Let me ask you guys something about buying an expensive microphone

  • Thread starter Thread starter FoulPhil
  • Start date Start date
FoulPhil

FoulPhil

Well-known member
Howdy Yall! YEE HAW!

I'm the type of guy that spends 6 months to a year figuring it out before doing anything too drastic. I made the mistake of wasting money A LOT. I would buy something end up not being satisfied and then lose money in the process selling off the gear to get something different. So, it's going to be a while before I take the plunge into buying some high end mics. I don't think I've even owned a mic over the $500 price range.

I've had a few AKG mics and I liked them all really. So, I'm guessing the C 414 would be the obvious choice for me as far as upgrading mics to get a better sound over all. I'm really only going to be recording my Martin HD28 acoustic and vocals, but I would also like to get something that I can also use for other applications like over heads for a drum set etc.

I'm thinking about getting this stereo microphone set for $2199.00

DV016_Jpg_Large_485815_pair.jpg

DV016_Jpg_Large_485815_kit.jpg


My main question for you guys is if you had that kind of money to buy some microphones for the same purposes I mentioned above, would you drop it on these microphones or pick something else? I know everyone has their personal preferences, but the purpose here is really to get some opinions and maybe some other options. I need advice so that I can make a better and more informed choice when the time comes. This would be like a one time thing for me I don't plan on buying too many more microphones and certainly not anything this expensive.

There are cheaper options like this kit that has a variety of decent mics. I'm really looking to get a serious jump in sound quality and don't want to waste money on something that isn't going to produce the results I want. You guys dig? I would rather put some cash out and get it right the frist time :D

DV016_Jpg_Large_277114_R.jpg
 
You could do a lot of damage with that pair.

You could do M/S too.

My theory is you only live once, so I say go for whatever you want.

The only way to know is to go for it and try them out. I've never used them. I'm sure a bunch of folks here have and will be happy to plumb you up on them.

The next thing is you will want one or more really cool mic pres to go with those beauties.

I say go for that too.
 
c7sus said:
You could do a lot of damage with that pair.

You could do M/S too.

My theory is you only live once, so I say go for whatever you want.

The only way to know is to go for it and try them out. I've never used them. I'm sure a bunch of folks here have and will be happy to plumb you up on them.

The next thing is you will want one or more really cool mic pres to go with those beauties.

I say go for that too.
Click to expand...

I've tried some things out like you say. I use to have a Digi Rack + which was ok, but not mind blowing or worth the money really. I couldn't tell much of a difference between a digi rack or even cheaper PreSonus preamps. I know there are way more expensive preamps that would probably help me to hear and understand why I would want them.

The problem is I wont be able to afford both. Maybe later down the road I can upgrade preamps, but for now I was thinking about getting one of these smaller focusrite recording interfaces. Specifically the Saffire Pro 24 DSP. I figured the VRM couldn't hurt and have read some good things about it. Who knows what they'll come out with by the time I'm ready to buy.

Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP | Musician's Friend

Does it seem dumb to pair bad ass mics like that with a smaller interface like this? I just don't see the need for much more unless they have some magic interface somewhere that's the epitome of all interfaces lol. I think anything more would be over kill for me, but it does have ADAT inputs so it's expandable later down the road if I need to record drums etc.

I'm basically just going to be doing guitar and vocal style stuff. Don't think I'll be adding drums or any other instruments unless I find some musicians who want to work with me which is highly doubtful lol.
 
Last edited:
Hey Phil -

Take a read on THIS thread. I was just reading it today. You may get some insight to your question on if you should purchase an expensive microphone or pair.

I had that pair for a few years and ended up selling them off. They weren't bad just not my cup of tea. Did work very well with female vocals.
I have a pair of the older models that I plan on keeping though.
 
moresound said:
Hey Phil -

Take a read on THIS thread. I was just reading it today. You may get some insight to your question on if you should purchase an expensive microphone or pair.

I had that pair for a few years and ended up selling them off. They weren't bad just not my cup of tea. Did work very well with female vocals.
I have a pair of the older models that I plan on keeping though.
Click to expand...

I read at least half of that thread lol. I guess I'll read the rest, but what I read so far was only so helpful lol. I could just buy a U87 but is that really what I need? lol...
 
