Blue Baby Bottle

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born-diva

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Hello,
I posted not too long ago seeking advice about buying my first condenser. I'm hearing good things about the baby bottle and just wanted to see what the concensus was here. Anybody own this mic or ever used it? How did u like it? pros/cons?....that type of thing. Is it worth the leap from $400 to $700? (canadian that is).

Thanks again for any input.
 
Ok, sorry. Scrap my last post. I just found another thread on the exact same topic. Oops. :o
 
I like mine. Very sensative and loud. Its also a pretty picky mic- it'll be great on some things and make others sound like doo doo. Not at all a swiss army knife type mic.

It works well with my voice so I'm really happy that I have it. I also like it for acoustic guitar if I'm not recording it in stereo. Also makes a good room mic for distorted electric- again, at least for the times I've used it.

-C
 
Thanks a lot. I'm reading a lot of posts saying it works really well for some voices, not so much for others (like any mic i guess) but reviews seem really mixed for this one. Guess it is pretty picky.

A friend of mine swears by it...says it's as good as the $5k mic they have in their studio. But that's his take...his voice. Just have to try and see i guess.

Cheers.
 
Oktava Mod makes a Bottle model out of an MK319. I bet it'd be pretty righteous as well. I've been kicking around the idea of a Bottle for a while as well. Keep us posted, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
 
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Yo Born-Diva! You're starting to get it. Vocal mics are like shoes. They either fit, or they don't. Cheap shoes that fit are better than expensive ones that don't. Expensive shoes that fit rock. Just pick a vocal mic, and somebody will love it. Somebody else will hate it. I have one client that uses the Baby Bottle, because it works for her. I put up a bunch of mics, and it simply won. Does that mean it will work for you? No. The same can be said of every other mic on Earth. I own a B.L.U.E. Kiwi. It's a $2000 or so main vocal mic. I used it for my vocals on about two thirds of the songs on my CD. Every female vocalist (there were 3) on that CD hated the Kiwi, and it hated them, too. It just likes me.

Mostly, the ladies wound up using Oktava MK319, a Russion mic I picked up for $90 at Guitar Center, AKG C2000B, which cost me $99 used, also at Guitar Center, and Rode NTK, a $500 Australian tube mic. Those were the shoes that fit them. The Baby Bottle has character, which means that it inserts its own color. Sometimes that works. Sarah Watkins from Nickel Creek uses it for a live mic, and switches back and forth between using it for a violin mic and a vocal mic.

I note that your profile gives no location. One thing that helps is to get into a studio with somebody that owns a bunch of mics and just sing into them. Then listen to the recordings blind, on monitors. If you're ever in the Boston area, feel free to look me up, I'd be happy to do that, up to the extent of my limited mic cabinet, which is fair, but not outstanding.

*No one* can tell you what is a great vocal mic for *you* at any given price point. It doesn't matter who you think you sound like, what gender you are, what material you do. Clips of things recorded with mics won't help, descriptions won't help, only singing into mics will help. Given that, a trip to a studio just to sing into some mics is an ear-opening experience. People will spend thousands on gear, but won't pay $100 or so to audition some mics. If you can find somebody on the board with a soft heart, a mic collection, and the time, buy them dinner and maybe they'll put a few mics in front of you. It will be worth more than all the advice you'll ever get.

If you can't do that, you have to gamble. How do you gamble? Buy mics that are well respected and used by lots of people. This increases the likelyhood that the mic will be good for recording *something* or *somebody*. If it doesn't turn out to be your go-to vocal mic, it may be your piano mic, your guitar mic, or something. And it will make it easier to sell it if it doesn't work out for you. Based on that, the Baby Bottle is not a bad choice. It's a respected mic in its price range, is used by lots of people, and it will be good for recording something or somebody. At the end of the day, though, there are more people who use it for an instrument mic than there are people who use it for a main vocal mic. Good luck in your search for the Holy Grail.-Richie
 
The Baby Bottle frequency plot posted at the Blue site tells about half the story on this mic with the highs and lows shaved off. What it doesn't tell you is that it's a hot mic. It's sort of a sound sponge. It makes thinner voices sound bigger and better. It also needs isolation (such as an isolation booth) or else it might sound boxy by picking up too much room.

