Help me buy a new vocal mic!

[bigtoe]

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.

it works well if you want to record noise coming out of anyone's hole...that includes the OP's hole.

this is why it's easily recommended to whomever, whatever they sound like, particularly if they aren't happy with their cheap condenser.

Mike

 

[kidvybes]

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.

...I've been trolling these sites for years, and frankly no other mic has garnered so much praise from so many (as the SM7)...you're questioning our suggestion, but you've obviously never tried the SM7...(try to find a pro recording or broadcast facility that doesn't have one...or five)...may I also suggest you give it a try, especially since you mention the Solidtube...the point here, which has been made more than once, is that the SM7 flatters more different voices than your typical LDC microphone...it may be the most used pro vocal mic outside of the U87...it also retains one of the best resale values in pro audio, so if the OP didn't find it flattering to his voice, he would have little trouble recovering the better portion of his investment (try that with a Solidtube)...once you've tried one, feel free to comment...

 

[antichef]

others may have assumed he wanted to record a bunch of other people.

Not me - I was going for myopic oversimplification

Actually, I haven't given a recommendation yet, but that's not because I'm being sensible -- I give another vote to the SM7b, and I have a Joly-modified Oktava MK-319, and both sound good on most people. My favorite vocal mic right now is a ACMP-6802T (group buy tube mic) that has been heavily modified by Marik with a new capsule and transformer - not something you can pick up of a shelf. But I've also had good results with an AT4040.

 

[chessparov]

Just to add...

Make sure to try the SM57 and EV 635a out.

FWIW I'm one of "those" singers where the '57 beats out some uber-expensive LDC's, and you may be too. The 635a tends to be excellent for 1st/2nd tenor voice males IMHO.

Chris

 

[shannon509]

oktava

i don't know too much about mics, but to me my oktava 319 condenser is like some amazing thing. i'm a beginner when it comes to mics. i upgraded from a cheap karaoke mic to a relatively cheap peavy vocal mic. i guess you might compare the peavy to a cheap shure, and there's no reason to mention that a mic like that could be useful on stage. i once used it to catch my voice bouncing off the wall. got a high pitched sound source?.. just point that cheap peavy directly at it and there you go.

but this oktava 319 condenser seems to do a really good job of recording things like voice and guitar in terms of sounding like those things REALLY sound to the human ear, and it's kind of multi-directional. i stuck my peavy and oktava out the window to record a storm. not too bad there.

i don't think it's a total stretch to say that with proper placement you could get a pretty nice recording of just about anything with a $40 peavy and a used oktava, which in my case i got for the same price.

other than line/computer noise, i used my cheap karaoke mic to record thunder, crickets, a spring fed creek, even got some guitar clips that weren't too horrendous. in that sense it's just an omni-directional mic, though usually for guitar or voice it sounded like total garbage.

somewhere on one of these boards i found a link to some writings by a guy who said "the mic doesn't care what it's recording. any mic will record anything."

now, i think it might have been the same guy who said that he never recorded vocals in stereo, which to an experimenter like myself is kind of an outrage.