mics for altos??

3

33fe

New member
Hey guys! I have a $500 budget, and a loud jazz voice with some sporadic highs (about D3 - D6)
I was wondering which mic would be most likely to give the best results? For right now I was between the MXL V67G, sE2200a, at2035, and the nt1.. any advice or alternatives would be much appreciated, I know next to nothing about home recording. I definitely need a mic that sounds warm and not too bright.
 
Hey 33fe!

Well I have the MXL V67G and it does have a "vintage" feel. If you take a look at its frequency response chart, you will notice that it has not much gain near the high frequencies (compared to the other ones you've mentioned).

se2200a.png
se2200a

nt1.png
nt1

mxl.png
MXL

at2035.png
at2035

Keep in mind though that a "warm" sound is not only achieved because of the mic...the room you record in also makes a huge difference. I record in a very live untreated room (my bedroom) and no matter of how much "dark" the mic sound...it has a natural tendency of emphasizing the highs.

Also the position of the mic makes a lot of difference.

I hope that helps (and if I am wrong in anything I've said, I hope some folks here maybe able to correct me and make things clear for you).
 
The problem is that the mics you have listed will all do the gob about the same quality, it then comes down to personal choice. I could record with any of these mics and be happy with them. On thing, these mics can be had for well under the $500 budget (although you did not say where you lived) so you could in fact buy something even better, maybe a multi patten mic that would give more flexibility with the sound?

Alan.

Just a bit of extra thought, how about a ribbon mic? I do use these on brass quite a lot and they sound very warm.
 
33fe said:
I definitely need a mic that sounds warm and not too bright.
Click to expand...

If this is the main concern then +1 to ribbon mics or even dynamics.
Some of the lower end condenser mics are known for being particularly bright.
If found that the mk219 and TLM193 buck the trend but I don't have vast experience of LDCs beyond that.
 
witzendoz said:
The problem is that the mics you have listed will all do the gob about the same quality, it then comes down to personal choice. I could record with any of these mics and be happy with them. On thing, these mics can be had for well under the $500 budget (although you did not say where you lived) so you could in fact buy something even better, maybe a multi patten mic that would give more flexibility with the sound?

Alan.

Just a bit of extra thought, how about a ribbon mic? I do use these on brass quite a lot and they sound very warm.
Click to expand...

haha well.. this would be my first mic so, I really don't know anything about any of this. I'm from Canada. For the ribbon/multi patten mics, is there a best way to figure out which one would be most suitable? Thank you for your help!
 
Eugh, not really.
Unless you want to go to the lengths of booking a studio to try out a bunch of mics?
That's overkill, though. There are plenty of vocal mic staples to choose from.

If you want to avoid overly bright or harsh mics that's easy enough. Either go with pretty much any reputable dynamic or ribbon, or carefully select a condenser that has a reputation for being natural sounding.

What interface are you using? If it doesn't have heaps of gain Cmolena's suggestion of MXL V67G or mine of mk219 might be the way to go.
I'd be less inclined to get a ribbon as my first and only mic but then, maybe you don't plan to record other sources?
 
For $500 you may be able to buy a MXL V67 and a MXL R144 ribbon? MXL have a new ribbon the R80 thats on special at Musicians friend at the moment too.

Having the 2 mics may give some flexibility?

Alan.
 
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