Voice 635a omni ($100), then "eat" it (sing within 1" away),
for a number of reasons-including not acoustically treating the room.
Expecting this mic to become more and more popular, partly due to posts by
folks like Bob Ohlsson, and Michael Joly. It was sometimes used, for example,
for lead and/or background vocals at Motown in the "Snakepit".

4) IF you get lucky, scoring a used Electro-Voice RE15, RE16, or RE18 for around $100.
(some people sound great on Shure 57/58's so give that idea a whirl too)

BTW am a big fan of a number of mics mentioned here, but some choices would blow the budget without addressing room sonics or possible pre gain noise.

The Baby Bottle (and Studio Projects CS series) FWIW are the best stock LDC's I've ever tried under $500.

Chris

 

[dabahng]

How do you guys feel about the Blue Bluebird????? The mic and set up is for hip hop vocals

 

[Massive Master]

Just about every rapper I see chanting on about how awesome the BB is on one thread is ragging on about how his vocals sounds like crap in the next.

The BB is like any other LDC in that it's far too sensitive for most aggressive vocals. It's a fine mic - Don't get me wrong. Strings (great for cello, contrabass), piano, woodwinds, very instrumental vocal applications -- But aggressive 'in your face' vocals and LDC's don't work well together nearly as often as you see in the videos...

You never see anyone with a 7b or RE20 going "Gee, I'm having a hard time getting my vocals to sound 'pro' vocals..."

 

[Supercreep]

I am getting ready to purchase an Mbox Mini 2 so I can start recording at home on my Macbook Pro.

Okay.

I am looking to spend less than a grand on everything.

Okay.

Any ideas on the best microphone that I can get for around $300-400???? I am going to just be recording in my home, no booth or anything and do a little mixing myself but nothing crazy.

Sure, you can get lots of great mics for that price.

I work out of several studios that do the mixing but I want what I record to sound good and when I take the protools sessions to the other studios, giving the engineers quality to work with. .

Well....

There's a lot that goes into "quality" besides a decent mic, which in most cases is going to more or less accurately reproduce an amalgam of direct and reflected sounds in a room. Thusly, the room and the source are of paramount importance to the concept of "quality". Not sure what your room is like or the instruments/talent is like, but if you don't have a room that is set up for recording, I'm not sure you can get there from here - "there" being a recording that professional mixing engineers will agree is "quality".

Does that make sense?

If it's your first condenser mic, I recommend a multipattern such as the venerable AT 4050. You'll have many uses for it.