Where to next ?...Need Mic Advice

M

Mikey77

Member
It's a long way to the shop .... if you wanna R & R

Hi there....I'm in a fairly remote location in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I have a home studio and my two starter mics are an SP-B1 and a single Rode NT5...for voice and guitar. It's a long way to the shop.

I'm beginning to record other people in a fairly novice kinda way as a means of growing my skills and I want to get 3 or 4 more budget mics in the near future. Probably spend $400- $500 US. Probably mail order from the US as the Rodes are the only ones we get at a reasonable price because they're made here.

I thought that I would get a couple more SDCs and an LDC with more features than the B1. Recently I have recorded female jazz vocal, upright bass, grand piano, violin, & cello, and realise I need a broader palette of tools.

The B1 has worked well on the vocals I've encountered so far but I thought it would be strategic to get another LDC that would suit different vocal types, offer multiple patterns and a different character to the B1 (-or very little character at all?) and would suit some instrument applications such as Piano or Bass or even Choir. What is a good budget mic for Piano ???

My initial thoughts have been towards the CAD M179 and the AKG Perception 400. Both have omni etc. and seem to get reasonable reviews. I read the MXL V67 is good on some vocals and instruments. Has anyone had any experience with the MXL 2010?

As for SDCs, I've thought about the MXL 603s, as they are cheap and will probably do most things like violin, cello and mandolin etc.

I have considered the Oktava mics but some folks say they seem to be inconsistent and my mountain remoteness doesn't help if you can't choose or when things go wrong.

Any feedback would be appreciated...Cheers
 
Last edited:
I have no idea, but I would hate for you to crawl off of your remote mountain in the Outback to check this thread and have no responses.

Ummm... MXL V67G?
 
Mikey,

I would strongly suggest some workhorse dynamics. Depending on your budget perhaps two Shure SM57's and a Senn 421 or a Shure SM7. All great mics that will provide GREAT divesity compared to your current mic collection.

The Shure SM7 is an all time classic vocal mic and it is much different from the B1.

The other nice thing about those mics is that they hold value really well, so you can buy them and try em out for a while and if they do not work for you they will trade really well on these boards or sell on ebay.

I will get killed for this, but I do not hate SM57's on piano. Really though, I think you could do well with your B1 and Rode on piano.

I am sure you would love any of them and they will likely be with you until you are done recording for good.
 
A pair of omnis

Mikey,

Here I go again.

You can get a pair of high quality omnis and still have some budget left for another vocal mic. Some omnis even work good for vocals.

Maybe even two pair. Dynamic and condensor.

If you want to record what you are hearing in the room in stereo a pair of omnis is the safest bet.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
jdier said:
I will get killed for this, but I do not hate SM57's on piano. Really though, I think you could do well with your B1 and Rode on piano.

I am sure you would love any of them and they will likely be with you until you are done recording for good.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim, I guess I hadn't really thought about dynamics too much. Someone recommended the Beyer TG X 98 (I think that was it) as an alternative to the SM57. Does anyone else know this mic. The Audix i5 gets a little bit of praise too. Both fairly cheap I think.
 
Consider another NT5 just so you have a stereo pair. You might then add the Perception 400, as you say. That would give you a stereo pair (good for piano and many other things), and a multi-pattern LD. And BTW, it's y'all.-Richie
 
Mikey77 said:
Thanks Jim, I guess I hadn't really thought about dynamics too much. Someone recommended the Beyer TG X 98 (I think that was it) as an alternative to the SM57. Does anyone else know this mic. The Audix i5 gets a little bit of praise too. Both fairly cheap I think.
Click to expand...

I do not know the TG 98... I have something that I think is called an M88 or an M88TG or something. It looks like a thin 58 with an oversized ball on it. I like it fine, but given a choice, I would take the SM7 every time over it.
 
Richard Monroe said:
You might then add the Perception 400, as you say. That would give you a stereo pair (good for piano and many other things), and a multi-pattern LD. And BTW, it's y'all.-Richie
Click to expand...

Thanks for the dialect tuition Ritchie, I only had Jed Clampett and Bill Clinton as my mentors. I'm interested in the Perception 400 but I can't seem to find out much from any source, has anyone out there got an opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top