Mics for Vocal Ensemble

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Tonyjava

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With an extensive harmony background, I started a vocal ensemble comprised of both males and females whose vocals range from a high soprano to a low bass. There are leads in both male and females parts too. What would be the best economic balance of cost and benefit as getting a mic is concerned. I am toatally unschooled about the "techiness" of mics and what specs to look for. I have an acquitance offering to sell his Oktava 319 pledging that it will be all I need then my University Prof. is selling a 2 Shure SM57 for $50.00, 1 Shure SM48 for $25.00 and a Shure SM58 for $75. I need mics essentially for recordings only and not so much for performance and I dont know where to start. Please help.

Which one off those two offers, (acquitance vs Prof) is a good one? Or do I perhaps need a combination of some of the mics and not the others? Recordings will be amatuer and Tascam US 122 based, on a Cubase platform.

Please help.

Thank you
 
Tonyjava said:
With an extensive harmony background, I started a vocal ensemble comprised of both males and females whose vocals range from a high soprano to a low bass. There are leads in both male and females parts too. What would be the best economic balance of cost and benefit as getting a mic is concerned. I am toatally unschooled about the "techiness" of mics and what specs to look for. I have an acquitance offering to sell his Oktava 319 pledging that it will be all I need then my University Prof. is selling a 2 Shure SM57 for $50.00, 1 Shure SM48 for $25.00 and a Shure SM58 for $75. I need mics essentially for recordings only and not so much for performance and I dont know where to start. Please help.
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Neither the SM57 nor SM58 are good at all on vocals, IMHO. They're okay for live work (though not good even then). I can't imagine the 48 being all that great, either. For recording, you can do much better.

The 319 is a fairly dark mic and from what I've read, really needs to be modded a bit to sound like you'd probably want, but it's not a bad place to start. I don't think I'd try to use it by itself for miking an ensemble, though.

Are we talking about miking the ensemble individually or as a group? Honestly, I'd be tempted to mic that sort of group with a stereo pair of small diaphragm condensers and treat it like a choir. Either that or mid-side miking with a figure-8 mic and a cardioid mic. I don't really have an opinion on small vs. large diaphragm for that....

Either way, I wouldn't start with any of the mics you listed, honestly. I'd start with a Rode NT4, AT822, a matched pair of Rode NT5 mics, or ideally, a Shure VP88. That said, you could probably do reasonably well with a pair of any reasonably decent small diaphragm condenser mics with reasonably flat response.
 
Thx Dgatwood....I think i will settle for the 319 ... it seems to be the popular choice right now. But do you think it is worth the price ?
 
I don't see that you listed the price for the Oktava. For a used 319, you shouldn't pay more than $75.

And you won't get stereo with one microphone.
 
Boy do I get sick of preaching them but, theres a guy sellling pairs of joe meek jm27's on ebay for $99 shipped.

Great product
Great seller
I've spammed his name and products at least 5 times that's how happy i was with the service and product.
 
$99 for a 319? that is about the same price my friend is offering for a new one ? is that a bargain?
 
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