Nope. You don't need an 87.
Did you get as far as to when Harvey chimed in a few times with his knowledge?
 
In general terms, i'm not a fan of the C414. HOWEVER they are my all time favourite mic for acoustic guitars! I've also had some great results with them for drum OH's. If you're aiming to use them mainly for acoustic guitars i'd say go for it! If it were me (and it's not, but this is just my opinion) i'd be really tempted to get one C414 and one other similar priced mic; either a Royer R121 or something like a TLM103, purely to add more options. Then again, i'm a big fan or one LDC on acoustic guitar and i don't like C414's on vocals so my opinion is highly coloured.

A pair of C414's would probably serve you very well and, despite my dislike of them in other roles, they are my favourite LDC's for acoustic guitars
 
I've got a 414 which I am very happy with. I would be even happier with a pair of them.

When I first got it, I hooked it up with eager anticipation, expecting something, well, magical.

However, the sound didn't make me jump out of my seat, and I was a little disappointed.

But after a while, I realised what was going on. The C414 was smooth and even in response, and extremely versatile with its varied switching. It just seemed to do what was asked of it so effortlessly. It's a bit like the difference between driving a 4 cylinder engine and a six cylinder engine up a hill . . . they both do it, but the six does it so much easier.
 
Yeah I wish I had a way to try them out. I've watched videos on youtube for all kinds of mics, but I really couldn't tell you what the best option would be. I'm only assuming the AKG would be a good choice. How do you guys feel about the Audix microphones?
 
gecko zzed said:
I've got a 414 which I am very happy with. I would be even happier with a pair of them.

When I first got it, I hooked it up with eager anticipation, expecting something, well, magical.

However, the sound didn't make me jump out of my seat, and I was a little disappointed.

But after a while, I realised what was going on. The C414 was smooth and even in response, and extremely versatile with its varied switching. It just seemed to do what was asked of it so effortlessly. It's a bit like the difference between driving a 4 cylinder engine and a six cylinder engine up a hill . . . they both do it, but the six does it so much easier.
Click to expand...

I hear that. Some of the AKG mics I've used are the C1000A, Perception 220, C3000 and the C2000B. Out of them all I would say I liked the C3000 the best. I liked all of them other than the 220, which was fine, but just not like the others. I would be expecting a massive upgrade based on the price alone LOL.
 
FoulPhil said:
II would be expecting a massive upgrade based on the price alone LOL.
Click to expand...

Then I fear you'll be disappointed. It's a sad fact that, as the price goes up, the differences become more and more subtle. There's a huge quality jump between a $25 mic and a $50 one...and definitely a big jump going from $50 to over $100 and so on. However, the difference between a $500 mic and a $1000 one you'll have to listen to hear. Indeed, the earlier analysis of the C414 just being "easier" rather than spectacularly better rings very true to me. FYI, this applies to most high end products. For example if you were into video, you'd find that a $30,000 broadcast camera is only marginally better than a $3000 one--but sometimes you need that margin.

moresound said:
I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Click to expand...

Really? I quite like the Audix drum kits and also (for live work) the OM series. The OMs in particular sound vastly better than the SM58 to my ears...and the D6, for example, is my favourite kick mic by a big margin.
 
Ah moresound, you never hold back :D

Tbf my experience of Audix as only been their dynamic drum mics (not their OH's in the set of any of the other condensers they now seem to do) and they seem to do what they do pretty well. I wouldn't necessarily jump for them if i had options but, then again, i wouldn't turn my nose up at them if they were the only things available.

However, and this is based purely on what i've read rather than what i've heard, their new(ish) LDC seems to get good reviews. Then again, reading between the lines of what people have said, it seems that it falls in the "low priced LDC that does everything OK" category with a lot of other mics.

I'd still say go for the C414's as, even if you genuinely don't like them, they do seem to hold their value better than some gear
 
For a pair of top-end switchable large diaphragm condensers at a reasonable price, I would probably go for the Gefell UMT70S and order them as a matched pair (Gefell will match for no extra cost).
 
Justsomeguy said:
I'd still say go for the C414's as, even if you genuinely don't like them, they do seem to hold their value better than some gear
Click to expand...

