Condenser Mics

[Squashki]

Hi,
I am looking to get a pair of matched condenser mics to be used for overheads when micing drums. What pair of mics would be best for this situation? I am looking to spend no more than £100 on a pair. I understand that this is not much, but what is the best i could get for this?

I was thinking about these , are these going to be any good or would it be better to save up a bit more?
Thanks.

 

[noisedude]

Hiya mate,

I'd suggest you should look at either these (ADK SC-1):
http://www.turnkey.co.uk/tkweb/stockdetail.jsp?sku=ADK-SC1&context=WEB

Or these (Joemeek JM27):
http://www.dv247.com/invt/20529

Either of them will do a very good job for you, better than those Samsons which even in the magazines have received, erm, 'cautious' reviews.

Nik

 

[Squashki]

Hiya mate,

I'd suggest you should look at either these (ADK SC-1):
http://www.turnkey.co.uk/tkweb/stockdetail.jsp?sku=ADK-SC1&context=WEB

Or these (Joemeek JM27):
http://www.dv247.com/invt/20529

Either of them will do a very good job for you, better than those Samsons which even in the magazines have received, erm, 'cautious' reviews.

Nik

Thanks for quick response. These both look great, but I don't know which one to get, and also if I buy them separately, doesn't that mean they are not matched, or does this even matter?

Thanks again.

 

[jkokura]

Some other suggestions...

Oktava MK012
http://stores.ebay.com/Oktava-USA_W0QQssPageNameZviQ3asibQ3astoreviewQQtZkm

or MXL 603s
http://cgi.ebay.com/MXL-By-Marshall...ryZ41466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If they're matched they give you the same response on a signal, giving a more accurate stereo picture. However, I find that my pair of Oktavas (not factory matched) give me a pretty much perfect match anyway. Some would argue that it's neccessary, but I haven't found that's true for me.

Jacob

 

[noisedude]

Thanks for quick response. These both look great, but I don't know which one to get, and also if I buy them separately, doesn't that mean they are not matched, or does this even matter?

Thanks again.

Hmmmm .... I don't know about ADK, but Joemeek do a matched pair of JM27s:

http://www.joemeek.com/jm27pac.html

Some of the other suggestions you'll get here will be a bit duff because there's lots of stuff available in North America that we can't get at sensible prices over here. ADK and Joemeek/Studio Projects are amongst the most fair .... Yamaha/MXL are much less so.

 

[Squashki]

I can't seem to find any matched pairs of the AKG ones. But if I just order two of the AKG mics then it should still sound good right? Just making sure before I spend my money. I am planning to use this with a firepod and an AKG D112.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[noisedude]

You might be ok if you just buy two - just learn to be extra vigilant with your meters to get equal levels from them .... don't just put the preamps to the same level because the mics' outputs may be a few dB different.

 

[BigRay]

I can't seem to find any matched pairs of the AKG ones. But if I just order two of the AKG mics then it should still sound good right? Just making sure before I spend my money. I am planning to use this with a firepod and an AKG D112.

Thanks for all the help.

most companies closely match their mics anyway...so it shouldnt matter. Audio -Technica doesnt "match" ANY of their mics, period(I called once and asked about matching my 4050s). They have a series of protocols that they must go by, and all the mics have to fall within a certain proximity to each other. It shouldnt be a problem unless the QC is really bad, or if somehow the company doesnt have a standard.

 

[BigRay]

You might be ok if you just buy two - just learn to be extra vigilant with your meters to get equal levels from them .... don't just put the preamps to the same level because the mics' outputs may be a few dB different.

I have this problem with my dpa mics, (4060s) one is 2db off from the other.

no biggie. if you start getting like 5 and up, thats a problem...but 1-3 db is normal and acceptable.

 

[pohaku]

Lots of companies don't match their mics. Like Neumann for example. Claim the QC is good enough.

You might see if you can track down a used pair of Beyer MCE93s or 94s. Come with OK, but not great, shock mounts. Should be more available there then in the States. I've picked up 2 pairs over the last year or so and they were pretty reasonable. Paid $250 for one pair and $150 for the other pair. I think they listed at $500 or so each and I've seen them retailed for @$300 each FWIW. Very nice and detailed -- pretty neutral in sound. They are not Neumanns or DPAs, but for the price they are really pretty good. I think SOS had a review a couple years ago. Ok, here it is.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun99/articles/beyermce.htm

The 93s are phantom only and the 94s will take batteries too. I use them for playing out with guitars instead my better mics and they acquit themselves nicely.