Mics that generally play nice with modeling plugins?

[Captain Awesome]

Like I indicated, I'm not really looking for a vocal mic that has great presence right out of the box. I would like some suggestions on mics that are particularly good for tweaking in the mix to get a sound that fits whatever I'm doing, and relatively low in price...

 

[chessrock]

Dynamics are good for this.

I tend to prefer Electrovoice.

 

[Captain Awesome]

SM57/8 OK? I know plugins like Antares Mic Modeling are designed to work with them...

 

[mjau]

I've got the Antares plugin, and sometimes I'll use it if I chose a mic that ended up being completely wrong for a certain application. The other day, I used a 4033 as a front of kit mic and it was picking up some nasty hi hats, so I used the plug and ended up selecting a Royer for that application. I guess a 4050 might work really well, since that is a fairly neutral mic.

 

[Ronan]

A mic like a 57 is a great mic but it does not capture high end. they start to roll off around 11k as well as rolling off low end around 200hz. If you plan on using one of those "mic modellers" and try to create the sound of a full range LDC microphone, it aint gonna happen. The only way they modeler could attempt to emulate those high frequencies would be to add a ton of distortion to get high order harmonics.

I think mic modelers are really a joke. If you have a shure SM57 and a decent LDC, you will be able to accomplish a really wide range of sounds and in many ways have more flexiblitly than using a modeler. Changing your sounds by moving mics around will almost always sound better than adding digital processing.

 

[mrface2112]

I think mic modelers are really a joke.

i use them as an effect and nothing more. for instance, if a track needs a little "fattening up" or distortion or something, i'll clone it and then find the mic closest to the one i used (or choose the sm57 or sm7 if it was DI'd), model it to a u87, and crank up the "tube" effect and blend that in with the original.

this really seems to work some wonders on DI'd bass tracks (believe it or not), and vocal tracks that seem to be lacking in "balls".

but by all means, don't rely on a mic modeler to be a "fix" or a substitute for using the right mic in the first place. and don't ever think that you can take a 57 and model it to a U87 and have it "be the same thing".....


cheers,
wade