hello. right now, i am stuck on how to upgrade my mic cabinet. i have now...
2 sm58 (rarely use got for free)
sm57
2 i5s
senn 421
beta 52
beyer m500
at4033
SE z3700 (i think thats what its called?LDC switchable polar patterns)
AKG c3000b
2 at pro37rs
i record local/small bands in the basement of my house. i can get great results from this pretty basic collection but i love mics and would like to keeeeeeeeeeeeep upgrading.
i was thinking another beyer? 201, 160, 130, 88? maybe a akg c414. i have about a good 500-600$ to spend and we're talking about secondhand prices.
any thoughts would be great
-james
what mic to get next
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northernlights
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KennyLusk
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You should get a compressor instead. Somebody else here recently was looking for opinions on mic pre's and won a compressor on ebay instead. If you upgrade your mics those local guys are just gonna knock 'em over and break them.
"The mushroom states its own position very clearly. It says, "I require the nervous system of a mammal. Do you have one handy?" Terrence McKenna
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amishsixstringer
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cgarges
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Who said anything about compressors? Fuck compressors.
I own all the mics on your wish list except the 130, which I would love to have. They're all great and very useful mics. The 414 is unlike anything you have in your collection so far, with the possible exception of the SE mic, which I haven't used. It's a very flexible and useful mic with mulitple polar patterns that can take relatively high SPLs. Another similar personal favorite of mine is the AT 4050, which I find to be a little nicer-sounding on a wider variety of sources than the 414, but you wouldn't go wrong either way.
The Beyers like the M201 and M88 would be (in my opinion) nicer-sounding versions of some of the mics you already own-- the 57 and the 421. I generally prefer the Beyers in situations where the 57 and 421 would be appropriate, but those are very useable mics, too.
The M160 is a terrific mic. Not as bright as the M500. I have just recently gotten to check out the 500, though, and these days, it's getting more use than my M160s. Maybe that's just because it's sort of new to me and I've been using the 160s for years. Anyway, those are great mics, as well.
Of the mics you listed, my Beyer 201 gets the least use. It's a great mic, though, and I love it on certain snare drums. A few days ago I used it on a 10" speaker in a bass rig (after trying a 57, which was too peaky). They're great on toms, too, and I'd probably use them on toms if I had more than one of them and didn't love the Oktava 12s so much.
Either way you're gonna be just fine.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
I own all the mics on your wish list except the 130, which I would love to have. They're all great and very useful mics. The 414 is unlike anything you have in your collection so far, with the possible exception of the SE mic, which I haven't used. It's a very flexible and useful mic with mulitple polar patterns that can take relatively high SPLs. Another similar personal favorite of mine is the AT 4050, which I find to be a little nicer-sounding on a wider variety of sources than the 414, but you wouldn't go wrong either way.
The Beyers like the M201 and M88 would be (in my opinion) nicer-sounding versions of some of the mics you already own-- the 57 and the 421. I generally prefer the Beyers in situations where the 57 and 421 would be appropriate, but those are very useable mics, too.
The M160 is a terrific mic. Not as bright as the M500. I have just recently gotten to check out the 500, though, and these days, it's getting more use than my M160s. Maybe that's just because it's sort of new to me and I've been using the 160s for years. Anyway, those are great mics, as well.
Of the mics you listed, my Beyer 201 gets the least use. It's a great mic, though, and I love it on certain snare drums. A few days ago I used it on a 10" speaker in a bass rig (after trying a 57, which was too peaky). They're great on toms, too, and I'd probably use them on toms if I had more than one of them and didn't love the Oktava 12s so much.
Either way you're gonna be just fine.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
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thearnicasync
- buyin' gear
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nice transformer condenser?
I've used most of the mics on your list, and totally agree with CGarges on the beyer....and I love, love, love the M500.
If you somehow scraped together a little more, I'd get a soundelux u195. That mic sounds good on most things, and more importantly really has a big, thick, colorful sound IMO. You'd get a lot more variance between it and than you might between your SE and a 414 or SM81's and 37R's I think.
