What's your Mic of Choice???

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What's your mic of choice???

  • I do not understand

    Votes: 15 36.6%
  • The use of these options.....

    Votes: 26 63.4%

  • Total voters
    41
It would have to be my Shure SM-57...
When Armegeddon arrives, the only things that will survive are Cockroaches, Aerosmoth, and Shure SM-57's.
 
Ummm.....

The 57 is a cool mic. Very versitle, very useful. Hell, I'll trade my 57 for your U-87!
 
Oh, you all are going to kill me... I know this is my first post, but I'm a BIG mic fanatic, and a commercial studio owner and so have quite a few.

The three I would jump through fire to save would be my two Telefunken ELA M 251 E's, and my Stephen Paul modded AKG C-414 EB, but those are multi-thousand dollar mics that most "real world" users can't afford.

So what can a home recordist do? Like I said, I have lots of mics. Some of my favorites in the more affordable range are:

Shure SM57. Not perfect for everything, but there's little a good engineer can't record with one, even though there may be better choices for some applications. 8th wonder of the world!

Rode NTK: An incredible value at the price, and a competent mic worthy of a place in ANY studio's mic locker.

Oktava MC012. Nice instrument mics with a sound that is similar to the Neumann KM84, but for a lot less. Quality is all over the map from great to dreadful, so be careful when purchasing, but get a good one and you'll be very happy!
 
Pokeefe..Ah could I please borrow one of those 251's..I'll give it right back...Promise!...LOL ..Welcome!Its great to have pros to ask opinions of !

For me I guess that the one mic that I own would be my ML19.

Don
 
Henri Devill said:
Pokeefe..Ah could I please borrow one of those 251's..I'll give it right back...Promise!...LOL ..Welcome!Its great to have pros to ask opinions of !

For me I guess that the one mic that I own would be my ML19.

Don


Hi Don, and thanks for the nice welcome!

You remind me of a certain user over on Musicplayer.com who is always trying to get me to trade my '251's for an AKG C-414 "straight across"... and as I always tell him, "No stinkin' WAY!" :D



Phil O'Keefe
Sound Sanctuary Recording
Riverside CA
http://members.aol.com/ssanctuary/index.html
pokeefe777@msn.com
 
I love my Røde NTK. Bought it about a month ago, and I was quite astonished at the sound quality. I have an NT-1 too, and the NTK blows it out of the water. I also have a C1000S, which I am trying to sell, and an SM57 which is also on the block. The only thing I would use the 57 for is to mic a very loud amp, and since I live in an apartment, that option is not currently open to me.

The NTK is a sweet mic at any price. I recommend it highly.

And, I believe it is assembled by exploited Aussie proletarians, not Chinese...So, I guess they get paid in Foster's, rather than rice...
:D
 
I believe the chinese do everything but install the mesh screen and the shaft on the outside. thats why the insides are the same on the rode nt2 and the beringer b-2.
 
I have three mics I use.
The oldest one is a Shure directional. It's about thirty years old and worn. The plate that had the model is long gone. It still sounds good.

I also have a SM57.
One thing about these two mics, they do nothing to enhance the tonal quality of my singing voice. They make me sound monotone, flat, outta key. On occasion they even make it sound as if I have forgotten the words.
The other guys/gals in my band use them, not me anymore.

When they use these mics the finished procuct sound very good. I've used both mics on my acoustics, metal and nylon, and they do a wonderful job. It's just something about my unique voice that the mics seem to have a problem with.

Then I have a Green Bullet. I use this mic primary for blowing my harp. I'm not sure but I think this mic was made for harp use. It has a nice volume control so I can still blow steady, but drop the volume so I'm not fighting with the singer or other intstruments.
I won it in a contest and have never done any research on it. But it has to be the best harp mic I've ever used.

I've used all three in my recording and I have to give them all a thumbs up.

The other guys have some different kinds of mics, but since I don't do any singing I'm not sure what they are.
 
Actually, Darrin, I have a friend in OZ who tells me that that Røde does most of the assembly these days, and I think get some of their parts from Russia, not China. Not like that's likely to make a big diff.
 
Bad Gas..The Green Bullit is the first choice for harps..Great harp mic!

Don
 
MK-Ultra.

I don't know anything about how russia or china builds component.
But when a company like Rodes, or anyone of the thousands of companies who, buys from overseas manufacturing companies, don't they have certian specs they require for the parts they place in mics/amps/hardware? So wouldn't the quality be the same weather it was built in Canada, USA, Malaysia, China or elsewhere?

This is what I've always assumed in the past few years.
If anyone knows lemme know. I'm just curious about this and really don't know where to find out about it.
Thanks.
 
Hey Henri.

That's what I've been told. The Green Bullet is a Harper's mic.
I never took much stock in what people told me cuz most of them seem to be the know-it-all types, especially when drinkin'.

I've tried a lot of mics for my harp and found that the shape, plus that volume control, just fit my hands like it was made for them. I've yet to find a mic that can beat the quaility of those high shrills or low chugga sounds. It's a quality mic and I'm very pleased with it.
 
I don't have a favorite mic, but I really like the Oktava MK219. They sell them for $99 at Guitar Center, and after reading a review I decided to buy one. The review said it was like an "SM57 on steroids" and I think that's a pretty accurate description. It doesn't have the hyped high end like many LD condensers do and it's mid-range is strong. I like it much better than anything I've used on electric guitar amp (usually going through a Joe Meek VC3Q), I don't have to crank the amp like I do with my dynamic mics and I can pull it back a few feet from the grill and get a natural, powerful sound. It sounds great on hand percussion too. It's not an attractive mic, but what do you want for $99.

BTW- Please don't tell C7sus I bought a Soviet-made mic.....he might accuse me of being a communist sympathizer.
 
Hey BadGas,
About the "assembled in ___insert country here___ from Chinese parts" vs. "Straight off the shelf in Beijing" vs. "Built in China to spec". This was covered a bit in some of the C1 discussions/flamewars. Apparently, they are NOT the same.

If you want more details let me know...

Queue
 
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