There's so many damned mics - where to begin?

Since I've been at this for virtually 3/4 of my life, I've learned what are the mics to have in the toolbox. I acquire them as available cash and opportunity collide. 90% of the time, I buy used. In terms of LDCs, you can go with the consensus on each, and judge the acquisitions accordingly. You don't necessarily need to follow the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.

What do you need next? That's the biggest question. Starting point? Always a U87 and a pair of 414s. Which 414s? Up to you... know the differences between EB, XL2, XLII, XLS, TL, TL2, ULS etc and btw, I listed them there from brightest to darkest. From there? What are your needs?

You should buy baseline standard LDD and SDCs. Anything else you potentially buy should be compared directly to those. Dynamics will do better in close mic scenarios than inexpensive LDCs....and SDCs at medium distance.

The market is much larger, looks more confusing.... but IMO buying a microphone these days is much easier and wayyy cheaper. You can literally buy a cheaper mic and just send it off to a "sinsay" as matkat suggested above and when it comes back it will be right there with mic's that cost 10x as much. Then you get into the DIY mics, which will use premium components, some of them not ROHS compliant, that's the thing these days it seems with getting the old school sound. At least that's what a lot of techs are blaming it on. The good news, if you're not selling a mic as a retailer you can use those components and get really close to the way these mics used to sound, for much cheaper. If you're not into building things, just google the model of the mic and buy it off the 2nd hand market, it'll be much cheaper and sound great, and close to the original it was modeled after.

Some good advice in the post's above on selection, but there are plenty of options, best thing you could do is make a post on a site that harbors the people that already have tried and have experience with weeding through all these choices. You've done that, so take the info that comes in the thread, do research on the ones that seem to fit what you want, and then make a decision.

Have fun!

I never said someone can't get a good sound out of something. For the record.

I simply know that the premise/assumption is that an LDC mic sounds better in some way* than a dynamic or SDC because of the type of microphone it is.... is patently a poor assumption, given my experience as you know-an audio engineer. This is about better/worse at a given price point. SDCs and dynamics can be made WELL...cheaper and (as important to general discussion) more consistently than LDCs.

*discounting a situation where the tracking calls for fig8 pickup to exploit the nulls.

First, I'd suggest a pair of whatever so you can compare mike positions. It can make a bigger difference than anything else.

My go-to "desert island" mikes have been SM57s and KM-84s. One or the other simply works and in most cases I can move on to more important issues. I've had to use most of the others plenty but the number of times an 84 has simply walked all over one of the highly touted inexpensive condensers or even the exotic LD antiques has been immense. By the way, the 184 was a disappointment. It could be too bright and I've run into RFI issues with them.

Absolutely! Every vocal at Motown between 1967 and 1970 was recorded with a KM 86 which is two of the very same capsules back to back forming a three pattern mike.

They have such an even pattern that both the room and position become far less critical than with most mikes. They are somewhat prone to popping so you need a pop screen or better yet vocalists who have been trained not to pop. The added reach allows a bit more distant placement than many mikes. The only other thing is that shock mounting is important. The best I've found are the donuts made for Shure SM-81s.

What's a good price for a km84?

I haven't. I know someone whom I trust his ears who has....he said they're brighter. Pre-EQ'd. Nice in the kick (where heavy EQ is typical)...floor tom...but, sounded to me kind of the answer to a question I didn't ask you know? An Sm7 isn't particularly dark. It's just not pre-EQd and hyped up. It captures breathy air in a vocal pretty damned well, IME...

The argument against them for vocals really is that the singer can't be bobbing and moving all over like they can 2-3ft from an LDC. Axl Rose on an Sm7 woulda been an issue!  

Lots of very good tips given already.
Try a few of the workhorse mics you see all over the place, preferably in pairs, maybe a pair of SM57, SM58 and/or Beyer M201 for dynamic mics, lend them out or try them in a local studio. Learn about the mics before buying, first hand. I nearly never bought a mic i havent heard or used before, in studio or on stage. I asked studio and FoH engineers alot that i trusted because they made me/the band sound good. Depending on budget, you may want to try SM7, 421's or 441's (hypercardiodid) as well.
A pair of small diaphragm condensers as well. Maybe Octava MK012 - sure, KM84s are great mics and workhorses, but it all depends on budget.
For the LDC(s) i guess it is about your budget and what kind of sources you will probably record mainly. Example: Some are more "go-to" mics for male vocals, some for female voices, some darker, some with alot of shine - it needs to fit the sources and styles you mainly record, or be fairly neutral (e.g. U87 is thrown on endless different things in many budget studios for ages for a reason...), otherwise you may have to invest in additional LDCs soon to be flexible enough...

Man, i started with an SM58 because i needed one for stage background singing to carry around by myself to be independent from the stuff the venues had. And it was the only one that i instantly could trust on stage from own experience, it was cheap and worked for this specific re-occuring occasion for me and others. Many start with 3 mics, 2 workhorses and one for voice, and these will never be sold again, no matter what you might buy next. And then try to make them sound good on as many sources possible, mic placement etc.....
Then reconsider from experience what to buy next that fits your applications...
I personally found this a good way to never regret a mic purchase...

Best regards,
Martin

A whole lot of us have been hoping for that! Neumann still has parts so you'd think they would just put it back in production.

Indeed. Neumann still sells the capsules (and not THAT expensive), so maybe it's just a matter of getting someone to manufacture the body and the transformer. Maybe someone could convince Oliver at Tab to make that tranny.

Don't know if these are worth it, claimed to be 84 knocks, beware of some known customer service issues, hopefully they worked them out by now, but do some research before u jump in?

www.beesneezmicrophones.com.au/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=15