AKG mics

[cassembler]

While I'm not going to say that AKG mics are the best ever, I will say that two of my top five mics ever are AKG's...

(fav mics that I've actually used)
1) M149 (hands down the most [good] character of any mic I've ever used)
2) c451b (My current fav, and I have two!)
3) SM57 (Really should be number one...)
4) 414 (Once #1, but now I don't have one, so it's slipping)
5) GT66 (not bad for $400)

[scarr3d]

i just noticed that a nearby store is advertising all AKG mics 44% off!

Would that be Brownell Sound in Portland, OR?

hehe, yep.

[soundmaniac]

I like the C2000B on acoustic guitar. It doesn't have the boominess of a LD condenser nor the "fake" (e.i. bob mould's solo records) sound of most SD condensers. I guess it's that crazy midrange thing going on. I'm not saying it sounds great on everything but....it's good for acoustic guitar at least.
I also have a pair of the 451 reissues and I like them. Very "swishy". Good for pop stuff. Good for drummers who have cracked and/or shitty sounding cymbals. Kind of like a D112. Makes crappy instuments sound OK and makes great sounding instuments sound....well, OK. Just OK.

[soundmaniac]

Whoa...it's late. Yeah I guess there is an "R" in instruments. Anyway...

One more thing, though:

I'm not sure what kind of place Bronwell Sound is but....beware of most music stores (guitar center, samash etc...) supposed "sales" because most of them are just a scam to get you in there to buy thier stuff. The actual selling price of most gear is already around 40% off LIST. The words "off list price" are always in the fine print. Buy your stuff from fair, reputable sources that don't try to put one over on you?.you?ll be better off.

[bobbydj]

I'd love to see TapeOp Andy's review of the 1000. Christ, the amount of shit that's heaped on these is immense. All this about them being decent cigar holders, etc etc etc. It's fresh as fuck to see someone who's prepared to bottom-out the good points of gear that the received wisdom dismisses outright. I've got ready access to a pair of 'em, but haven't used them much - from the little experience I have had though, they sound fine. This was as drum OHs in a dead, dead room. They were the most expensive mics in the set-up, so that gives some idea of the rec context. Incidentally, the resultant drum sound was sheee-ite, but that was far more to do with the ways in which the engineer had mic'd kick and snare (inc. the mics he used).

The point is I love it that someone is sticking their neck out to reassess gear that's roundly trashed. Distinctly unsheep-like. Nice.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Even the C12VR, yuck, what a boxy sounding mic.

dave

well now, dave, you shouldn't expect so much from a $5,000 mic

i got to check one out and was really disappointed. it was all low mid "flubba". i didn't like the new 414uls either.

i do, however, swear by my c33e for overheads. anybody know this mic? it's stereo, you can rotate the top capsule 0-180. sometimes it's a little bright if it's a "bashing on the cymbals" type situation, but for the most part it is damn near perfect. i don't think i've used eq on overheads since i've had it. seems like the frequency response is kinda scooped around 500-600. it just always sounds "right" to me. great on percussion too.

i agree with the majority about new akg mics. approach with caution.

my 1.763 cents

cheers,
scott

[black ark]

take a look through the tape op "book"..

other c1000 users...

-chad crouch
-grandaddy
-craig shumacher @ the wavelab
-scott henderson

just another tool...

-paul m.

[todd]

for any swans fans out there, you might be interested to know that a good deal (if not all) of michael gira's vocals on the newest angels of light record "everything is good here...please come home" were recorded with a c2000b. not sure of the pre(s) used but you could probably look at martin bisi's equiptment list for an idea. www.martinbisi.com
i think it's the best thing gira has done to date and probably the best/most intense engineering job that bisi has ever done...they're touring right now so try to catch 'em in whatever neck of the woods that you reside.

Todd

[todd]

oh yeah,
just got a couple of akg 414eb mics...i'll post my criticisms as i work with them more when it's on topic...
Todd

[tiger vomitt]

about the c4000b....

ive had one for maybe 3 years now. it is a pretty good sounding mic but goddamn is it boring! if you need to record something that has to sound really good but not have a lot of character or color (i bought it to do voiceovers, which i think it is perfect for), this is the mic for you.

it's nice that it has 3 patterns too.

i like rode mics better myself. just be careful where you point em cuz they usually not flat at all (both a good thing and a bad thing ya know?)

for instance i did a session last week and didnt realize how much i had angled the nt-1 at the singer's nose. i spent about an hour eq-ing out the mids to make the track not sound so nasal. oops!

[todd]

oh yeah,
as any of you gira fans might know, his voice doesn't really require coloration in recording so maybe that's why the c2000b was good for that...i bet they had to roll off a bit of the high end though.

todd

[ottokbre]

Wow, now my interest is piqued. What about the C100s on woofier Vox amps? woofier like a saint bernard, not a terrier.

[NewAndImprov]

Wow, now my interest is piqued. What about the C100s on woofier Vox amps? woofier like a saint bernard, not a terrier.

I remember reading that the vocalist from Shudder to Think, Craig Wedren, used to use the C1000 as his preferred vocal mic. Then again, he'd probably sound good through anything.

I like my C-3000b's. Used them as drum overheads on my last project, and sounded great, the drummer was particularly happy with the cymbal sound.

[jajjguy]

The C1000 definitely has a sound. It's nowhere near flat, and has a sharp upper-midrange presence thing. I agree that it can be useful at various times, like for a certain kind of electric guitar sound. I've also used it on viola, and I've seen it used well on acoustic guitar and even vocals, but in these cases it works more as a special effect mic. Personally, I don't use mine much. I agree that the hate dumped on these mics is a little overboard, but a lot of it has to do with their price, and the way they are marketed, since basically they are special purpose oddball mics and should be dirt cheap.

Something to know: there are (at least) two varieties of this mic, one with an additional and especially sharp presence peak. They've both got a presence peak, but some have way more of one. A friend of mine has 2, and they definitely don't match. (The peakier one is silver, and the other one is black; i don't know if that's always the case.)

[brianbiv]

Everybody is shitting on the C1000 mic. I think it is great for acoustic guitar. It doesnt give you a very full bodied sound but the texture is amazing. This is very usefull for recording acoustic guitars over electrics. It gives it a sort of Pixies "surfer rosa" sound.