@offnote... yeah, that one looks a more promising. Says it's got the "real condenser circuitry" whatever that means but I guess I should research that stuff before making a choice. Thanks.

@guitarhacker... I think I was casually researching those mics about six months ago. Kind of the scrappy up and comer on the market IIRC and modeling after some extremely intense pro mics. That would be cool... because yanno, I like scrappy up and comers. I'll definitely explore that more. In fact that kind of made my Beepster senses tingle a bit which is always a good sign. Cheers!

Great thread, guys.

NO!

@crg... lulz. In that case care to make a donation to the buy Beepster a proper mic foundation? jk... I'll find something. In the meantime I think the C01 as usual is winning the contest. It's just a very odd sounding mic and is actually quite noisy. It'll have to do for now though. I may see what one of those AT 2020s can do for me. It's gotta be better than what I've got happening right now and it's pretty darned affordable even by my standards. Then if I somehow miraculously acquire some cash I'll start looking at the $200+ range. Cheers.

Beepster

I can't even really afford that but I know I need something better than the overhead condensers that came with my Samson drum mic kit. Any suggestions? Cheers.

Hi Beepster,

Here's what I've discovered with condenser mics. Maybe this will help. I haven't read the other posts so forgive me if this has been mentioned already.

Two things I've discovered ...

1. I have an old Peavey Celebrity Series high end condenser mic. It's roughly 30+ years old. I always used my old stage mic because the Peavey ran on Phantom power and at the time I didn't have an audio interface with phantom. So ... when I got my Fast Track Ultra which has Phantom, I started using the Peavey. A friend gave it to me many years ago when he quit the music biz, that's how I got it.

The Peavey sounded like crap. It sounded like I was singing in to a tin can. So I did some research and read a bunch of reviews and decided to get a Blue Bluebird mic. It was an improvement, but I was still getting tin can effect. So then I dug around some more and realized my problem was that I really should be using a mic preamp before going in to my Fast Track Ultra. I picked up a low~mid grade one and it helped a lot.

One night I wanted to try two mics on my acoustic so I hooked up the Peavey. I started messing with the Impedance knob and Voila' ... I was able to dial in the Peavey in 20 seconds so it sounded every bit as good, if not better, than the $300 Bluebird.

One odd thing I noticed was, I can adjust the Impedance for the Bluebird and there is absolutely no effect on the sound, but there is a huge effect on the Peavey. Not sure why ... but I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that the Peavey was a pro grade mic and was designed to be run through a mic pre? I dunno.

The mic pre I got was an ART MPA Pro II Reference Series. It's on sale right now btw at M.F. 15% off. :)

The conclusion I came to is, between the 4 condenser mic's I've used ranging from $75 ~ $500 .... they all pretty much sound the same when you run them through a mic pre that has an Impedance adjustment. Not all mic pre's have it btw.

2. The other thing is ... I've never been able to get a vocal recording that has even come close to sounding as good as recordings I made when using analog equipment ... even cheap analog cassette based recordings. I get almost no sibilance, and just a better general overall sound.

Personally, I think there is very little difference between condenser mic's when paired with even a low to mid range mic pre with an Impedance adjustment. Yeah, if you get a $15 dollar condenser mic from Radio Shack, it's going to suck ... but I don't see there being a lot of difference between your choices at Musician's Friend or Sweetwater. Honestly, I think you should check in to a decent mic pre, preferably tube based, first.

And another thing ... I'm not totally convinced the wide frequency range they always tout on new mic's is necessarily a good thing. There's almost nothing that even comes close to being in the total hearing range ... and you wouldn't want that kind of range for a single instrument or vocal anyway in a mix/master.

Good luck! It's always fun picking and choosing new gear. :)

Getting settled in and all is going good. Thanks for asking in the thread upstairs. :)

I use a Rodes K2 for vocals.

I look at it this way if I spend anywhere between £30 and £3000 on a mic and I sing through it, it's going to sound rubbish.
 
If I spend between £30 and £3000 on a mic and get a voice like Etta James singing into it, it's going to sound great, whatever.
 
Having said that the difference between a dynamic and a condenser is night and day, they work completely differently to each other and it will depend on the vocal style which one you feel more comfortable with hence the one you go for.
 
To prompt you to choose a dynamic mic because you can't run to a mid-range condenser is a bad idea.  You may well get a better result from a cheap condenser over a more expensive dynamic mic.
 
It will depend far more on your technique with either type, more than the price.  I know some vocalists that wouldn't use anything but an SM-58 when they have the option of a drawer full of boutique mics and similarly some will prefer a condenser everytime for the sole reason that their particular technique largely relies on one or the other.

I do have one of those AKG Perception and I don't feel like it's a piece of gear that I should particularly recommend. Not bad, well built and probably better than some other inexpensive mics... But my feelings towards it is pretty much - if you have a choice between that and a SM-58, grab the 58. It's cheaper and will not make you sound worst. Same ballpark-ish, imho.

I've heard good things about Rode NT-1 and Shure KSM 32 (and 44, but that's more expensive), 

Right now, I have my eyes on Blue's Blueberry. After hearing my wife's voice through that, I can tell you that I prefer it to microphones worth 6 times as much.

One signal chain involved a vintage Neumann through LA-2A, a Harrison 4032 and Pro Tools HD. 

The other was a more humble (still darn expensive) Blueberry mic through Avalon 737 and Apogee Rosetta into Logic.

Technically, as an old school guy, I should have been all over the first combo, But the Blueberry literally blew me away. It's so incredibly clean, yet, it doesn't sound lifeless.

So I'd say - get a SM-58 and save your money for a Blueberry or another of those Blue mics. ;)

It would be worth your time to check out the M-Audio Nova.  I love mine...........Ron

I read an article one time by a very famous audio engineer and for the life of me I can't recall his name. I remember in the picture he was wearing jeans and a baseball cap ... in case it rings any bells.

He basically said it's nice to have high end gear, but he could make an album with anything.

Bub


I read an article one time by a very famous audio engineer and for the life of me I can't recall his name. I remember in the picture he was wearing jeans and a baseball cap ... in case it rings any bells.

He basically said it's nice to have high end gear, but he could make an album with anything.

I think I know the guy you mean. Did you have eyebrows and a nose too?