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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 7:25:22 GMT -6
A friend of mine asked me for some advice on a mic purchase, so I would like to get your input. She is a singer/songwriter with a clear alto voice. She's never owned a mic but has decided to buy one with an interface to start recording on her own since she can't go into the studio for the foreseeable future. She is not comfortable buying used, so when you make your suggestion, please keep it to a mic with a street price of $400 or less. I have recorded her and she sounds great through my MKU47, but that's a bit over budget.  Thanks for taking a moment to help her out! |
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Post by bradd on Jul 9, 2020 7:41:05 GMT -6
Hello! I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations. She might want to look at the Shure KSM32. It's a solid mic with a flat frequency response. If she sounds good, it will sound good. Good luck.
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Jul 9, 2020 8:39:17 GMT -6
Hello! I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations. She might want to look at the Shure KSM32. It's a solid mic with a flat frequency response. If she sounds good, it will sound good. Good luck. I like Bradd’s choice but my gut says a dynamic would be my first choice for ease of use and I’ll bet she doesn’t need as much compression. There are a bunch of the Heil LDC’s on music go rounds website for less than $300. |
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Post by indiehouse on Jul 9, 2020 8:58:40 GMT -6
What about the 3U Audio mics? I've got a pair of GZ47FETV's that are pretty great for M49 territory.
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Post by jamiesego on Jul 9, 2020 9:00:59 GMT -6
I would probably go with a Beyer M88. It seems like you can find them cheaper than SM7b’s these days.
You might be able to find a used AT4047 in that range (edit. just realized you specified new). There are other decent looking condensers from folks like Lauten, Roswell, etc that might be pretty good but I haven’t tried them.
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Post by svart on Jul 9, 2020 9:03:19 GMT -6
Lewitt 440 or 441.
I should say that I have the discontinued 540 and it's a great mic and I've been jonesing for a second one but I can never find them. It's a workhorse that can be used on anything but it's on the neutral sounding side. You won't get a lot of character from these but they'll give you honest audio and a very high quality build for cheaper than they should be selling for.
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Post by dreamsambas on Jul 9, 2020 9:26:23 GMT -6
Yeah the 3U Warbler MK1D has a weird name, but is so much quality for the price. Instantly harkens to the classic sound of the 70s. Can't recommend it highly enough for someone who's trying to make quality recordings at home.
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Post by Chad on Jul 9, 2020 11:18:10 GMT -6
An AT4050 is still solid with the right preamp.
Or... I always liked the Shure KSM32. Has a tighter polar pattern than the AT4050, which was better for my not so ideal room back in the day.
(I re-read your post and saw she's not comfortable with a "used" mic. I would suggest that's an awesome way to get great value. Some people buy it new and it just sits there unused for several years. I've bought probably 30 used mics in recent years and never had one issue.)
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Post by ragan on Jul 9, 2020 13:29:48 GMT -6
I’ve had almost all of the usual suspects in this price range and I don’t think anything can hang with the 3U Warblers. I’d say figure out if it you want forward mids (U87 voicing) or relaxed mids (251 voicing) and get a MKID or MKIVD. Lovely mics. Big, smooth, classic sounding.
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:34:28 GMT -6
An AT4050 is still solid with the right preamp. Or... I always liked the Shure KSM32. Has a tighter polar pattern than the AT4050, which was better for my not so ideal room back in the day. (I re-read your post and saw she's not comfortable with a "used" mic. I would suggest that's an awesome way to get great value. Some people buy it new and it just sits there unused for several years. I've bought probably 30 used mics in recent years and never had one issue.) I agree with you about used. But I have to honor her wishes. KSM32 has gotten a couple of recommendations here. Thanks! |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:35:41 GMT -6
I’ve had almost all of the usual suspects in this price range and I don’t think anything can hang with the 3U Warblers. I’d say figure out if it you want forward mids (U87 voicing) or relaxed mids (251 voicing) and get a MKID or MKIVD. Lovely mics. Big, smooth, classic sounding. Warbler is getting multiple recommendations. Thank you! |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:37:41 GMT -6
Yeah the 3U Warbler MK1D has a weird name, but is so much quality for the price. Instantly harkens to the classic sound of the 70s. Can't recommend it highly enough for someone who's trying to make quality recordings at home. I’ve come really close to buying warbler a couple of times, based on recommendations here. Thanks for the recommendation! |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:38:38 GMT -6
Lewitt 440 or 441. I should say that I have the discontinued 540 and it's a great mic and I've been jonesing for a second one but I can never find them. It's a workhorse that can be used on anything but it's on the neutral sounding side. You won't get a lot of character from these but they'll give you honest audio and a very high quality build for cheaper than they should be selling for. I’m really curious about the Lewitts. Thanks! |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:39:37 GMT -6
I would probably go with a Beyer M88. It seems like you can find them cheaper than SM7b’s these days. You might be able to find a used AT4047 in that range (edit. just realized you specified new). There are other decent looking condensers from folks like Lauten, Roswell, etc that might be pretty good but I haven’t tried them. Good thoughts. Thanks! |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:41:11 GMT -6
