You get what you pay for.

M

Massimo

New member
Let's face it when it comes to mics you get what you pay for. A hundred dollar mic is going to sound like a hundred dollare mic and a thousand dollar mic is going to sound, well you get the picture. The bottom line the more you pay the more you get. So if you want a decent mic save your money and at least get something in the mid quality range. Unless you make alot of money then you just get the best.

I just bought a Shure KSM32 it's on it's way. I'm shure it will be a good mic.

Peace
 
Massimo said:
Let's face it when it comes to mics you get what you pay for. A hundred dollar mic is going to sound like a hundred dollare mic and a thousand dollar mic is going to sound, well you get the picture. The bottom line the more you pay the more you get. So if you want a decent mic save your money and at least get something in the mid quality range. Unless you make alot of money then you just get the best.

I just bought a Shure KSM32 it's on it's way. I'm shure it will be a good mic.

Peace
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If that were always true, why do you suppose Michael Jackson used a $300 Shure SM7 to record Thriller (the biggest selling album of all time), instead of a $10,000 Neumann or $25,000 Telefunken?
 
Harvey Gerst said:
If that were always true, why do you suppose Michael Jackson used a $300 Shure SM7 to record Thriller (the biggest selling album of all time), instead of a $10,000 Neumann or $25,000 Telefunken?
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Yes, you're right. There are those mics that don't cost a fortune that are still high quality. But you notice he didn't use a radio shack mic either. 300.00 dollars isn't cheap either for some people. I should of added that a good mic doesn't have to cost a thousand dollars.
 
so your theory is that you get what you pay for, except for when you dont.

how about bono using a 58 for his vocals? thats a bit cheaper than an sm7.
 
You usually do get what you pay for, but magic isn't usually for sale in a box. If you have enough money, you can hire Al Schmitt, and then you will sound better, if you sound good already. There are a lot of paradoxes in recording, like knowing when to stop, and knowing when to do it again. One of the skills that needs to be learned is when to use a cheap piece of gear, and when not to. Like's a bitch. You just pray that you have a voice that sounds good through an SM58, rather than a Telefunken U47. It sure as hell simplifies life.-Richie
 
Massimo said:
Let's face it when it comes to mics you get what you pay for. A hundred dollar mic is going to sound like a hundred dollare mic and a thousand dollar mic is going to sound, well you get the picture. The bottom line the more you pay the more you get. So if you want a decent mic save your money and at least get something in the mid quality range. Unless you make alot of money then you just get the best.

I just bought a Shure KSM32 it's on it's way. I'm shure it will be a good mic.

Peace
Click to expand...

Gear is important. You (more often than not) get what you pay for. Quality gear is nice. However, how the gear is used is very important.

Imagine a Tippin OMT acoustic guitar, AAA Brazilain rosewood/Adirondack top, -41 style with torch headstock inlay. It's about a $10,000 guitar. Now imagine some musical hack, playing this instrument. How's it gonna sound?

Change the picture. Same guitar playd by, say. Alex DeGrassi. World of diffrence. Same gear.
 
eeldip said:
so your theory is that you get what you pay for, except for when you dont.

how about bono using a 58 for his vocals? thats a bit cheaper than an sm7.
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Well I posted this thought thinking of the large condensor mics. I recently went through the process of trying to figure out which mic was the best for the cheapest price. Then after racking my brains I realized that most likely I'll get what I pay for. So if I bought like lets say a Rode NT1000 or an Audio Technica AT4040 and or other mics in this price range that they would sound great and better than if I bought a Marshall MXL 2001 or a Samson C03. In the end I opted for a Shure KSM32 I could of picked the KSM27 but I figured well I'll spend a little more and get a little more. Plus I got a good deal on it.

As far as other mics I know the Shure SM58 and the SM57 are industry standards and those cost under a hundred bucks.

But it does seem like with condensor mics and a whole lot of other things in life quality comes at a price.
 
Although it's usually reserved for making men feel better about a small dick, it applies here as well. It's not the size of the boat, it's the skill of the captain. I could give Bob Ohlsson my computer mic and an audio buddy and it would probably come out better than me with a U47 and a vintage Neve console.

To further illustrate: If Doc Watson plays my crappy Yamaha, it still sounds like Doc Watson. If I play Doc Watson's guitar, it will sound like ass.
 
Richard Monroe said:
You usually do get what you pay for, but magic isn't usually for sale in a box. If you have enough money, you can hire Al Schmitt, and then you will sound better, if you sound good already. There are a lot of paradoxes in recording, like knowing when to stop, and knowing when to do it again. One of the skills that needs to be learned is when to use a cheap piece of gear, and when not to. Like's a bitch. You just pray that you have a voice that sounds good through an SM58, rather than a Telefunken U47. It sure as hell simplifies life.-Richie
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And just to make it more confusing, Al Schmitt owns a pair of MXL V67G's and a pair of 603's.
 
Hmmmm,

If I listened to all of the marketing hype I would have to buy Lynx2 converters, ADAM monitors, Neumann microphones, a dual processor desktop with 2 gig of RAM and 10,000 RPM SATA drives and/or SCSI, yadda yadda, etc. etc. etc.....

