Good Handheld Condenser for Worship Service?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JacobShah
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JacobShah

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Hey all, our church is finally starting to get into the digital age.(After much convincing :-) So I'm looking to find 2 good handheld condenser mics for our piano and bass player. I've looked at the Shure SM86 and the Electro-Voice PL84. Does anyone have any reccomendations? Thnx, in advance, Jacob
 
Assuming you are using them for vocals (since you asked for handheld mics), Audio Technica AE5400 (@$350 new), Audix VX-5 (@$250 new) or AKG C535eb (@$230 new) would be reasonable choices. There are plenty of decent mics in this niche. If you want to spend more (and get better mics), you can look at Audix VX-10 (@$479 new) or Neumann KMS 105 (@$700 new).
 
I had to assume since he specified instruments...they would be for the instruments...condencers arent allways the best thing especially in a live situation.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
I had to assume since he specified instruments...they would be for the instruments...condencers arent allways the best thing especially in a live situation.
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I took a shot since he asked about hand held mics, but I agree he could be thinking about instruments as well. Hard to know whether condensers will work for the OP without knowing more about the room, volume and monitoring.
 
Besides the choices of handheld mics that are also condencers that Id reccomend is very few...I think the cheapest Neumann condencer is ammoung them at about $550...never used it before...but I havent heard anything bad about it.
 
JacobShah said:
Hey all, our church is finally starting to get into the digital age.(After much convincing :-) So I'm looking to find 2 good handheld condenser mics for our piano and bass player. I've looked at the Shure SM86 and the Electro-Voice PL84. Does anyone have any reccomendations? Thnx, in advance, Jacob
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Because you mentioned 'handheld', I've assumed you want them for vocals.

Check this out for a reasonable selection:
http://mixonline.com/gear/buyersguides/audio_handheld_vocal_microphones/

I reckon that, for your purposes, you could safely get any of the selection mentioned.
 
JacobShah said:
Hey all, our church is finally starting to get into the digital age.(After much convincing :-) So I'm looking to find 2 good handheld condenser mics for our piano and bass player. I've looked at the Shure SM86 and the Electro-Voice PL84. Does anyone have any reccomendations? Thnx, in advance, Jacob
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Why do you want condensors?
 
gecko zzed said:
I reckon that, for your purposes, you could safely get any of the selection mentioned.
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I've recently used a few handheld condensors on a church stage, and I can tell you that it is impossible to say yay or nay without knowing exactly what his "purposes" are, not to mention the size of the church stage and style of music and what has already been tried.

Most people who come to Home Recording with only 6 posts can barely find the power switch on their computers, let alone know enough to go shopping for handheld condensors.......but one never knows, I suppose..... besides, any church big enough to use handheld condensors effectively on stage is probably not relying on us Home Recording forum wizards to make their mic purchase decision. So I wanna know why this guy is bucking the trend by wanting handheld condensors for church....
 
soundchaser59 said:
I've recently used a few handheld condensors on a church stage, and I can tell you that it is impossible to say yay or nay without knowing exactly what his "purposes" are, not to mention the size of the church stage and style of music and what has already been tried.

Most people who come to Home Recording with only 6 posts can barely find the power switch on their computers, let alone know enough to go shopping for handheld condensors.......but one never knows, I suppose..... besides, any church big enough to use handheld condensors effectively on stage is probably not relying on us Home Recording forum wizards to make their mic purchase decision. So I wanna know why this guy is bucking the trend by wanting handheld condensors for church....
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Yes . . . there is an art to refinement; of tailoring the equipment to suit the venue. That's the way to get optimum results.

But . . . in the end . . . does it matter that much? For example, on my mixing jobs, I have a suite of mikes that I use. For vocals I use SM58s, not because they are particularly brilliant, nor because they suit the venue or the voice, but because they are good, robust, general purpose mikes that work well in nearly all situations. They're like the Toyota Corollas of the music world, dependable, reliable and functional. I could equally use, say, AKG 770s or 880s and get equivalent results.

I also have a set of radio mikes - handheld EV RE410 condensors - that I call upon when freedom of movement is needed. I use them because that's what I've got, and again, they are good, robust condensors that work in nearly all situations; a step up again from the Corollas.

So I stand by my earlier post . . the OP can pick any from a range of comparably priced condensors and achieve reasonable results.

However, I do agree that someone asking for recommendations without providing the relevant parameters is an exercise in futility.
 
Shure!!!!

For anything live, i have always used shure sm58. and even when recording vocals up until my last and album i am currently recording vox for, i used the old reliable sm58. solely due to i felt, unlike my mxl condensor vocal mic, the shure sounded more true to what i sounded like live for some reason. now i am currently using the mxl, but this albums vox are far different than any previous. now i am talking death metal, and your talking church, but its just the fact that the shures offer a broad range and are solid across the boards and i dont think you will feel cheated if you go with them for live sound. i could be wrong though! its all a matter of personal preference and applications!
 
I will even reference pantera!

if you know the pantera home videos, you see it while phill his recording vocals for the album 'far beyond driven' , you see him in the studio for that album at the board trying to do his vocals, saying he's stumbling cuz he is drunk.... but anyways its a good ol sm58 in a huge studio that he used to record a huge album ! SOLID MIC and i just had to post that up cuz i remembered it after i just posted last time.
 
RueMorgueRecord said:
For anything live, i have always used shure sm58. and even when recording vocals up until my last and album i am currently recording vox for, i used the old reliable sm58. solely due to i felt, unlike my mxl condensor vocal mic, the shure sounded more true to what i sounded like live for some reason. now i am currently using the mxl, but this albums vox are far different than any previous. now i am talking death metal, and your talking church, but its just the fact that the shures offer a broad range and are solid across the boards and i dont think you will feel cheated if you go with them for live sound. i could be wrong though! its all a matter of personal preference and applications!
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All true . . . but the OP did specify "hand held condensors"
 
my bad!

and truly sorry to you my friend cuz your posts have already helped me! very wise man, listen to him!
 
RueMorgueRecord said:
and truly sorry to you my friend cuz your posts have already helped me! very wise man, listen to him!
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Hi Rue, welcome to the site. I sent you a PM. You can find it by going to the top of the page and clicking on Private Messages.

peace.
 
Yo! JacobDude :D

Welcome! Lend us a few more details (as per above ;)) There's a bunch of good dudes around here that know they're collective stuff.

(why a condenser? heh heh)



And RueMorgueDude :D

Welcome.
New guy buys beer or cheese. :cool:
Your choice.
;)
 
well

the beer will either be leinenkugel or heineken and i can get you some bad ass cheese cuz my wifes mother is seeing a guy who owns a smokehouse. his smoked cheddar is the shit!
 
Sorry I haven't replied guys. Yes they are for vocals. And since I mainly use condensers in my studio I assumed they would be better than the dynamic mics we are using now.
 
BTW: I do have a decent knowledge of computer recording. My setup at home is :

Edirol FA-101
AKG Perception 220
Shure SM57
sE Z3300A

And using Reaper as my recording software(with a trillion VST's)
 
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