Next mic in my arsenal???

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drbluezz

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Here's my current setup: Royer R-122, Sennheiser e906, two Shure SM-57s, Universal Audio LA 610 tube mic preamp/channel strip, Digi 002R interface, Protools LE 7.4. I play and record bluesy jazz and jazzy blues. My "studio amp" is a Louis Electric Tremblelux tweed based, single 12" speaker (Hellatone G12H30, but I have a Scumback H75 on order). The amp is approximately 25-30 watts.
My questions are...Do I need another guitar amp mic like a Sennheiser MD421 II, or a vocal mic like a Shure SM7B or AudioTechnica 4050? In my studio I only mic the amp and vocals. Everything else is direct in (i.e. Sample Tank 2 and Roland GR-33 for keyboards and horns, BFD 2 virtual drums, and a Fender P-Bass Special).
Maybe I don't need anything else? The Royer R-122 through the LA 610 and Sennheiser e906 through the 002R, simultaneously, already sound killer with a guitar amp. I can't imagine anything sounding much better? But I'd like to have a nice mic collection that would pretty much cover anything really well.
Wha'da'ya' think? Sennheiser MD421 II? Shure SM7B? AudioTechnica 4050?


Tom
 
Opinions are just that--opinions. Everybody's got one. So do I. I like (love) the SM7b. I know you're just vox & guitars--that's exactly where I was a year ago. I got the SM7b for vox, and I love it for that. But I also use it for bass amp, kick sometimes, and in spite of all the other cac mics I have, I use it for guitar cab sometimes.

Next opinion please...
 
Maybe the next mic should be primarily for vocals? It sounds like you have your bases covered as far as cabinet mics go. The 4050 is a pretty bright mic and I'm not sure how that would sit with your blues recordings. The SM7B is a lot less bright but a nice inbetween could be the 4040 or the 4033. An ADK Vienna might be a nice vocal option too.
 
I mainly record vocals and electric violin with my mics. Occasionally I'll run a synthesizer or drum loop through a guitar amp for effects that fit with the music I make.

I don't have a great need for a big collection of mics. So the plan I devised is such...
To cover my bases I need the following mic types.

1. Clean and natural.
2. Colored but realistic.
3. Unusual colored.
4. General purpose.

So to fill these I acquired the following mics... (in order as above)

1. Sennheiser MD-441U
2. Group Buy ACM-4
3. Oktava MK-219
4. Audix i5, Naiant XQ

Having thought carefully about my needs and considered things I would like to do in future projects it wasn't hard to list the applications. This in turn gave me a pretty good idea of what to look for and try out. I then posted some very specific questions about which mics for a specific application here and in other places to help narrow down the choices. I then went out and tried as many of the suggestions I got in reply as was possible.

I'm not a recording studio. I basically stick to one or two genres of music and bought only what I thought I needed.
The result is a modest but satisfying little pile of mics. They all work well for their intended usage and I'm pretty happy so far.


I hope this helps a little. :)
 
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