Mic brand comparison questions

[mikejones]

microphones

Now I'm confused! As a beginner I bought a Peavey last week. sounds a whole lot better than my$30 Radio Shack. Some sound engineer muso said buy a Berringer its as good as the Sure 57. Another one says buy the Samson for $160. its three times better than a Peavey. Which is really at the upper limit of what a want to pay right now. Now the thread says they are useless. Aaagh. I suppose I could take my car keys, guitar and let my ears do the walking. Any advice welcome.

 

[dobro]

If you're starting out and you're confused, there are a couple of rules of thumb about mics:

1 You generally get what you pay for. Generally. Generally, if you pay more for a mic, you get a better sound.

2 There are some mics that a *LOT* of people (not everybody, but a *LOT*) find very, very useful. Shure SM 57, or the 58. AT 4033. Neumann TLM 103. Nobody would complain about being given one of these mics for their birthday. (By the way, the mic examples I used here sort of contradict rule of thumb #1 above - the Shure's cheap, the AT's medium-priced, and the Neumann's expensive. But all good mics. Just goes to show...)

3 If you listen to what people say about mics, you're gonna hear a *lot* of different opinions. Don't let it distract you. Keep your ears open (not just to what people say about the mics, but to what the mics sound like when you try them!), be patient enough to let yourself learn, and don't forget #1 and #2 above.