Can you get airy but not harsh in a cheap mic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bigwillz24
  • Start date Start date
Depending on what you think cheap is.
 
Last edited:
bigwillz24 said:
Okay what about moderately priced. :D
Click to expand...

There are a few obsequious types on this forum who relentlessly kiss Harvey Gerst's rear end but at the same time dump on some of the cheaper mics he uses. Harvey has achieved professional results with some of the MXL mics that are pretty cheap and dare I say it "airy".

I don't know which ones he particularly likes but I think the MXL2003 gets good press. The CAD M177 is also cheap and well regarded. Perhaps some other people might be able to help without being total snobs.
 
The high end of the MSH-1 is very smooth. Roll off the low end, boost at 10 kHz for airy. $22.
 
Timothy Lawler said:
The high end of the MSH-1 is very smooth. Roll off the low end, boost at 10 kHz for airy. $22.
Click to expand...

I don't think the vocalist would take me seriously if I put that mic up in front of them to sing into. :D


However it does give me an idea.
 
So put up a large diaphragm impressive-looking mike, like they'll expect to see, and hide the MSH behind a pop screen a foot away. Then see which sounds better.
 
Mikey77 said:
There are a few obsequious types on this forum who relentlessly kiss Harvey Gerst's rear end but at the same time dump on some of the cheaper mics he uses. Harvey has achieved professional results with some of the MXL mics that are pretty cheap and dare I say it "airy".
Click to expand...

Wow, where did that come from? :confused::eek:

Generally speaking, the one thing that the uber-cheap mics out there suffer from is that in order to get to 'airy' ... you're doing it at the sacrifice of 'smooth.' And that goes for whomever is using it.

Really, there's only a few mics I can think of off the top of my head that are capable of doing the "airy but smooth" thing, and even those tend to be situational / hit or miss. The cheapest mic I can think of that will do it consistently is the Shure KSM-44. And that one actually isn't too expensive when you consider what you get with it. Another candidate might be the AKG C414.

After that, you might say the Audio Technica 4033 can be both airy and smooth ... but I would say that's the case on a mostly inconsistent basis. On the right (wrong) voice, it can sound pretty brash and unpleasant, so you really never know with this stuff (but overall, I think it works more often than it doesn't). Even the CAD M177 -- a mic that I happen to like and recommend a good deal -- is still fairly situational.

.
 
Maybe we should first agree on the definition of "airy".

To me, the best examples of an "airy" mic are the original AKG C12 and the Telefunken ELA M251. It's not about being "bright", so much as having a top end "sheen" to the sound.

The ADK Vienna has a lot of brightness as well as some sheen, but the Studio Projects T3 is about the only Chinese mic that I've heard so far that has what I call an "airy", open quality. It's the only SP mic that I own. It's also Alan Hyatt's favorite SP mic (and keep in mind that Alan is a recording engineer, regardless of his "salesman persona").

The original AKG 414 and 414EB had that sheen because they used the exact same capsule as the original AKG C12. The newer 414's are just bright to me. The Stephan Paul modified U67's also have that "airy" sound.
 
Harvey

Just buy the mic to ensure that it gets into good hands, and sell it to one of these under privied lads for what you paid....just make sure you dont get into a bidding war.
 
I was watching that auction. Couldn't afford to bid, but it sure was sitting at an attractive price for a while. The thing sure took a mean jump there at the end. Sorry you didn't get it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top