Which mic would you choose?

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AndrewC

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... given the following:

- It is intended for miking male vocals (baritone, not tenor) in an apartment.
- It will be run into an Edirol UA-25 EX audio interface/preamp.

... & out of the following possibilities:

Rode NT-1A
Studio Projects C1
Shure SM7b (dynamic)
Shure KSM27
Audio-Technica AT4040
 
Do you have to choose here? I have the last three you mentioned, and any of them could be really good (or none, I guess) depending on the voice -- will you have a chance to try them out? If I had to real quick choose between the KSM27 and the AT4040 in your situation, I guess I'd go with the 4040, but that may just be because I've had more experience with it. I don't think either the KSM27 or the AT4040 is going to demand a full 48v of phantom power from the Edirol, but if it's seriously underpowered, my suspicion is that the KSM27 will handle it better -- I'm speculating - this is just from looking at the circuitry, but not from testing.

If the singer is aggressive, then the SM7b is probably best (and, as noted, could be the best in any event). You may feel the need to apply more preamp gain with this one than with the others, and if they preamp is noisy, then your track could get noisy too, but you can also experiment with a lower preamp gain and a subsequent boost using digital gain. This may not work for live monitoring while you're tracking, depending on your setup, not sure (and to be fair, if there's noise in the track, boosting with digital gain will increase it, too, and that increase may be equivalent to what you would have got had you just turned up the preamp in the first place). If the preamp is clean, then you're good -- if it doesn't have enough gain for comfortable live monitoring and you can get by with that issue, you should be able to add gain digitally later.

I have zero experience with the first two.
 
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Just to add to what antichef said, if this is for your vocals, and if your voice is one of the voices that plays nicely with the sm7 (which it may or may not), then it very well could be flat-out unbeatable for you, at any price range. Like he said, aggressive is usually key with that mic - if you're loud as all hell, or hell, even if you're not, it's worth giving it a shot.

Then again, you really need to just try them all out, especially if the mic is only going to be used for one voice. I have the nt1a, sm7b, and I used to have a KSM32 (which, I assume, is similar to the 27). Out of those three, each could easily be "best" for different singers, and there could, also, easily be a singer whose voice just doesn't get along with any of them. :(

Kinda sucks for decision-making purposes that mics are like that....but they are. ;)
 
mshilarious said:
No, those two mics are actually quite different.
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Huh... Well, you're the man in that area. :D

I think my original point still stands, though - to the OP: Just make a day-trip and try them all out.
 
if it were me and i had no other mics, i'd go with the AT4040. that's based on zero experience, but i'd choose it because in my brain, i think it'd be the mic on the list that i'd get the most use out of.

if it were me and i already had my current mic collection, i'd get the SM7 because i don't have any mics that i'd consider to be similar to a Sm7 and it'd give me a different flavor.
 
what if any mic are you using now that isn't giving you what you need?

I own 3 of the above and have used 4. It's all dependant on the input signal but I'd have to say the C1 would be the best all rounder. The sm7 is one I had and got rid of because I have an EV RE20 that covers that hole in my arsenal

Never used the KSM
 
Well, I don't have a good LDC (or dynamic mic for studio vocals). I have a Shure SM57, a Sennheiser e 835, and, somewhat embarrassingly, a Samson C01. I'd like to buy a mic that will give me better results than I can get from any of the aforementioned for vocal recording.

I would certainly like to try several different mics but how does one go about doing this? Will they actually hook some up at Guitar Center or Sam Ash for you? (sorry, I'm inexperienced with mic shopping)
 
...two recommendations for baritone male vocals:

Dynamic - SM7B (flatout the best $300 you'll ever spend on a mic)...a keeper!

Condenser - Kel HM-7u ($300 of S-M-O-O-T-H condenser vibes...no harsh top-end Chinese bite...think U47fet)...and you get your money back if you don't like it!...

