beyerdynamic mc930 vs Mojave MA101 for acoustic guitar ?

S

swelborn

New member
Hi all, after doing a little preliminary recording of acoustic guitar I decided I should probably have at least one SD condenser mic in my locker. I have so far: rode ntk and EV re320 (and of course an sm57). My Pre is a Great River. Since these are cardioid mics I should probably include an omni or multi-pattern as well. I'm trying to open up and enlarge or 'air out' the sound more from my results thus far, hence my wanting to include an omni. Granted I haven't done enough experimenting with mic placement yet (i.e. moving mic further away from guitar), still, my intuition tells me I should have at least one SDC and maybe an omni option. Keeping under $600 (preferably $400) I've narrowed it down to Beyerdynamic MC930 ( because of it's being likened to an affordable Neumann KM 84 industry standard) and the Mojave MA101 with multi pattern feature which would seem to offer more versatility to experiment with.
The MC930 is cardioid but seems to be a real top choice for acoustics ( as a cheap KM84 alternative).

Any thoughts on these ?

thanks
 
ok, i'm pretty newbie regarding mics. Just glanced over some of Harveys' threads... a vast subject.
Am I wrong in thinking I'd need an omni pattern necessarily for a more open spacious sound for acoustic guitar?
In most cases a guitar track will be mixed in full band instrumentation (in a rock/country sense) so a single mic might be better for less sonic clutter in the mix. Just trying for 'more open spacious' away from played in a closet thing.
 
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I'm a recording newbie. I was recording with a spaced pair of cheap AT2020's for a litter over a year but just purchased a matched pair of MC930's. (I was considering the MC930's or the Peluso cemc6...Neumann being out of my budget).

I'm sorry I can't compare the sound of the Beyers with KM84's or MA101 but I what I can say is that those ARE the right mics for the job. I'm recording in X/Y and getting a crisp defined mid range sound straight out of my audio interface (no external pre). I'm barely having to EQ, just little tweaks to make the sound a tad more pleasing. I can cut track so much faster now, because I don't endlessly try to EQ and define the sound, it's very balanced when I record about 12" from the 12th fret.

Another thing that is directly apparent is how low noise these mics are. Even on my cheap interface, I can crank the gain quite a bit before introducing noise which is useful since I record solo fingerstyle and I have a somewhat soft touch. When I do introduce dynamics or inadvertently play a bass note/treble note too loud, it's pretty flattering in that it doesn't immediately stand out or boom which lead me to believe that proximity effect isn't too pronounce.

I'm sure others will chip in but I highly recommend them.
 
Think leaning towards the MC930. However the MFG KM96 has come to my attention as bettering the MA930 as a KM84 surrogate with some improvements but seem to hard to locate near my budget area.
 
Not familiar with the MFG KM96.

but I do enjoy my Mc930, MC830 and Opus83 beyerdynamic, I believe all similar designs and capsules. All sound excellent on a variety of sources including ac guit.
 
Not sure how they compare with what you're considering but I've had very impressive results with a stereo pair of AT 4041s on acoustic guitar.


Tom
 
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