Better mic, or better mixer ?

[Clemie]

Friend o'mine keeps on telling me that it's better to have better mixer than mic. I dissagree, but since he had more experience dealing with sound systems, I can't argue and convince him that he'll get better sound with better mic and average mixer, than cheap mic with even the best mixer. So, what do you think, guys ?

ps. no dedicated preamps in this term, just those come with mixer.

 

[shackrock]

it depends

i think it really depends on your usage. do you want lots of inputs, for example to record live?

or will you do everything seperately, micing only one thing at a time....etc. etc.

what are you recording to?
what do you already have?
what is your price limits?

just explain a little more....

 

[Seanmorse79]

I might get bashed for this one, but I agree with you, Clemie. Either way, it's not ideal, but in general, if I had to choose, I'd take the better mic over the better mixer pre's. I'll take a nice LD condenser with a behringer mixer over a cheapie dynamic through a Soundcraft. Not exactly apples to apples, but close enough A cheap mic is going to sound like shit no matter what pre it's going through.

 

[Beezoboy]

No thanks. I'll take a better preamp and a less than amazing mic. Give me an API board,old Neve, Soundtracs, or even Soundcraft any day. Give me great preamps and I'll get much better results. A nice old board and a few 57's could still yeild some very, very nice recordings. I mean there are many cheap mics that will sound great through a world class pre.

Under 100 dollar mics is what I am considering cheap.

ECM8000
SP B-1
MXL V67
MXL990
MXL603
Oktava MK-012
EV 635a
AT Pro 25 (Bulk Pack)
SM57

There are tons of cheap mics that could be used every day with nice pre's to obtain phenominal recordings.

Beez

 

[TexRoadkill]

There is a baseline where stuff is so crappy it doesn't matter what you hook it up to but given the choice between one being stellar and the other being average I would go with the better preamp and average mic. A simple 57 through a GreatRiver sounds killer but a Neuman through a Behringer will still sound pretty crappy.

 

[Clemie]

WOW, Thanks guys. Sorry, I wasn't around for a while.
So we both can be right or wrong . By saying 'cheap', I mean new mic under $50 (I believe it's dynamic, not sure if there are any new condensers being sold under $50) and new small mixer under 120$.

what are you recording to?
what do you already have?
what is your price limits?

Recording band live/jam in the studio.
already have 2 SM57 & 4 SM58 and couple of cheap infamous mics.
I'm not so sure about the price limit. We didn't think that far of buying new gears. Just curious which is generaly being better option .
Thank you.