Help me buy a new vocal mic!

T

thexflamesxburn

New member
Hey all,

I'm looking to pick up a new vocal mic. Right now I use an AT-4040. It's a good mic, but it's a bit boring and i'm ready to upgrade. I don't have a huge budget, max out at $400. I will probably buy the mic off craigs list or ebay so that allows for a bigger price range.

I'm not looking for the highest quality, but I want something that sounds good (and different from the AT-4040) at a good price. I do mostly rock and acoustic stuff in my studio. I was thinking of a Rode.

Anything else I should clarify?
 
I'm sure lots of other people will jump in, many with the same recommendation, but rather than another low to mid level condenser, I'd go with a high end dynamic like an SM7 (my preference), EV RE-20 or Beyer M88 or Sennheiser MD-441.
 
2 ideas to toss in the midst...

+2 for the SM7

and if looking at tube mics...the MXL 960 with a 6072 tube upgrade.
Sweet.

:cool:
 
I'd say +4 on the SM7, but I'm curious about your description of the 4040 as boring. Y'see, when I got my SM7, I was a little disappointed--in fact I used the exact word you just did--I thought it sounded boring.

The problem is, condensors are so hot (and often hyped somewhere in the high end) that the SM7 sound boring in comparison. But the thing is, it really sits in the mix well. It's not sparkly on the high end, or thumping on the bottom end--so my voice in a pair of headphones sounded like...my voice!

But it makes the easiest mixing vocal tracks of anything I have. (Bonus: And it's my favorite bass amp mic.)
 
Yeah - it's the "boring" word that threw me, too -- I've got a 4040 (and 2 SM7b mics), and I haven't used it much, but I'm fond of it. What don't you like about it?
 
antichef said:
Yeah - it's the "boring" word that threw me, too -- I've got a 4040 (and 2 SM7b mics), and I haven't used it much, but I'm fond of it. What don't you like about it?
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maybe boring is the wrong word, but its very transparent. there's nothing that sparkles about it in my ears, or maybe its because its my only vocal mic i have and have used for the past 4 years, so its time for a change!

preamps i'm using are the digi002r pres and presonus digimax lt 8-channel. i know these arent choice pres, but my studio is mostly a hobby and to earn some cash from local bands, so i dont have an arm and a leg to invest in it. the preamps most likely wont be upgraded anytime soon.
 
How are you guys making recommendations without any hint as to what the OP's voice sounds like? :confused:
Shouldn't that play into the equation?
 
JTC111 said:
How are you guys making recommendations without any hint as to what the OP's voice sounds like? :confused:
Shouldn't that play into the equation?
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good point. but i dont sing haha. i do record a wide variety of styles: acoustic rock, hardcore, hip hop, pop rock. lately its been mostly acoustic john mayer types.
 
Another vocal mic that works for most is the EV RE15 (or RE16).

BTW EV made the RE20 much "larger" deliberately to compete against the Neuman U87 in the broadcasting industry. They are comparable IMHO for most vocals.

The RE20 is a bit cleaner on the top, whereas the RE15 sounds more bluesy to me.

Chess Records, for example, used the RE15 and EV 666 for their two main vocal mics between about 1967 through the early 70's FWIW.

Also the RE15 was Elvis' main vocal mic at RCA from around '67 onward...

Chris
 
WhiteStrat said:
But if he sings like me (God help us!) he should get a magic black box that makes other singers sing along with him!
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...and Autotune or Melodyne, right? ...'cause wouldn't 4 people singing out of tune be four times as bad one one? :D

Have you recorded anything with the magic box yet? Maybe a Barry White tribute album with special appearances by Alvin,Simon, and Theodore backed up by the Starland Vocal Band?
 
JTC111 said:
How are you guys making recommendations without any hint as to what the OP's voice sounds like? :confused:
Shouldn't that play into the equation?
Click to expand...

nope. i've recorded probably 200 vocalists on my sm7: jazz, blues, punk, indie, rock, metal, funk, irish, folk, etc... the great thing about it is it works on a lot of people and with a lot of styles of music and with a lot of pres.

unless you're building a large mic collection tailored to specific vocalists and styles and 'effects'...it's a no brainer no questions asked...and a great place to upgrade from a 'starter' mic like a 4040.

Mike
 
bigtoe said:
nope. i've recorded probably 200 vocalists on my sm7: jazz, blues, punk, indie, rock, metal, funk, irish, folk, etc... the great thing about it is it works on a lot of people and with a lot of styles of music and with a lot of pres.

unless you're building a large mic collection tailored to specific vocalists and styles and 'effects'...it's a no brainer no questions asked...and a great place to upgrade from a 'starter' mic like a 4040.

Mike
Click to expand...

If someone is looking for an all-purpose vocal mic to use on many different people, that's a different question entirely from what I thought the OP was asking... and apparently that is what the OP is looking for, but that wasn't known before I asked the question. I'm still a little perplexed by the answers but that's probably because my assumption in reading the original post was that he wanted to record himself; others may have assumed he wanted to record a bunch of other people. If so, that different perspective explains their answers.
 
Have you thought at all about a modded Oktava mic? Even an older stock ones sound pretty good, I have two MK-219 mics and a tube MKL-2500. I had the 2500 modded by Michael Joly at Oktava Mod http://www.oktavamod.com/ and it's a fantastic mic for vocals, thick but open and everything you'd want out of a tube mic. I'd recommend getting a modded one as the unmodified one is a bit dark. An unmodded MK-219 is a lot of fun and not super expensive.
 
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