Good vocal mic for live gigs?

B

BrettMckinney

New member
I have a Shure BG 2.1 and i hate it..first mic i bought and it sounds like crap. I just bought a SP B1 for home recording and love the way it makes my vocals sound. NOw i've got a gig in a couple of weeks just doing acoustic and singing and i need a good mic that sounds like the b1. As obviously i cant use it live :(

I dont have a huge amount of money..so am looking at kinda a budget range..just better sounding than the 2.1.

Any ideas?
 
DJL- what do you mean my in-ear monitors? If i could you the B1 i'd be very happy.
Chess- I'll be using my alto 6 channel mixer through a PA so nothing fancy. Thanks for the link to the thread..i wouldnt want to spend more than that price range so those mics are good for me!
 
BrettMckinney said:
Ah ok. And how does that enable me to use the B1?
Click to expand...

so you don't get your B1 picking up your floor monitors and feeding back....i think that's what he meant(?)

why don't you just use an SM58 like every other person on earth:D :D

P.S. you can buy a bunch of good dynamic mics for the price of an "in ear" monitor system
 
With all due respect, all of the suggested microphones-though they are "good" mikes, are very different sounding than a B1.
The B1 is relatively flat/neutral, whereas all the other mikes mentioned here so far have a significant "presence peak" boost.
With the exception of the 535 EB, I've owned used all of the other ones posted here (except Beta 57a instead of Beta 58).
The 535 EB is known to not be a good choice for sibilant singers,
but can sound great on others, including James Taylor live tour.

Out of my personal microphone "inventory", the closest sounding (relatively) neutral dynamic microphone would be the Peavey PVM 520i. It flattens out even more when you side angle it, and has a
good off-axis frequency with the primary sound source.
(has a mild presence peak that's why)
You can read about it at www.prorec.com in the article titled "True Love" (excellent BTW). They sell for around $100 or slightly less on e-bay in good or better condition.
It's not designed to be a hand held.
Have two (!) of them at home, and they are a major sleeper.

Chris
 
My favorite live vocal mics are (in a rough order):

Shure Beta 87

Shure SM 58

Beyer M 88

AKG 535


As far as in-ear monitors, THIS thread will give you a good idea what the issues are. I recommend, in the strongest possible terms, that you NOT go for in-ears on a budget of any kind. It is not something which non-professional engineers should do. The potential damage to your ears is just too great.

BTW, I do live sound for a living, so take that for whatever bias/experience it is worth.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Well, the in-ear monitors work great... but, they do take a little getting use to, and their not cheap. Also, as Light said... they may not be a good idea for non-professional engineers. However, they could allow you to use your B1 live.
 
Brett,
This all depends on what kind of gig you're doing - if it's just a coffee-house kind of thing, without huge volume, you can use your B1 anyway! If you're going to have loud monitors, then that's not really an option. I use my C1 and MXL603's with a reasonably loud multi-piece band onstage at my church on acoustic and piano, and because the PA is not really loud, I've never had problems! Take it along and see what it's like when you sound-check.

Glad you like the B1 - is it ok after the drop?

Good luck,
Steve
 
Thanks for your suggestions guys..much appreciated. Definately a lot of mics to look at..the peavy looks nice too, thanks Chess.

I definately wont bother with in-ear monitors..although it would be sweet and would let me use the B1. Thanks for the thought though DJL..i couldnt really afford them anyway.

Steve...the gig is just at a party and will prob just have 2 speakers..not real loud, so yeah..could maybe get away with it?
I'm really loving the sound of the B1..very flattering for my voice anyway. Oh..and its ok after the nose-dive! Its still a bit bent but i'm not gonna bother trying to mend it..it still sounds fine.

I am however..about a month or two away from starting to do some gigs with a 3 piece band so i WILL need a new mic...i think i'll go in and do a test on some of the suggested mics..see how i go!
 
If you have phantom power available on your PA Mixer have a listen to the AKG D900. I think it is one of the better sounding hand held Mics.
It also has good feedback tolerance.
I find it much better than the SM58 but thats just my opinion!

Tony
 
Thanks Tony...i'll check it out. Bit nervous doing the gig as its my first time doing vocals. So i want to have a mic that i'm happy with how it sounds. Or my performance will definately suffer
 
A vote here for SM58, especially for your situation. You can get right on top of it, spit on it, knock it over, and it'll be fine. It helps bring out the presence in a male voice too, a good thing for inexperienced vocalists.
 
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