Microphone Trends

[dgatwood]

The MK-012 is a nice sounding mic, if a little dark for some uses. I haven't used the 603, but I have used some of its Chinese brethren, and some of them sound pretty trashy in the top end. I'm not sure if the 603 does, though.

 

[LDS]

...spend your time working on mic placement and practicing your instrument.

Then spend your time working on mic placement and practicing your instrument.

This. Absolutely. It takes less practice to make a great mic sound good than to make a good mic sound great.

 

[grimtraveller]

I'm one of those people that thinks 'a microphone records sound....'. Therefore pretty much any mic can record any source. Sure, there are variables {where and how it's placed, how the vocalist/instrumentalist does their thing, the volume, how the preamp is and it's setting etc} but essentially, for me anything can go unless, having tried it, I've found I don't like that particular sound at that time.
Up until a couple of years ago, I only used dynamics. I got a couple of condensers because I read lots of peoples' experiences with them {mainly as drum overheads} and thought it would be interesting to give them a whirl, mainly to see if I noticed any difference. I was recently given a couple of condensers {a Rode and an AKG} that I would never otherwise have even thought of getting because I'm happy with my 2 cheap EM700s. I'm also very much an equipment minimalist.