First condenser mic purchases:

Bassman Brad

Bassman Brad

New member
O.K. gang, first let me review my situation. I've got about a dozen or so microphones that I've accumulated from decades of playing music, almost all of which are dynamic, cardioid mics. This includes plenty of 57's and 58's (mostly the Beta Series versions of these mics), along with the occasional odd mic that I've picked up here and there, such as the Beyer 201 and Sennheiser 421. I've only got three types of condenser mics right now, a Shure Beta87, an AT2020 and a matched pair of MXL 603s. The last two I've only gotten recently, and have just started to play around with those. The 87 I've had for a long time, but haven't used very much, since I haven't played in any bands that needed that particular mic. I need a few more condensers to get me set up to do some basic home recording. I'm wanting to record some of my original songs, and I write songs in a variety of styles. The ballads would probably fit in the "country crossover" category, and the up-tempo stuff mostly sounds like either 1970's era "classic rock" or "Southern rock." I've even got some things that would probably be classified as "progressive rock."

What I've about come up with for now is this:
An ADK A-51S - version V (or maybe an A-51 Hamburg)
A Shure KSM 27 or 32 (or maybe a pair)
A pair of Shure SM81's. (I'd like these to do double duty for stereo location recording of my jazz band.)

If it makes a difference, I'll be recording to computer hard disk via a Presonus Firepod. I plan to get the Steinberg Virtual Instruments collection, to provide me with drum parts and a "virtual rhythm guitar player." I've got keyboards and acoustic guitars (still need to pick up an electric guitar to lay down the simpler lead parts - will have to bring in a friend to play the more complex guitar parts). I've got LOTS of ways to record my bass signal. I've got some outboard gear, too, (compressors, equalizers, and a brand new multieffects unit - the Lexicon MPX-550). I've got quality playback equipment downstairs (my hi fi system), but no quality monitoring system is available at my computer, just yet. So my monitoring situation will be pretty poor, until I can make some other arrangements. Might have to do my most critical monitoring by headphones for the time being. :o

This mic selection should give me a pretty good start, shouldn't it? Would you suggest any changes for the initial round of mic purchases?

Thank you in advance for your input,
Brad
 
Totally agree, unless your hi-fi setup is a setup you understand and can translate what it's telling you to the real world good enough for your situation.

The mics you're listing are quality and should get the job done.

War
 
Thanks for the comments, guys.

My hi fi system is built around Paradigm Reference Series "Studio 40's". These are the first "home stereo speakers" that I've run across which have met my expectations for having as flat a freq. response as control room monitors. They are, indeed, as accurate as any control room monitors that I've ever used and, thus, require no translation to the "real world." My plan is to eventually switch to Studio 60's for the main speakers and get another Studio 40 for the center channel, then move the current 40's into the back. The 40's and 60's have the same drivers, but the 60's are floor standers and thus have more bass response. This will free up my JBL Control 5's (which are currently serving as my rear channels and, obviously, don't match the rest of the system) to be my monitors next to the computer. They are a tad heavy in the bass, but as a bass player, that's probably a good thing for me. :D The other thing that this will do is free up my current Paradigm center channel for use to check mono compatibility, and give me yet another reference point to monitor my recordings. But, it'll take me about $2500 to make this upgrade, so in the meantime, I'll need to make do on my recording with a less than ideal monitoring set up. (i.e. I'll have to monitor on headphones - AKG 240DF's - and check the mix periodically on my system downstairs.) I know it's not ideal, but that's what I've got for now.

Brad
 
By the way, I should probably mention that the headphones are ALSO studio monitors. From what I understand, the 240DF's are designed to replicate the frequency response of Urei studio monitors (although I couldn't tell you which model of Urei monitor speakers were used in voicing the headphones).

Brad
 
Bassman Brad said:
By the way, I should probably mention that the headphones are ALSO studio monitors. From what I understand, the 240DF's are designed to replicate the frequency response of Urei studio monitors (although I couldn't tell you which model of Urei monitor speakers were used in voicing the headphones).

Brad
Click to expand...

I use the AKG 240DFs in my studio. They're nice, but they're headphones. They don't sound or act like my nearfields (Dynaudio BM6). Just a heads up.
 
sdelsolray said:
I use the AKG 240DFs in my studio. They're nice, but they're headphones. They don't sound or act like my nearfields (Dynaudio BM6). Just a heads up.
Click to expand...
Well, of course. I'm well aware that headphones - even good ones - are not a substitute for quality monitors. Nevertheless, I'm quite certain that they will be good enough to start doing some tracking, while I work out my monitoring problem. As I mentioned before, I am already fully aware that my current monitoring situation is less than ideal. And, as I've also mentioned, I already have plans to address that issue when the proper time comes. In the meantime, I will have to make do with what I have. It is as simple as that.