I'd probably suggest an Audio-Technica AT4047 if you want something a little more versatile and a little more forgiving of your room.
 
The Baby Bottle to me sounds nice on vocals (mine) when solo'd or in a sparse mix. It has no uglies or hashiness, like many other mics. However, it tends to get lost in a mix pretty quickly, probably because of the rolled off high end.

It has nice depth.
It is relatively neutral compared to many other LD mics - not too much hi or low end, solid and even otherwise.
It is very hot.
It is the quietest mic you will ever hear.
It is built extremely well, much better than anything anywhere near the price - as good as anything really.

I think of the mic as the ultimate niche mic.
I like it a lot on guitars, electric and acoustic.

It's a great mic to have.
Certainly you can use it on vocals, but it's not it's strongest point.
However, it's not a bad choice if you plan on moving up at another time as it is complimentary to many mics aimed more at vocals.

A first condenser that I highly recommend is the Studio Projects B1.
It's a good all around mic, much better than the price indicates, and another mic that will probably always have a home no matter what you get in the future. Unlike the Baby Bottle, it's less of a niche mic and more of a workhorse. Seriously consider it. IMO, it is the best bang for the buck mic made.

And really, for the money, you might also consider a SP C1 too. For about $300 you'll have a nice little LD mic cabinet......and maybe can even buy a SD and/or dynamic or two. Or, if you want a darker mic, an MXL V67 would partner well with the B1. $200 for the two and you'll have a couple of good options.

FWIW, although I've bought and sold quite a few mics, I'll always keep my Baby Bottle and B1.
 
Hello again,
Thanks for the replies.

I'm in Toronto, Canada, so Boston's a bit out of my way (ok, maybe more than just a bit ;) ) but definitely a cool offer. I would love to have somewhere to audition a bunch of mics. I had originally planned to go to a retailer, but it doesn't seem like they have much variety (atleast not the ones i'm interested in). Maybe I will have to spend a little money auditioning some. I'm just too lazy to search for a studio that has most of the mics I want :p ...but at the same time, i definitely wanna try b4 i buy.

I guess i'm hesitant to get the B1 bcuz it's so cheap. Silly, i know, but i can't help thinking that way. But hey, if the shoe fits, right?! ;) I already own an sm58, so it's not my first, first mic, just my first condenser. So my twisted logic is telling me that i should spend more on my second (condenser) mic than i did on my first (dynamic) mic.

I'll only be using this mic for vocals, under some blankets in my bedroom so a good niche mic for female vocals is what i need. I was really leaning towards an AT4040 until my friend insisted on this one. I guess the search continues.

Thanks guys.
 
The AT4040 is a very good mic and you won't go wrong with it; however, don't discount the B1 because of the price.
 
The B1 on most females sounds like trash, so does the C1. They both bring our every strident and harsh upper register tone in a female's voice - I don't know about the newer Studio Projects line since the ones I have are older.

The Baby Bot with a Robbie is pretty darn good on most females but your mileage may vary. The Rode NTK sucks on most females but for some reason the K2 has been pretty good on most.

It's really gonna depend on the voice
 
Don't like the baby bottle, like the AT 4040 and 4047. I especially like the 4033 which is a medium sized diaphragm I believe. Always seems to sit well in a mix, not a first grab for solo stuff though, but none of these are.
 
I don't know why I didn't post this earlier, but have you tried a ribbon mic. A Beyer M-260 is partciularly wonderful with the female voice. We tried everything on our bass player until she sang into that, it'sabsolutely transparant and wonderful.
 
Yeah, i think i'm gonna audition most of the AT 40 series (even if i have to go to three stores to find them). Then i'll test a baby bottle and go from there. As far as ribbon mics go, i've heard they're pretty expensive and fragile too. I think i'd be afraid of breaking it. Plus i rap as well as sing, so i don't know if that would work. But if i do find a ribbon in my my price range, i'll definitely give it a try.

Thanx a bunch.
 
A nice M260 is about $230. And they're not too fragile, just don't drop them.
 
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