Studio mic for male vocals under $300

[BenSav]

My name is Ben Savage, I am 21 years of age and reside in New Zealand.
I am looking at purchasing a new microphone and was wondering if people on this site could help me choose.
I have always wanted to try the blue spark, is that a good mic? What about the spark digital as it's compatible with my iphone? Any other good quality loq cost microphone for recording vocals would be great.
I am also after a decent audio interface but have been looking at the blue icicle which seems to be quite a good soundcard.


Thank you for your time.

 

[BenSav]

Any help/advice?
Cheers

 

[Justsomeguy]

- sE2200a II C
- AKG C214
- CAD M179
- MXL V67G
- Shure KSM27 (might be in your budget used)

A very good list from Arcaxis. My additions would be;

- the older sE2200a (the silver one).
- sE X1
- the older Rode NT1 (not the "a" version, the older matt grey one)
- Avantone CK6

As arcaxis said;

Each of these do have a slightly different characteristic sound. Some might be brighter, some might be slightly darker/warmer.

, so it's really worth trying as many as you can to see what suits your needs best. However, this can be difficult as sometimes the nearest local music store is 50 miles away and may not stock any of the mics you're looking at. In those cases there is some merit in looking at online audio/video clips but these really do need to be taken with a pinch of salt and bare in mind that those recordings will be that mic on their source in their room through their preamps and may sound different in your room with your gear.

 

[Armistice]

In NZ, the local music shop has probably just been destroyed by an earthquake...

I would recommend against buying a single inline interface like the blue icicle and for buying a standard interface. And if you can find $300, you can find a bit more, I reckon, so keep saving for a bit and you'll get a whole lot better options available to you.

As mics go, if you can find a secondhand NT2, they're worth a listen. I use one and people round here reckon I sound like the love child of Michael Buble and Louis Armstrong through it. OK, not exactly true, but still a nice mic.

 

[DJ Shands]

Check out the rode nta1. I have it and its great! Professional quality no more than $300!