The Microphone Dilemma

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highriser

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Basically,
I have an apogee ONE with an internal mic. I have been using that to record my songs, a number of people have told me that it pairs very well with my voice which they say is hard to find even in mics worth thousands of dollars. That was great news to me because that is what I wanted but there are 2 things that bother me about it. First, I feel it sounds thin and people have agreed, I feel like my voice is not a powerhouse to begin with and I would like a bulkier sound. Second, I hear a buzz in the higher frequencies that may be in my head but it is not clear and smooth to me (maybe I'm just being a bit oversensitive...)

Thus, I have searched to find the mic that will pair well with my voice and fill in the above issues...a simple task right?
My first inclination was Akg I knew they were good mics and have a pretty even response so I went with the c214 and posted some clips it did not fit me well, it was too dark and others agreed that it was not the right one.
Next up a way brighter Mic the aT4040 this one I felt was a step up but still if it was btwn the apogee and the at the apogee was just clearer and the responses to my clips showed this.

So now I am thinking of trying out another mic, but before I go down the road of endless mics, I figured I'd get some advice.

Basically I could do one of three things, 1)shut up and be happy with what I have and make whatever I can with it (not my nature, but I could) 2)go with a modded mic which I hear lots of great things about but since I have not tried them, I do not know how well they will work with my voice but if they really mimic the Neumanns then it should represent the true sound that is coming from my voice (I wish i could try before I buy but it is kinda impossible in this instance unless u guys know a way) 3)keep the search going in the market of standard non-modded mics until I find one that works.

Does anyone have any advice on what they recommend I should do?

Here are some tracks so you guys can hear what I am talking about.

This clip is all my Apogee mic- My Song 4.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

This clip is first the AT4040 then Apogee- audio technica.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

This is an NT1a, Sennheiser, MXL v69, Apogee, C214 one after another- mic comp.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

This is the C214 first then Apogee- mic comparison.mp3 - File Shared from Box - Free Online File Storage

Sorry for the long post but I look forward to your responses!
 
The first question is- Where do you live? At your point, I would try to find somebody on the board that lives near you with a respectable mic locker and buy a couple hours of studio time for a mic shootout.
I'm afraid clips are fairly useless, unless they are uncompressed WAV. files, you're listening to them in a good room on good monitors, and you have a good example of the mix you are trying to sit them in. To make matters worse, we don't all agree on what sounds good. You need to worry less about what other people want to hear, and pay more attention to what *you* want to hear.

Find a studio with a bunch of mics. If it's somebody on this board, they'll probably do it cheaper. Take a mix you like with the vocals stripped, and lay down a 40 second or so section of vocals onto the mix with a large selection of mics. Then listen to them in a good room, on good monitors, bone dry (no FX, no compression, no EQ, nada.) Use the best clean preamp they have.
Do it blind, so you don't know what mic tou are listening to, and take yours also for reference points. 2 hours, 20 mics or so- It'll be the best money you ever spent. Good luck finding the Holy Grail or the Great White Whale, whichever one it turns out to be.-Richie
 
I'm bumping this, because after I answered, it totally disappeared from the post list???!!!-Richie
 
I live in Toronto Canada if anyone is willing to help me out then lemme know
 
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