i have $250 ... mic or mic pre?

D

drumminsnowman

New member
Alright, heres my questions:
I have $250. I am recording mostly acoustic guitar and drums kinda stuff. I want a nice sound for the vocals. Should i get a nice mic, or a nice pre for $250?

I currently have a DMP3 as a pre; i guess its colorless
and a CAD GXL2200 for vocals

lemme know!! cuz i wanna something in a month or so.
 
Hey. Don't buy a mic. Get the best sound out of what you already have and give me the $250 :D . Jus kiddin. Yea, get a mic man.
 
Look into the ADK Vienna and Hamburg or the Audio-Technica 4040. I haven't used the ADKs, but I've heard they're one of the best values in that price range, and the 4040 sounds nice on everything I've tried it on so far
 
4040 is excellent! I'd also look at selling your current Cad and getting a Cad M179 instead - I have both the 4040 and the m179 and from what I've seen, those two mics will do anything you need for under $500!

Jacob
 
yeah thanks for the input, i see it is obvious that i need a nice mic. so im gonna go ebaying and see if i can find any 4040's or KSM27's.
I hope this will make a nice addition to my little studio!
thanks guys.
 
Hey drummin, I agree with MIC! you will won't even come close to a decent pre for $250. Check out the audio technica 3035 ($199 street) I have one and it is excellent for the price. Also the Rode nt-1a my friend just got one and it's amazing for the price as well (usually $199 street) And spend the extra $50 on a monster mic cable. What good is a new $200 mic with a $5 garbage cable? The 4040 is an awesome mic but the problem is that everyone knows it so finding one used for $250 might prove difficult. Beside's if you buy new you get warranty, and you never know what some moron might have done to the diaphram on a used mic "hey bob watch this I'm gonna record my marshall stack cranked to 11 with this here micryfone right on the speaker yeehaw!" Know what I mean? Hope this helps, and finds you in time before you get ripped off bye some ebayer looking to unload a blown-out mic. Later, Dan
 
hey thanks hollowdan and homestudioguy. Yeah, so i looked on ebay and i found a few 4040's for about $279 and they were new. But, would it be worth it to get a CAD m9 for $299 for 20 dollars more? Maybe, i'm crazy, but i remember somebody saying that you shouldnt get a cheap tube mic cuz its gonna sound like crap? I dont know... I'm sure a mic like that wont.


so.. 4040 vs. cad m9?
 
http://mixguides.com/microphones/reviews/audio_cad_august/
"The M9 performs like it costs a lot more, and its clean, flexible performance fits in well, either as a first “good” mic for the novice or as a new flavor in a well-stocked mic collection."

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar02/articles/cadm9.asp
"Comparing the M9 with my various reference mics, principally Sennheiser MKH models and Neumann KM and TLM designs, I found it performed extraordinarily well, particularly since it cost typically half as much as the models I was comparing it to!

I can send you a song I recorded with my "not so great ;) " vocal and "annoying :eek: " alesis SR-16 drum track where you can hear how well this thing works on voice and acoustic guitar.

Send me a PM with your e-mail address.........

BG/HSG
 
Hey no problem drumminsnowman! Thank you for the appreciation!

I know it is "uncool" to spend money on cheap mic's but I have to say that they are really making some decent stuff for really good prices these days. I also believe that a choice of decent mic's would benefit you more than one great mic. No mic is "great" on everything. Yes you will actually find that a NUEMANN U87 may actually SUCK! on some things. No doubt those things will be few and far between lol. But you get my point. I have $1,000 mic's and I have $69 mic's (samson CO1, the best $69 I EVER spent, no joke!) and I still use ALL my mic's all the time. Some mic's sound better on some things than others do. Sometimes the crappiest mic you have in your mic locker is the just what the doctor ordered for certain things. I would still say, spend that money on something that is decent with a good reputation for around $200 and spend the extra $50 on a really good cable, you can get a monster cable for $50 easy. Like I said before an audio technica 3035 is a great mic for the money I have one and it has been chosen more than once over my $1,000 tube mic for certain things. Also the RODE NT-1A is a studio standard with a lot of respect, both mic's are under $200 street price, BRAND NEW! Or maybe an audio technica 2020 ($100 NEW) AND a samson CO1 ($69 NEW!!!) AND a good cable and still be less than $250 !!! Then you would have @ mic's that are really good sounding mic's so you could have choices on your next recording. Hope this helps my friend! Take care and good luck, Dan
 
ALMOST FORGOT!!!
The SAMSON CO3 !!!!
$99 street price and it has cardiod, omni, and figure8 patterns, 10db cut, AND low cut switches ofr $99 and it sounds REALLY good!
That and an A.T. 2020 ($99 also) and a good cable would give you many choices for mic sounds and a clean signal path!!!! When your like me and usually broke (lol) you need to make the most of your little bit of money.
 
mic pre

go with a mic pre, studio projects makes a sweet little mic pre for a hundred
dollars ,vtb1 is the model number. this thing kicks ass .its got a tube blender
on it you can go from solid to tube .then I would get that SP C1 and
you would have a pretty sweet channel.Its the only pre worth a crap
under 500 dollars.
 
Hey bigcountry, you should check out the presonus eureka IT is an amazing pre-amp for under $500, as is some of the joe meek stuff, and don't forget that for around $550 you can get a Grace 101 which will hang with any pre under $2,000 !!!! (still have to say for $250 spend your money on mics, it is well documented that the microphone is much more of a factor in the signal chain the the mic pre anyways)
 
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