Help choosing a vocal mic - Ahhh....!!!!

thepedalman · 12-10-2007, 04:49 PM

Hey all,
Just spent 2 hours in 2 big recording gear shops trying to buy a reasonable mic for vocals. I have a ADK-51 which I picked up cheap for AUS $95 and I've been using that for a couple of months. But it seems to distort on certain frequencies. Especially with singer who have some power in the voice. So I thought, no problem, I'll just go out and buy a better mic. Wrong. It's much harder than I thought. Some mics were incredibly bright (Rodes). Most of the tube mics seemed dull in comparsion and the whole process left me confused. Here's a short list of what I've tried so far:

Rodes NT-2 (very bright - lots of problems with the word "is" etc sounds like bees attacking lol)
Shure KSM32 (sounded dull in comprarison)
AKG 3000B (very midrangy)
Heil RE40 (very bassy - no tops)
MD421 (dynamic - good but lacking tops)

and about another 10 others (including a few very expensive tube mics that sounded quite good but were huge) that I can't remember the model number of. They either sounded too bright or too dull, there seemed nothing in between. Now I'm pretty much a complete newbe when it comes to mics, so I have no idea as to what I'm doing. I have enough money for one mid range priced (AUS $500-$750) that will be used mainly for male vocals and perhaps micing up my guitar amps at low volume. As I could not take them home I have no idea how they will set in the mix so any suggestions are most welcome as I'm very confused to have tried so many mics and not found a single one that I liked or could afford.

Alistair S · 12-10-2007, 05:12 PM

I don't think there is a short cut other than trying them.

However, I'd look at the Shure SM7B (so long as you have a pre with lots of gain). I love it. Very nice microphone, though probably at the upper end of your price range.

You can adjust the response too. Don't be put off because its a dynamic rather than a condenser.

thepedalman · 12-11-2007, 11:56 PM

Thanks for the suggestion,
I found a winner on my mic search though it came via a round about route. I wanted to try this $1000 tube pre at the shop but they were out of stock, so they suggested I try the $200 Presonus TubePre. Well blow me down. I did like what it did to the mic tone. A little more alive, a touch fatter. Most pleasing. So I gave the Rodes another go. Still too bright above 8k. They I tried the AKG C3000B again and this time it sounded more natural than the Rodes. So I grabbed it.
So now I've got the AKG/TubePre/RNC/MOTU chain happening and my vocals have never sounded so good. Well it's a start in the right direction anyway.

XonXoff · 12-12-2007, 08:50 AM

It's always great when you hit the sweet spot that makes your <insert name of instrument here> sound good. It makes the whole creative process sooo much easier because you feel so much more positive about what you can hear. Glad you got it sorted.