What about the 3U Audio mics? I've got a pair of GZ47FETV's that are pretty great for M49 territory. Guosheng’s mics clearly make an impression. Thanks for the recommendation! |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:42:28 GMT -6
Hello! I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations. She might want to look at the Shure KSM32. It's a solid mic with a flat frequency response. If she sounds good, it will sound good. Good luck. I like Bradd’s choice but my gut says a dynamic would be my first choice for ease of use and I’ll bet she doesn’t need as much compression. There are a bunch of the Heil LDC’s on music go rounds website for less than $300. Thanks, ericn! I don’t know the Heil mics at all but I agree a dynamic might be a good choice for her. |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 13:44:27 GMT -6
Hello! I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations. She might want to look at the Shure KSM32. It's a solid mic with a flat frequency response. If she sounds good, it will sound good. Good luck. Thanks, Bradd. I own several Shure mics. Not a KSM32, though. The mics are all rugged and sound good, so the KSM32 might be a good choice for my friend. |
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Post by johneppstein on Jul 9, 2020 14:43:49 GMT -6
Hello! I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations. She might want to look at the Shure KSM32. It's a solid mic with a flat frequency response. If she sounds good, it will sound good. Good luck. I like Bradd’s choice but my gut says a dynamic would be my first choice for ease of use and I’ll bet she doesn’t need as much compression. There are a bunch of the Heil LDC’s on music go rounds website for less than $300. Should be able to get a Beyer M88 for that... |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jul 9, 2020 14:54:21 GMT -6
I like Bradd’s choice but my gut says a dynamic would be my first choice for ease of use and I’ll bet she doesn’t need as much compression. There are a bunch of the Heil LDC’s on music go rounds website for less than $300. Thanks, ericn! I don’t know the Heil mics at all but I agree a dynamic might be a good choice for her. I had 2 of their predecessors the Stedman N90, think RE20 with proximity effect. Lots of Broadcasters like the Heil. |
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Post by stratboy on Jul 9, 2020 14:55:25 GMT -6
Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to offer recommendations.
To those of you who recommended the Beyer M88, what is it about that mic that might suit this application?
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Post by svart on Jul 9, 2020 14:56:21 GMT -6
Hello! I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations. She might want to look at the Shure KSM32. It's a solid mic with a flat frequency response. If she sounds good, it will sound good. Good luck. Thanks, Bradd. I own several Shure mics. Not a KSM32, though. The mics are all rugged and sound good, so the KSM32 might be a good choice for my friend. For what it's worth, I suggested one of those to a friend and hers died within a month. She returned it and the second died in a year. it did sound pretty decent though. |
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Post by johneppstein on Jul 9, 2020 15:05:07 GMT -6
Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to offer recommendations. To those of you who recommended the Beyer M88, what is it about that mic that might suit this application? Smooth, hypercardioid, works on damn near anything. Doubles as a live mic, too! |
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Post by bradd on Jul 9, 2020 15:28:45 GMT -6
Thanks, Bradd. I own several Shure mics. Not a KSM32, though. The mics are all rugged and sound good, so the KSM32 might be a good choice for my friend. For what it's worth, I suggested one of those to a friend and hers died within a month. She returned it and the second died in a year. it did sound pretty decent though. Interesting. I've never owned one, but I had a session with one many years ago and was left with the impression that it was a solid "what goes in comes out" kind of mic. |
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Post by drumsound on Jul 9, 2020 15:50:44 GMT -6
Thanks, ericn! I don’t know the Heil mics at all but I agree a dynamic might be a good choice for her. I had 2 of their predecessors the Stedman N90, think RE20 with proximity effect. Lots of Broadcasters like the Heil. The N90 was a predecessor to the Heil mic? We had a pair at the place I used to work. Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to offer recommendations. To those of you who recommended the Beyer M88, what is it about that mic that might suit this application? Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to offer recommendations. To those of you who recommended the Beyer M88, what is it about that mic that might suit this application? Smooth, hypercardioid, works on damn near anything. Doubles as a live mic, too! That's what I was going to say. Its rare that an M88 doesn't work on something. |
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Post by jamiesego on Jul 9, 2020 15:51:31 GMT -6
Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to offer recommendations. To those of you who recommended the Beyer M88, what is it about that mic that might suit this application? Like other high quality dynamic mics (SM7, RE20, MD441, etc) it's a good choice to help reject bad acoustic environments and noise. It's also hypercardioid which helps even more. The SM7b is the most popular suggestion for these reasons but the M88 is less expensive, has a tighter polar pattern, is more sensitive, and has a higher output. It won't be as "airy" in the top end as a condenser but if I was mixing home recorded tracks I would much rather add some air to a vocal than have to fight room sound and outside noise. |
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