Shure stereo mic choice for home studio general use

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nrand

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I'm new to this forum and looking forward to learning more.
I am looking for a pair of mics I can use in my home studio environment that is less than ideal.

I want to record mainly acoustic guitar and vocals into Logic. I should add that I do have an EV RE20 for my solo vocals - baritone voice, and want to use the pair or a single for small group harmonies.

My room does not have an isolation area but there are plenty of soft surfaces on the walls etc making it fairly dead.

I was thinking I need a strongly directional mic, not too sensitive given the environment, but one that will do the job well enough to pick up the nuances of the guitar - mainly finger-style, and with as low self - noise as possible. Its the balance between these factors I am not sure of.

I like Shure's range and have been looking at the PG81, SM 81, KSM 137 - or 109, and the KSM 141.

Am I in the ballpark with these?
What do others use in similar situations?
Thanks!
 
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Quote from nrand- "I was thinking I need a strongly directional mic, not too sensitive given the environment, but one that will do the job well enough to pick up the nuances of the guitar - mainly fingerstyle."

Good luck with that. Unfortunately, it is precisely the type of mic that reveals the nuances and complexity of fingerstyle guitar that reveals the nuances and complexity of- everything else. Some folks like to put an omni real close, and turn the gain way down, but that doesn't usually work out too well on voice.
If it were me, I'd use a pair of AKG C2000B's on the guitar, and one of them on the voice. Of the Shure mics you mentioned, SM81 will work pretty well on the guitar, but is far from an ideal vocal mic.

I guess in the end, as much as I like stereo recording, if I had to use the same mic for both, I'd use a single large diaphragm condenser. In most cases, I'd rather record acoustic guitar with a large diaphragm than voice with a small diaphragm. The C2000B is a rare exception to this, and works pretty well for both. The best Shure equivalent would be KSM32. If I was determined to record the guitar in stereo, I'd just get 3 mics- 2 small diaphragms for the guitar and one large diaphragm for vocals. SD-consider Studio Projects C-4 and Rode NT5. LD- consider B.L.U.E. Bluebird or Rode NT1a. Good luck- Richie
 
SM81's are a common mention for guitar. They're very directional as well. But as previous said, anything sensitive enough to get the nuances will get EVERYTHING. If you get the 81's you should probably get some shock mounts for them as well. I'd probably get the KSM141's myself.
 
I'm unsure of their whole range but I know that the Beta 58 dynamic mics use a supercardioid polar pattern which makes it very directional. Great for live stuff to prevent feedback but I imagine it'd also be good to isolate guitars and vocals from each other.
 
Richard Monroe said:
."

If it were me, I'd use a pair of AKG C2000B's on the guitar, and one of them on the voice. Of the Shure mics you mentioned, SM81 will work pretty well on the guitar, but is far from an ideal vocal mic.

I'd just get 3 mics- 2 small diaphragms for the guitar and one large diaphragm for vocals. SD-consider Studio Projects C-4 and Rode NT5. LD- consider B.L.U.E. Bluebird or Rode NT1a. Good luck- Richie
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Thanks
I was guessing three would have to do in the end. I am curious about the AKG C 200B you mention. I used to have a C3000 that I used in a similar setting and to me it was very cold sounding and not very interesting. How would you describe the C2000B?
 
The C2000B is the C3000B's much better little brother. It's a small diaphragm mic (1/2") in a larger retainer ring, which causes it to perform more like a mid-size diaphragm mic. It has a little color to it, which is a lot of what makes it possible to use it as a vocal mic., along with the larger housing (not a pencil mic). It actually sounds a little like an Oktava MC012, except it doesn't "pop" if you look at it funny, unlike the Oktava. I use a pair of them as a remote stereo array for choral and orchestral recording, and as a swiss-army studio mic. It excels on clean guitar cabs and small percussion, as well as everything from djembe to doumbek and conga. It's fair on strings and piano, and good on acoustic guitar and piano. Response is nearly ruler flat to about 11K, where there's a gentle 3db boost. I find the high pass filter a bit radical, and I pretty much never use it, except on something like a triangle. It's a compromise for what you asked for. That color means just a little less detail on the acoustic, but excessive detail is precisely why small diaphragm mics are usually not chosen for vocals. The C2000B is somewhere right in the middle, making it one of the most versatile mid-priced condensers. It suffered in market sales because it was in the same line as C3000B and C1000S, which were both underachievers in their price range. IMHO, it is the only mic in that series (including C4000) that is really worth its price.-Richie
 
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