What's the crappiest/overrated "pro" mic you have

[capnreverb]

to quote Steve Albini on the Shure sm-57

"Piece of shit dynamic mic some people are inexplicably crazy about, so we bought one. Sounds equivalently good on everything from snare drum to electric guitar. Unfortunately, not a very high standard of "Good." If you need to record something and there's no microphone available, this will do, I guess"

[Marc Alan Goodman]

SM57's a fine mic. I find I don't use as many of them as I used to, but I made plenty of records with them all over the place. They still find their way on to a guitar cab or for some weird use (corner drum mic?) every once in a while. But for $90 (and MUCH cheaper used since they're ubiquitous) what else is there that compares?

To answer the original question I can't think of a "pro" mic that I haven't found something good to use it on. I will say that I sold my soundelux E49 pretty quickly. I didn't like it much, but other people certainly seem to.

[rty5150]

mine WAS the sm58, until i unloaded them all.
still find uses for the sm57. not everyone is in love with the i5 like i am . some peoples ears just like the sm57.


rich

[BENDYmusic]

u87... I hate that mic.

[oldguitars]

u87... I hate that mic.

yeah terrible. send me yours and I will dispose of it....

[BENDYmusic]

yeah terrible. send me yours and I will dispose of it....

[ott0bot]

I really found the AKG c1000s to be one of the worst mics ever for every application I tried them on. Why do so many people own them?

I still think 57's have uses in the stuido, but I mostly use them when I need something durable, reliable, and cheap. Usually for live sound or location recording.

[oldguitars]

I really found the AKG c1000s to be one of the worst mics ever for every application I tried them on. Why do so many people own them?

I still think 57's have uses in the stuido, but I mostly use them when I need something durable, reliable, and cheap. Usually for live sound or location recording.

I agree. Worse is the older c3000b

[vikingrecording]

i will agree with the AKG c1000s.
also, shure sm81 -> not for me

[mikeyc]

I really found the AKG c1000s to be one of the worst mics ever for every application I tried them on. Why do so many people own them?

I think they're everywhere because they were sold in packs with the C3000 (which I like quite a bit-- the older black & blue ones anyway; haven't used the silver & red ones).

I once taped a C1000s and an SM57 together and put them on a snare and got quite a pleasant sound. Not my C1000s, so I never got to repeat the setup...

I think pretty much every mic has its use. Sometimes it just doesn't come up as often. For my last project, I ended up scraping the bottom of the mic case to find the right one and ended up with a Lanier (the copy machine people) mic I used to use for snare years ago. It worked for what I needed. It happens.

[drumsound]

to quote Steve Albini on the Shure sm-57

"Piece of shit dynamic mic some people are inexplicably crazy about, so we bought one. Sounds equivalently good on everything from snare drum to electric guitar. Unfortunately, not a very high standard of "Good." If you need to record something and there's no microphone available, this will do, I guess"

To continue Mr Abini's thoughts on the SM57, here's what he says about the beyer M201
"Hypercardioid dynamic mic, can handle very high SPL. Useful for snare drum, freak high-SPL situations where you still need good midrange clarity. If the SM57 were a microphone, it would sound like this."

Also check the quote about the 57 in my signature. That pretty well sums it up.

[darjama]

I never got along with my Rode NT2, never really found a source where it worked better than other mics in my limited collection. Traded it to the singer in my old band who apparently loves it.

[Brett Siler]

I don't think I've ever heard a mic that I hated but there some that wasn't into. Studio Projects B1 (is that even considered a pro mic?) I didn't like anywhere. It just sounded harsh on everything. The C1 was a little better but I still wasn't really into it. Other than that... umm... These crappy old Superlux dynamic mics that broke easily that I used about 6 or 7 years ago...

[cgarges]

u87...

Seconded. An incredibly over-rated microphone. I have things that I use mine for, but they're not the usual applications. Still, it gets more use than the 57s do.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[newfuturevintage]

u-87
c-1000
sennheiser 416 (for VO)
RodeNT-1