...those are IMHO, the 2 "best-bang-for-three-hundred-bucks" microphones you can buy!...and I've bought a bunch (and sold most of 'em!)...;)
 
AndrewC said:
Will they actually hook some up at Guitar Center or Sam Ash for you? (sorry, I'm inexperienced with mic shopping)
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Yes. If the salesman wants his commission, he sure as hell better ;)

edit: P.S. Since you are new to mic-shopping, here's a tip: Find a salesperson that you like, and learn his/her name. It's great to be able to call up Mike (or whoever) at Guitar Center (or wherever) and see what price he can do on XYZ product for you, the more you scratch his back by giving him repeat, hassle-free business, the more you'll see prices come down from what the sticker says, and the more he'll be willing to bend-over-backwards to accomodate requests like "I want to try every mic, through every preamp, through every converter, etc. etc.). That's been my experience, anyway...
 
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Thanks everyone. Pearl Jam's AOL sessions have 'bout sold me on a SM7b but I want to at least consider some LDCs too. I guess I'll be making a trip to the music store in the near future. Now, what to sing while I'm there... :o
 
get them all set up through the same mic pre and do the usual tests...house keys jingle, hand clap, foot stomp, bit of vocals etc.

DON'T get the store salesman to set them up through a $4000 pre...they'll all sound fantastic. Get set up as close to what you have at home and judge from there
 
Out of those, I have experience with the Studio Projects C1, the Audio Technica AT404, and the Rode NT-1A.

Personally I'd go with the AT4040, but as other posters have said, different mics for different applications, situations, voices etc. There's no sure fire way to pick it without testing them out.
 
It'd be between the SM7b and the 4040 for me...I'd try the SM7b first.

Frank
 
I went to Guitar Center this evening. They didn't have the SM7b or 4040 on display but did have both in stock. However, they would not let me try either one. The only mics I would have been able to demo were those in the case (i.e., out of the box). Moreover, they do not accept returns on mics! So, I ditched that bs and checked out Sam Ash. They didn't have the SM7b but did have the 4040 in stock. Again, I was not able to try it out in the store. However, they do allow returns up to 15 days on condenser mics so I decided to take the 4040 home with me. And, upon asking about getting a better deal, the saleman offered me $100 bucks to spend as I pleased simply for buying the mic for $299 (the going rate on them new). As a result, I got a pretty good deal. I went ahead and used that one-hundred bucks toward IK Multimedia's Miroslav orchestral midi software. I just installed that so I won't get to try out the mic until after work tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think. :)
 
AndrewC said:
I went to Guitar Center this evening. They didn't have the SM7b or 4040 on display but did have both in stock. However, they would not let me try either one. The only mics I would have been able to demo were those in the case (i.e., out of the box). Moreover, they do not accept returns on mics! So, I ditched that bs and checked out Sam Ash. They didn't have the SM7b but did have the 4040 in stock. Again, I was not able to try it out in the store. However, they do allow returns up to 15 days on condenser mics so I decided to take the 4040 home with me.
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That's....wow. I hate that it went like that for you, especially after everybody, myself included, told you to go try them all out. :mad: At least Sam Ash allows a return period. That's not too bad, then.

I suppose you could have bought one, opened it, and asked if you could test your new mic on one of their preamps...then got a refund and bought the next one. :D:D

AndrewC said:
And, upon asking about getting a better deal, the saleman offered me $100 bucks to spend as I pleased simply for buying the mic for $299 (the going rate on them new). As a result, I got a pretty good deal. I went ahead and used that one-hundred bucks toward IK Multimedia's Miroslav orchestral midi software. I just installed that so I won't get to try out the mic until after work tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think. :)
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Good to know your trip had a happy ending :D Did you catch the guy's name? He sounds like somebody who might be nice to know in the future for you.
 
Yeah, although I probably won't be buying anything else before moving late next year to Oregon.

I just tried the mic and :D
It's killer.
 
I'm happy with the AT4040, although I'm sure the SM7b is great. A LDC is more versatile, however. I can use it to mic acoustic guitar and cello while a dynamic, like the aforementioned Shure model, wouldn't work well for such an application.
 
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