Good recording mike

[david_lewis93]

My wife is a very good piano player and has a great singing voice,we are in the proscess of setting her up an in home recording studio, got her a new keyboard and mixing board,dinkeydoo mike,,,for now,I am in the market for a good re-cording mike,,any suggestions,and somthing under 250.00-300.00 .
I dont know squat about this so thats why I am asking here.
David

[Sea Level]

The Rode NT-1, maybe it is NT-1A at this time is a very good mic that is very versatile, well made, and is a little bit over $200.

[Tim Armstrong]

I moved this thread here to the recording forum, and suggest you do a little browsing!

We talk about this stuff all the time here!

Tim

[wcap]

I'm no expert at this home recording thing, but I just recently got an NT1-A and a Firebox. The sound of recorded voice is almost scary its so realistic (I gather you'd want a pop filter for voice recording though? - not just with this mic), and I'm getting good guitar sound that my daughter says sounds exactly like what she hears when I play.

[tboy]

I've got to suggest the MXL V69 Mogami Edition as a great vocal and all around mic. I've got 414's, U87's. etc... and I like and use my V69 regularly for myself and clients (great on drum O.H.). I did the tube change (easy fix about 30 bucks from The Tube Depot. 12AT7/ECC81), but it's not really necessary. Full Compass had a really good price on the V69. It's no U87, but it stands up quite well against $1000-$1500 mics, IMO.

[woodman]

the Shure SM7B has given me startlingly good results — it's a dynamic, not a condensor, so no phantom power required. mine was $299 with a cheapie Whirlwind cable.

selecting a vocal mike really depends on the voice, though ... get thee to a big-box music store and compare your top candidates side-by-side if you possibly can.

[tboy]

Originally Posted by woodman

selecting a vocal mike really depends on the voice, though.

That's the truth! My AKG451/452's work best with my voice, but sounds less than great on most other people I've tried them with.

I think, makes the U87 a studio standard. Sometimes great, but almost never bad. Always a detailed, present and smooth result. But very pricey for what it is.

Seems like the V69M falls somewhere here also. I've used it on a variety of voices, and although it may not be the best choice, it's always very good as long as you watch the pops (it pops easily) and don't overload it (it will distort, ruining a good take). A pop filter and no close-mic loud singing avoids those pitfalls.

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by woodman

the Shure SM7B has given me startlingly good results — it's a dynamic, not a condensor, so no phantom power required. mine was $299 with a cheapie Whirlwind cable.

selecting a vocal mike really depends on the voice, though ... get thee to a big-box music store and compare your top candidates side-by-side if you possibly can.

My pro audio engineer friends generally agree that you tend to get better quality bang-for-buck with dynamic mics in the under-$1000 range.

I'd also note that condenser mics tend to be more sensitive than dynamic mics, meaning that in a non-soundproofed room you'll be picking up the voice, piano, the refrigerator kicking on in the kitchen, a dog barking down the street, a plane flying overhead...

Tim

[wcap]

Again, I'm really new at all this recording stuff, but I've been amazed by how little room noise my Rode NT1-A (large condensor mic) has been picking up. It seems to be pretty directional. Yes, it is very sensitive, and it picks up all sorts of guitar sounds (like my fingers bumping frets, my arm rubbing on the guitar, etc), but it is not getting much room noise at all.

[Del Pickup]

Another vote for the Rode NT-1. I've had mine for almost 10 years and think it's excellent both in terms of the results you can get with it and its price.

You do have to factor in the cost of a pre-amp if your recording unit doesn't have phantom power but I've been very satisfied with the results I've achieved with this mic over the years. It works for both vocals and acoustic instruments.

It's fairly directional and I've never found any issues with background noise so long as you don't hit the 'record' button when there's a hammer drill in use close by!!