I don't think so....

Over and over I hear of GREAT recordings being sampled at 44KHz, using mass produced mics (as opposed to handcrafted boutique mics), on PII or III computers.

I feel very strongly that you need a variety of equipment to experiment with. And if you can afford that Neumann more power to you. But you don't need top drawer gear.... you need top drawer talent.

Wish to God I had some.
 
It ain't the cost it's the color of the mic. If it's the right color, it's the right mic, at any price point.
 
Middleman said:
It ain't the cost it's the color of the mic. If it's the right color, it's the right mic, at any price point.
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I couldn't agree more!

My brown mic sounds WAY BETTER than my "champagne" mics, and makes the silver one just unlistenable.


:D:D:D
 
musical5 said:
The KSM32 sounds like ass on my voice. Hopefully your voice is nothing like mine.
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Like "ass" haha, I notice people using that term around here. Well I plan to use it for my guitar cab mostly, some vocals too. It's my first studio mic, got to start somewhere.
 
Harvey, for general vocal use in a studio how impressed are you by the T3
purely on sonics, putting aside $$ for the moment?

There was a group of us at NAMM taking turns singing/listening to each other at NAMM and it sounded excellent to all of us IMHO.
It's my clear favorite out of the SP line.

Been told that the SM57 works very well on me, still would like a U47 or 251. Preferred the Telefunken USA 251 over their U47 by a bit, and both of them far above their repro of the C12.
Love the Manley Reference too BTW.
Not much of a fan of the U87ai so far.

A "secret" of the dynamics/ribbons (& some condensers) is that you can have the whole group record a live studio recording together easier
compared to needing a larger room for a condenser over bleed concerns.

Elvis used a EV RE15 or RE16 for most of his RCA recordings, which all had the musicians playing directly there as he sang. That kind of interaction
can often be heard in a record as an enhancement vs. overdubbing.

Chris

P.S. IIRC Roger Nichols thinks quite highly of the KSM32 FWIW.
 
wheelema said:
Hmmmm,

If I listened to all of the marketing hype I would have to buy Lynx2 converters, ADAM monitors, Neumann microphones, a dual processor desktop with 2 gig of RAM and 10,000 RPM SATA drives and/or SCSI, yadda yadda, etc. etc. etc.....

I don't think so....

Over and over I hear of GREAT recordings being sampled at 44KHz, using mass produced mics (as opposed to handcrafted boutique mics), on PII or III computers.

I feel very strongly that you need a variety of equipment to experiment with. And if you can afford that Neumann more power to you. But you don't need top drawer gear.... you need top drawer talent.

Wish to God I had some.
Click to expand...

D@mn straight my brutha'!!!

I have witnessed those who "GOT" and created "GARBAGE" while those who have "NOT" produced classics! Sure we all would luv to record using only Neumanns,Neves, SSL's etc but realistically we have to make the most out of our meager incomes and purchase the best we can afford therefore MASSIMO,
enjoy your KSM32! Obtain it's optimal performance in various mic'ing applications by experimentation. I copped me a used KSM 4 1/2 years ago and found it to be great addition to my mic arsenal sweetly suitable for vocals, strings (overhead mic'ing....<<<thx sonusman>>>), acoustical-ambience capture and certain amp-mic'ing set-ups.
Just my .0000000002 opinion but your $300 purchase will net you more than satisfactory results!

Peace
Q.rM
limited incomes
 
MISTERQCUE said:
D@mn straight my brutha'!!!

I have witnessed those who "GOT" and created "GARBAGE" while those who have "NOT" produced classics! Sure we all would luv to record using only Neumanns,Neves, SSL's etc but realistically we have to make the most out of our meager incomes and purchase the best we can afford therefore MASSIMO,
enjoy your KSM32! Obtain it's optimal performance in various mic'ing applications by experimentation. I copped me a used KSM 4 1/2 years ago and found it to be great addition to my mic arsenal sweetly suitable for vocals, strings (overhead mic'ing....<<<thx sonusman>>>), acoustical-ambience capture and certain amp-mic'ing set-ups.
Just my .0000000002 opinion but your $300 purchase will net you more than satisfactory results!

Peace
Q.rM
limited incomes
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear you man. What good is having a 1000 dollar mic if you can't sing or play worth a shit. On the other hand if you can really sing and play you can make a 300 dollar, shit even a 100 dollar mic sound gold. By the way I wish the KSM32s were only 300 bucks they retail at 499.00 but I'm a gambler and got one on ebay for alot cheaper. You do what you got to do.
 
Good luck with your Shure, Massimo, i'm sure you'll put it to good use. Who knows, you may never ever get rid of it. My first mic was an AKG C3000, because I did no research and just asked a MARS salesman what would work for vocals and guitar cab. They were on sale for like $175, so I don't think it was a bad investment at all. I made it work for 2 years, but then I realized there were more mics out there.....and then the sickness began....
 
Here's a paradox for you.

The Audio Technica 4050 Vs the AKG C414B.

Here in the UK the Audio Technica typically costs about £40 more than the AKG mike. But, in the USA the AKG is £84 more than the AT.


So... which is better?
 
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