Aiight, so tell us about large dia. dynamics

[djimbe]

I always wind up supporting the Stedman N90 in these "alternate dynamic" mic threads. Lots of meat to that mic, and a very tame high end. Almost (dare I say it) ribbon-like.

Is it still being manufactured? I don't see it for sale anywhwere.

I don't know. I know I wanted a second one a while back and looked at the Stedman site and only found accesories like shock mounts and pop filters, then started seeing some for sale ads and decided another old one would do me. Never got it though.

[drumsound]

I always wind up supporting the Stedman N90 in these "alternate dynamic" mic threads. Lots of meat to that mic, and a very tame high end. Almost (dare I say it) ribbon-like.

I used a pair of N90s with ADATS back in the day. Some guitars and vocals too. I always appreciated the side address, and their shockmounts were nice too.

[kayagum]

Another one to consider is the Sennheiser e906 (not to be confused with the e609). It has a 3 position switch for different eq flavors. I like the flat setting best.

Sounds great with cabinets, but I have seen it used as a vocal mic... haven't tried it myself.

Oh, and it's under $200...

[lancebug]

I get a fair amount of mileage out of the M99.

I'm curious about these. What are they like? Where do they shine?

I like it a lot on vocals, which is where it gets the most duty, especially nasal or vocals that are otherwise difficult to flatter. Works good on guitar cabs sometimes. Can be good on kick, but not as easy to get right as the atm25. In general I would say that it is a little more hi-fi than say an re-10, but not as hi-fi or modern sounding as say a PR-30. I don't own an RE-20 or and SM-7, but I would imagine that it covers similar territory, plus its got a few extra tricks up its sleeve, owing to the built-in eq switch, which gives you high-lift/low cut or kick-scoop options. Seems like I read somewhere once that it shares a capsule with the M88, but consider that info unsubstantiated.

[kinger]

I really like the Heil PR-30; if I had to pick only one mic to record an album with, that would be it. Has a nice full range and decent top end with no brittleness. Actually, the majority of my mics are LDD's, including SM7, MD421, PVM 520TN... Since going mostly ITB I like the more sort of "mellow" sound I get to disk as opposed to using condensers.

[timh]

I really like the Heil PR-30; if I had to pick only one mic to record an album with, that would be it. Has a nice full range and decent top end with no brittleness. Actually, the majority of my mics are LDD's, including SM7, MD421, PVM 520TN... Since going mostly ITB I like the more sort of "mellow" sound I get to disk as opposed to using condensers.

i was looking at that one recently! ive never heard anything else about it, so im glad you have something to say. how would you say it compares to the sm7?

[kinger]

I really like the Heil PR-30; if I had to pick only one mic to record an album with, that would be it. Has a nice full range and decent top end with no brittleness. Actually, the majority of my mics are LDD's, including SM7, MD421, PVM 520TN... Since going mostly ITB I like the more sort of "mellow" sound I get to disk as opposed to using condensers.

i was looking at that one recently! ive never heard anything else about it, so im glad you have something to say. how would you say it compares to the sm7?

Boy, that's a tough one. I guess I'd say that the SM7 makes things sound thicker and meatier than perhaps the actual source dictates, whereas to me the Heil sounds very true to the source but with a very smooth, almost ribbon-like quality; it seems to tame transients a bit. Sorry, I find it hard to describe sounds very well!

[timh]

I really like the Heil PR-30; if I had to pick only one mic to record an album with, that would be it. Has a nice full range and decent top end with no brittleness. Actually, the majority of my mics are LDD's, including SM7, MD421, PVM 520TN... Since going mostly ITB I like the more sort of "mellow" sound I get to disk as opposed to using condensers.

i was looking at that one recently! ive never heard anything else about it, so im glad you have something to say. how would you say it compares to the sm7?

Boy, that's a tough one. I guess I'd say that the SM7 makes things sound thicker and meatier than perhaps the actual source dictates, whereas to me the Heil sounds very true to the source but with a very smooth, almost ribbon-like quality; it seems to tame transients a bit. Sorry, I find it hard to describe sounds very well!

cool. well thanks for the input.

[vvv]

Thanx to all y'all!

[Neal]

Instead of starting a new thread, I just wanted to add that I used an SM-7 for the first time tonight. Working on vocals for some metal stuff and I'm really glad I bought this mic. Very smooth and clear sounding. Condensers usually sound too bright or hard for screamers (to me), and this mic sounds great. Really looking forward to doing some guitar tracks with it in the near future.

[losthighway]

I haven't had a working RE-20 in years, but I've been using the snot out of an SM7 for vocals, bass guitar and electric guitar. The bass player in my band bought a new RE-20 and brought it to a session we had today. We've been recording our singer exclusively with an SM7 forever because it suits his voice, and we can actually get a keeper take when we record live together with it.

Today we used the RE-20 for vocals instead. It had the same rich low mids, but a bit more articulate highs. That said, I never use the eq switches on the SM7 so maybe it can do the same thing. I love both, but the RE20 through just a Sytek (nicer pres were relegated to instruments since we often scrap the live vocals) and a DBX compressor barely clamping down at like 2.5:1 sounded like instant magic today. The rejection on it was good enough that on a quieter song, only ten feet away from the drums there was manageable bleed.

I could easily use like four different large diaphram dynamics on a setup. They're really great. I haven't even gotten to try an MD441 either. So much cool handy stuff out there that you don't need to be rich to pick up.