Thank you for your concern about my monitoring chain.

Brad
 
And back to the question at hand....

So, back to the point of my post. By the way, I've read Harvey's post about "good" and "better" mics. This really isn't one of those "are these mics the best that I can buy for x$$"-type posts. When I asked if these mics will "give me a good start," what I'm really trying to find out is, "Will these mics give me enough versatility and flexibiity to start a good, basic mic collection?" Sounds like we have one "yeah" vote (thanks, War), no "nay" votes, and some extraneous comments about my monitoring system. Anybody else have any thoughts on the matter? Note that I'm trying to select mics NOW that are of high enough quality that they will continue to be useful to me in the future, even when I've been able to add several more mics to the collection.

Additional, related questions that I have would be: Are the Shure SM81's still considered the "go to" mic for clean, flat cardioid condensers, or are there other mics these days that do this job just as well, but are better suited to the demands of digital recording (perhaps they have a lower noise floor, for example)? Keep in mind that I haven't done much recording since the 1980's - and that's the EARLY 1980's, folks. I'm familiar with many of the mics that were popular back in that era, but now there are entire companies producing mics that didn't even exist the last time that I was in a recording studio. And, of course, there has been the whole digital recording revolution that, it seems to me, would place its own unique demands on mics. (For example, if you have a mic that is gritty in the high frequencies, it seems like you are REALLY going to notice it on a digital recording, whereas analog tape might have been more forgiving. This is one of the reasons that I am trying to stay away from mics that hype the high freq., unless I am convinced that they can do it VERY smoothly.)

The two LDC's that I've chosen (the A-51and the KSM series mics) shouldn't have this problem. However, my concern with these mics would be: Are they different enough in tonality that it would make sense to have both, or should I choose mics that are farther apart, tonally? If so, what would you suggest? Note that both are designed as basic, multi-purpose LDC's. For example, should I stick with the KSM for a "neutral, general purpose" mic, and upgrade to, let's say, a ADK Hamburg for more of a "vintage German" type of flavor?

Once again, I'd like to thank everybody for your thoughtful consideration of my questions.

Brad
 
The KSM32 is a pretty neutral mic, you've got that nailed down. The Hamburg would be a nice step in another direction for you. A CAD VSM would be a great flavor too and considerably different than the KSM32. The VSM is a tube design and has a great sound on vocals and instruments. I really like the VSM for close vocal work (I mean like 2-3" away stuff) and guitar cabs.

War
 
Thanks War

Thanks, again, War. :) All the advice I've ever seen you give on here always seemed rock solid, so your comments carry quite a bit of weight with me. I'm about settled on that plan. I'm sure that I do want an ADK Hamburg. But, I'll probably go with the KSM-27, instead of the 32. I figure that, since the KSM-27 is the single diaphragm "baby brother" of the KSM-44, I could later add a KSM-44 and do stereo M-S recording and have the M&S mics tonally matched. And it would be a LOT cheaper than buying two 44's. So, I could save some money now and still have a pretty solid, versatile mic to use in the meantime. The Hamburg would still be (tonally) pretty far away from the 27, I would think, although not quite as flat in freq. response as the 32.

I'll probably go ahead with the SM81's, too, although I'll probably shop for them used (which means I'll probably have to buy them one at a time). They are common enough that there should be plenty out there on the used market. And I don't think you'd have to worry about getting a "matched set" on mics that are already that flat. I'm not sure they even COME in matched sets.

And a tube mic would, indeed, probably be the next LDC mic on my shopping list. But, there are SOOOO many choices in tube mics that I don't even want to think about that, yet.

Brad
 
Check out the Peluso sdc's too. They are getting raves and cost about $250 I think. They are multi capped so you can add different caps later as you can afford or need for different stuff
 
Big Kenny said:
Check out the Peluso sdc's too. They are getting raves and cost about $250 I think. They are multi capped so you can add different caps later as you can afford or need for different stuff
Click to expand...

Yeah, thanks, I will. I just saw them mentioned a little bit ago on another thread on this board. They definitely look like something to check into. Also, I recently heard about Avenson Audio mics (which are omni only, I believe). These are supposed to be another budget mics that are incredibly accurate, and offer tons of "bang for the buck." Anybody know more about these? Definitely need to take a closer look at both of these as a possible alternative to the SM81's.

Thanks to all for your suggestion. :)

Brad
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top