This is very true. Like I said I sold off the pair that you show here Phil.
Purchase price 2100. - sold a year and a half (closer to two) for $1800. ;)
 
I still say go for it.

But you have to go for a better preamp too.

Think of it this way....

Suppose you buy the pair of AKG's and a nice mic pre and you mess around with it for a year or two and sell the whole lot off at a $500or even $1000 loss.

So what?

That $500/1000 loss amortized over the course of your remaining lifetime is gonna have exactly ZERO impact on your day-to-day life at any given point in the future.

A $1000 loss amortized over two years of owning the gear works out to about $40/month. That's just over a dollar a day.

In the meantime, you would have the use of some great gear, hopefully make some really great recordings with it, and have the experience of using high-grade stuff for yourself.

To me it's a no-brainer. If I had the flow to cover the rest of the bills I would continue to surround myself with far out guitars and amps and synths and all the stuff that goes with them. What is more fun than finally getting your hands on something you have lusted after for years?

This lifetime isn't about money, it's about digging what this world has to offer.
 
John Willett said:
For a pair of top-end switchable large diaphragm condensers at a reasonable price, I would probably go for the Gefell UMT70S and order them as a matched pair (Gefell will match for no extra cost).
Click to expand...

Not sure many places sell them in the US. A quick search on google wasn't very helpful either lol...


c7sus said:
I still say go for it.

But you have to go for a better preamp too.

Think of it this way....

Suppose you buy the pair of AKG's and a nice mic pre and you mess around with it for a year or two and sell the whole lot off at a $500or even $1000 loss.

So what?

That $500/1000 loss amortized over the course of your remaining lifetime is gonna have exactly ZERO impact on your day-to-day life at any given point in the future.

A $1000 loss amortized over two years of owning the gear works out to about $40/month. That's just over a dollar a day.

In the meantime, you would have the use of some great gear, hopefully make some really great recordings with it, and have the experience of using high-grade stuff for yourself.

To me it's a no-brainer. If I had the flow to cover the rest of the bills I would continue to surround myself with far out guitars and amps and synths and all the stuff that goes with them. What is more fun than finally getting your hands on something you have lusted after for years?

This lifetime isn't about money, it's about digging what this world has to offer.
Click to expand...

I hear that and agree with you totally, but I'm not sure I could afford both the stereo set of mics and a preamp. I would have to do 1 mic and 1 preamp in the thousand dollar range for each hahaha. Maybe I could save up a little more and get one of the less expensive Universal Audio 710 Twin-Finity. I don't know about you guys but it seems kinda of expensive just a few hundred less than the tube 610, but also has 2 channels and appears to be pretty flexible.

I would really like to just keep it simple but also of HIGH quality. I just want to be able to capture my rinky dink shit with the best possible sound I can get lol. At the same time with in a budget I can handle. I don't want to have to spend any more years buying and selling shit. I want to buy the best I can get my hands on the first time and have it so anytime I want to record my stuff I can do it and it be awesome. Taking into consideration the time it takes to learn to use the gear to it's fullest potential. I'm sure there is no easy answer, but I do thank you guys for giving me some insight. I have plenty of time to figure it out! :D
 
I have a 414BULS that I love. Great on acoustic guitar!! However I have a pair of Peluso CMEC 6's that sound fantastic on guitar and drum overheads. Pencil mics, but affordable and sound great.
 
As far as the Microtech Gefell mics, find them at Mercenary Audio. They are *excellent* mics. That said, I love the C414's for your stated application, but I'm not really convinced you need the extra bells and whistles that come with the newer models. I agree that the XLS is more closely suited to your needs than the XLII. The quality control is good enough that a matched pair may just be overkill. I think you'd do fine with a pair of the older C414B-ULS mics. It's my go-to LDC for acoustic steel string, sometimes in conjunction with Neumann KM184's, which are also great overheads.
 
I might end up just getting the AKG C 414 XLS and a Universal Audio UA-S610. I'll just keep it real simple man. I got to figure out the best way to get it into a computer first lol. I've always used some kind of computer interface, but not exactly sure what the best way to do it is going to be this time around. I think that might be a whole other thread though :P

I also like the UA Apollo interface, but if I got something like that I have to just used the preamps that come with it. Shit starts getting expensive, especially for just some dude recording at home lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top