$.02
kb
If you somehow scraped together a little more, I'd get a soundelux u195. That mic sounds good on most things, and more importantly really has a big, thick, colorful sound IMO. You'd get a lot more variance between it and than you might between your SE and a 414 or SM81's and 37R's I think.
$.02
kb
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Professor
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I say this a lot when this question comes up and I see a mic locker like yours, but it seems it is worth saying again.
The biggest hole I see in your mic locker is that you only have one stereo pair, and they are the lower-end AT mics. (Maybe those i5s as well, but I'm not sure what mics you're talking about there.) Nothing wrong with those AT mics, but I would want another stereo option first.
Of course, I'm making the assumption that you are recording acoustic instruments, that you are mixing to stereo as your final mix destination (maybe CD?) and that words like realism, space, or maybe stereo-image are tossed around in your place during tracking and mixing.
Stereo isn't just for drum overheads - though even if it is for you, that doesn't mean that one kind of mic is right for all kinds of drumsets any more than one kind of mic is right for every voice, every guitar, or every amp, right?
So my solution would be to pick your favorite of your LDCs, whether that be the C-3000, the z3700 or the AT-4033, and buy yourself another. Since the z3700 is multi-pattern, that would be my first choice even though I've never used one. Having two multi-pattern LDCs doesn't just open you up to another stereo possibility on drums, acoustic guitars, keys, amps and any other instrument you might now record in stereo, but it opens you up to the possibility of different stereo mic setups. You can still do XY or ORTF or spaced A-B cardioid pairs like you can with the Pro 37s, but you can also consider spaced omni, Blumlein, Mid/Side, and all sorts of other setups.
And even if you don't use the second mic for stereo all the time, it would mean that you would have two of your favorite LDC mics available. So instead of painfully deciding whether that favorite mic goes on the acoustic guitar or the vocals, you could put one on each, or one on the snare drum and another on the bass amp, or however you might split up the stereo pair.
After that I'd consider adding either higher-end mics to improve the mic locker upward, or specialty mics to broaden your palette like a tube mic or a ribbon or other limited-use mics.
Of course, all this is coming from a certifiable mic-addict who has about 70 mics in the ol' locker - though lots of those are in multiples of 2 or 4.
-Jeremy
The biggest hole I see in your mic locker is that you only have one stereo pair, and they are the lower-end AT mics. (Maybe those i5s as well, but I'm not sure what mics you're talking about there.) Nothing wrong with those AT mics, but I would want another stereo option first.
Of course, I'm making the assumption that you are recording acoustic instruments, that you are mixing to stereo as your final mix destination (maybe CD?) and that words like realism, space, or maybe stereo-image are tossed around in your place during tracking and mixing.
Stereo isn't just for drum overheads - though even if it is for you, that doesn't mean that one kind of mic is right for all kinds of drumsets any more than one kind of mic is right for every voice, every guitar, or every amp, right?
So my solution would be to pick your favorite of your LDCs, whether that be the C-3000, the z3700 or the AT-4033, and buy yourself another. Since the z3700 is multi-pattern, that would be my first choice even though I've never used one. Having two multi-pattern LDCs doesn't just open you up to another stereo possibility on drums, acoustic guitars, keys, amps and any other instrument you might now record in stereo, but it opens you up to the possibility of different stereo mic setups. You can still do XY or ORTF or spaced A-B cardioid pairs like you can with the Pro 37s, but you can also consider spaced omni, Blumlein, Mid/Side, and all sorts of other setups.
And even if you don't use the second mic for stereo all the time, it would mean that you would have two of your favorite LDC mics available. So instead of painfully deciding whether that favorite mic goes on the acoustic guitar or the vocals, you could put one on each, or one on the snare drum and another on the bass amp, or however you might split up the stereo pair.
After that I'd consider adding either higher-end mics to improve the mic locker upward, or specialty mics to broaden your palette like a tube mic or a ribbon or other limited-use mics.
Of course, all this is coming from a certifiable mic-addict who has about 70 mics in the ol' locker - though lots of those are in multiples of 2 or 4.
-Jeremy
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