Help me decide which Mic please

[Aled_King]

Hello All.

I'm still fairly new to all this, and am looking to buy a decent LDC for Male Vocals (although micing a guitar cab would be a bonus if any of these mics would be good for that). I'm thinking of spending up to £150 on this, and it will be recording primarily acoustic Rock/Folk, in a fairly untreated room

Been checking out loooads of threads and reviews, and have narrowed it down (although not that much) to these Mics:

Studio Projects B1
Rhode NT1a
SE 2200a
Oktavia MK 319
CAD M179

Any help would be appreciated.
Aled

 

[Aled_King]

Bumpty bump.

If anyone has any experience with any of the above let me know.

Cheers

 

[Dogbreath]

Hey dude...
The only one outta your list that I have is the SP B1. I've used it on vox and I think it did a pretty decent job. Right now, there's a pair of em as OH's.

The Cad M179 is on my list of mics to get but that's just from reading all the good comments. No personal experiance here.

Not much help....I know.

 

[Aled_King]

haha. Nah, thanks for your help man.

 

[Jeff_D]

I've been using an Octava 319 for 5 or 6 years now. The only other LDC I have to compare it to is a MXL V67g- there really is no comparison.

 

[Jeff_D]

oh yea, and one of the guys here is selling an Audix I5. Very nice for guitar cab.

 

[AudioGeekOnline]

I would suggest that you also look at Audio Technica AT2020. IMO thats the best value for money in that price range.

 

[noisedude]

You might have more luck in the Mic Forum, so I'll move the thread there.

 

[santiu]

not sure if this helps, but you can hear some vocals on a NT2a and M179 here: http://www.myspace.com/domestudios I don't know how similar sounding the NT2a and NT1a are.

samples 1-3 have vocals done with an NT2a. Sample 4 has the vocals done with the M179 (just a snippet of vocal at the end of the sample). If you want to hear any of the the full songs, i can send you a link.

as an aside i use the M179 on the low tom all time and love it (in fact it's the mic on the low tom for all of the recordings on that page). All in all i think it's a very versatile mic.

 

[gehauser]

have narrowed it down (although not that much) to these Mics:

Studio Projects B1
Rhode NT1a
SE 2200a
Oktavia MK 319
CAD M179

Out of your list, I have a SPB3 and NT1a. I very much prefer the NT1a on vocals and acoustic instruments over the B3. B3 sounds brittle and harsh on the high end relative to the NT1a, and the NT1a has a solid, tight low end. The B3 sounds pretty good on delicate female voices or children's voices, but that is about it for me. I would choose the NT1a over it in all other applications. I think the B1 may sound a little fuller than the B3 (so I have read), but I would still go with the NT1a, of the two.