mics for acoustic guitar, harmonica, voice

  • Thread starter Thread starter sfitz
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One last (not likely) question...

First !!!, I want to thank all you guys for taking the time to respond to my questions...this is a really cool forum. You have helped me in a huge way to narrow down which mics I need.

A few of you asked about mp3s; I don't have any yet...some day though.

One last question...I think for Richard Monroe with the Roland and "boatloads of outboard gear". I tried to buy the SM7b and the rep told me he had been getting lots of reports of the SM7b needing tons of gain for a good signal and then it was too noisy (especially if I was using Roland preamps and a room that was not quiet...its just an office with no sound proofing). You had mentioned that the preamps on the Roland were not so good, but you thought that this mic would still work OK if I used it up close...do you still think so, even after what the rep shared about this mic? The rep suggested the EV-RE20 or the Beyerdynamic M88TG as "better alternatives"...I know nothing about either of these except that I think somebody else had said that the EV-RE20 worked OK for their harp/voice. Will I encounter the same gain issues with other mics like these?
 
I haven't noticed a big difference between the three (and I have all three). I mentioned the gain only because it needs more than a condenser. I think you'd be okay, and if not, it wouldn't break the bank to pick up an audio buddy or Rane or something.......
 
Holy shit! The rep gave you pretty good advice. The RE20 would work fine. It needs a bunch of gain also, but not quite as much as the SM7. It's a little more expensive, but a great mic. I doubt anyone on this board will have much bad to say about it. Note this- it's not the SM7 that's noisy with the Roland cranked up- it's *the Roland* that gets noisy when it's cranked up. Down the road, a good preamp will help a lot. Good ones are quite pricey, but a good cheap one like M-Audio DMP3 (about $150) will help- It doesn't bypass the Roland's pres, but it allows you to turn the DMP3 up, and the Roland down. The next step is to get a preamp with digital output, and go into the Roland by S/PDIF, which will bypass the Roland's preamps completely. I use a Joemeek twinQ for that. That's an $800 or-so preamp, which isn't really very expensive in the preamp biz. For now (I'm really not trying to break your bank), I think the guy is right, that the RE20 would be a very good choice. You'll still need some kind of condenser for the guitar.

Another possibility for the condenser is a small diaphragm or mid-size diaphragm mic in a larger housing, which will be good on the guitar, but also can be used as a vocal mic, giving you an option for a different vocal sound. My 2 favorite budget mics in that class are Audio-Technica AT4033 and AKG C2000B. The C2000B (not 3000B) is a mic that very few people respect, but mostly because they haven't used it. You can find them new on ebay for under $200. If you combine that, or the 4033 with an RE20, you should be able to record your basic stuff, and other things as well. You never know- down the road, you'll find that the RE20 is *very* good on electric guitar cabs, kick drum, Djembe, lots of stuff. The C2000B and AT4033 are good on tons of stuff, especially guitar cabs, as a drum overhead, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and banjo.

In the end, me and this rep see the same thing. SM7 *does* require a lot of gain to pick up anything that isn't right on top of it, and tons of gain isn't something the Roland does very well. Eventually, you'll need to feed it with an outboard preamp. For right now, I think a really good dynamic will be OK for the close-mic'd stuff, and if you can afford it, RE20 may be the better choice. It will require quite a bit of gain also, but the SM7 is famous for its low output. Good luck-Richie
 
One other thing that occurs to me about the SM7B [and since I haven't use the Roland unit or had any experience with the RE-20, take this for what it's worth] -- it is decidedly low output, but for me the big thing turns out to be less a matter of gain and more a matter of input impedance. I have two pres that I use with SM7B - one has variable input impedance - I find that I'm most happy (and by that I mean very happy) with the mic when I use that one with the impedance turned almost all the way up - over 2000 ohms. On the pre with fixed low impedance -- which has plenty of quiet gain -- I feel like I'm fighting the mic a little.
 
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Shure-520DX-Green-Bullet-Mic?sku=270175

Never used one of them, but if you're looking for that half-distorted bluesy harmonica tone, I've been told this is the way to go.

Honestly, I've been meaning to grab one for a while and I don't even play harmonica - I've got this suspicion that it would sound awesome on an acoustic for bluesy slide work. Then again, I'm a bit of a Tom Waits fan, so my taste certainly runs towards the raw and ragged "broken" sort of sound... :D
 
Sennheiser 441 for harp/vocals?

I'm not sure if anybody mentioned the Sennheiser 441 in this thread or not, but a famous bluegrass harp player (I think his name was Stevens) listed it as one of his favoites for harmonica in a web article I read called "taming the shrill". It is a big jump in price from the RE20 ($800 instead of $350), but I read elsewhere today that the RE20 not only requires similar gain as the SM7 (which will make it tricky for the lame preamps on my Roland), but of more concern for me was that people are saying it is really not a vocals (singing vocals) type mic. My singing style is not opra or anything, but it isn't broadcast-type-talking either. I have heard that Tom Petty and (I think) Fletwood Mac used a 441 for vocals so...thats good enough for me I guess. Just wondering if any of you guys owns or has tried a 441 and what you thought. Ever tried one with harp/vocal or with poor preamps...can I make it sound OK with a Roland or will the gain thing still be an issue?
 
In my exposure to the 441 over the years (live vocals or rehearsals more often than studio) I've always thought it was a pretty amazing mic. On the other hand while I've come to like moderate proximity effect for my own live mic (trying out the Heils lately), at least on male vocal for recording the lack of proximity on the RE20 looses something. Then top end seemed odd too. (the guys I had it on? Wrong mic, wrong voice I presume, FWIW. ;)
 
I have a very nice mic selection and given the option to purchace 1 mic for your applications I would buy the AEAR84 ribbon. Its figure 8 and sounds fantastic on any acoustic application.Really good value.

Cheers

Peter
 
Had a recording session with my Harp player tonight... and tried something new. Set up two mics for the harp (played acoustically, not through and amp). One was a Fathead II, the other was an MCA SP-1. Tucked 'em up tight to one another, and had him play into them as if they were a single mic. Then panned them L/R at about 10:30 and 1:30.

Sounded really good. There's enough difference between the two that it sounded almost like a doubled harp part... but since it was a single take, it was lock solid tight. I'm pretty pleased with it.
 
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