What are your favorite recording microphones?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

I'm a recording newbie, so what do I know? But for the money it seems like the Shure SM7B is quite nice for the money. I've got an AKG P420 a P170 and a SM58. You could put a $3600 Neumann in my hands and at this stage I don't think it would make a bit of difference.

Well the Shure SMB 7 is actually a fairly well regarded Mic albeit probably more known for vocals than acoustic instruments

Depends on what you mean by "difference" . The mics basic sonics do not change with experience

Even a beginning guitarist can enjoy some benefit from say owning a Taylor 814 or Martin D 35

[rick-slo]

Last few years have been using Gefell M295s. Prior to that Gefell M300s. In the past tried some tube mikes but could not get past the power supply and warm up period hassles. Might try a ribbon mike or two down the road but for now not in the spending more money mood.

[buzzardwhiskey]

It's probably not optimum, but Buzzard Whiskey's second album is being recorded using:

Miktek PM5 - stringed instruments (guitar, mando, dobro, banjo, violin)
Shure SM7b with Cloudlifter - vocals, harmonica
AKG C 535EB - most percussion
EV ND 68 - kick drum

[pjd3]

Although I haven't tried them all and can't afford "The best", of my collection of about 7-8 mics the Line Audio CM4 is quite my favorite. I heard the praises of this mic coming from many reputable sources and the selection of sound clips I heard backed those reports up accurately. They are made by a fellow out in Sweden, a fine mic craftsman that doesn't let his mics out of his house without testing as near ruler flat. But its more than that, you can hear the difference in the top and bottom. The highs are very real and dimensional unlike many mics where the highs are a bit strident and hissy. And the low strings on the acoustic guitar are rendered round, plump and real, not warmed out or smeared, lots of realism and shape to the low strings, just like your guitar.

And for $140 bucks its one of the most cost effective purchase I've ever made for audio products, or, any products for that fact.

Best,
Phil Donovan

[min7b5]

I got a pair of Schoeps cardioids a few months ago, and so far they are the new go-to's for sure. I like the KM184's a lot too. And the Gefell M300's... Those three are my favs for acoustic guitar. And they're all actually very very similar, so I've been swimming in a pretty small pool last couple years

[alohachris]

Aloha,

Tried 'em all over 60 years! Fell in love with many.

SCHOEPS CMC641's - A matched pair of these legendary instrument mic's with the MK-41 hypercardioid capsules are my all-time favorite SDC for recording solo acoustic guitar. I also really like the modular MK-2-Omni & MK-8 ribbon caps for different types of recording - ALL in well-treated spaces of course.

Note: That's high praise from a guy who also owned pairs of rare KM-54's, KM-56's & KM-84's, which were unreal guitar SDC mic's in their time.

https://vintageking.com/schoeps-2-cm...CABEgLDGvD_BwE

MICROTECH-GEFELL UM-900 variable-pattern tube LDC studio vocal mic. My voice finally found its final home at the end by unexpectedly meeting up with this amazing studio vocal mic. By far, it was my voice's all-time favorite studio vocal recording LDC mic! Do yourself a favor if you are a slave to your voice & looking for its best match. Audition a UM-900. Of course, different results for different voices, right? Male & female vocalists really love the UM-900, but it's not that all that commonly found in most studio's. It sports a gorgeous Arte Deco design.

Note: I've owned several "famous" vocal LDC mic's over the years, including one incredible Neumann U-47 that was owned & used by Frank Sinatra on his wildly popular, early-'60's Columbia "comeback" recordings. By comparison, the M-G UM-900 was simply the better choice for my voice & music.

But the Vintage U-47 is considered one mic that everybody dreams about hearing their voice sing through at least once in their lives! It's so highly prized that I even made $2K without trying in reselling that 'Frankie" U-47 - after owning it for just three months ?!?

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews...h-gefell-um900

Another more affordable LDC is David Royer's MOJAVE MA-200 CARDIOID LDC vocal mic. Great & versatile on vocals or guitar - & many other instruments as well. I used a pair of MA-200 cardioids for most of my guitar strumming tracks. Works for many types of voices, including mine when i could still sing, Ha!

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

I also had a pair of mint condition 1972 Original Neumann U-87's for a couple decades that were absolutely great on everything. I really miss those legendary mic's.

https://reverb.com/p/vintage-neumann...iABEgKSjvD_BwE

Try 'em all, guys. Audition! The mic search finally ends when you find "THE ONES!" Ha! Audition Live!

I also loved to match those above mic's with specific high-end preamplifiers that maximized mic sound & performance - another topic. Think about it.

alohachris

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by pjd3

Although I haven't tried them all and can't afford "The best", of my collection of about 7-8 mics the Line Audio CM4 is quite my favorite.

+1 on Line Audio. I have the CM3 that preceded it, and I love it.
It adds no hype which is why I consider it to be so valuable.
Many will avoid it due to the low price, which I think is a mistake.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

+1 on Line Audio. I have the CM3 that preceded it, and I love it.
It adds no hype which is why I consider it to be so valuable.
Many will avoid it due to the low price, which I think is a mistake.

I'll third the Line Audio recommendation. I have a pair of CM4s that are amazing for the price.

For another off-the-beaten-path, bang-for-the-buck mic, I use a 3U Audio Warbler MKID (LDC) as my vocal mic of choice right now. Supposedly has a bit of vintage U87 feel (though I wouldn't know ) for just $300 for the cardioid version, $390 for multipattern.

[strumming]

I really like my Josephson C42 small condenser microphones. Detailed yet warm and not harsh at all. Believe it or not, I also have a stash of vintage Electro-Voice mics, such as the 636A and RE15. Not as high fidelity but very warm sounding. I've found these are good for vocal/guitar singer-songwriter stuff.

[FrankHudson]

Microphones are tools for me, and I like tools that let me do things. Yes, I do notice qualities, and "I like what that one tends to give me in raw sound" too. So my list here will be stuff that I'm sure better recordists would not use use or recommend. I think that explanation/framing is important enough that I put it here in front of my list.

Note, while I do record solo acoustic guitar, sometimes in ways where I'm trying to maximize the ear candy of that sound, that's not what I do most often. I think for some (many/most?) here that's the by far the primary value.

Shure SM57 and Beta57. I have more experience with the former, but in a short time I've owned one that later seems to have some virtues too (a little hotter output for one). Rugged, inexpensive. Rejects sound I don't want pretty well. In a mix, most of what it doesn't record I don't want anyway. I've used it on small percussion and guitar amps over other choices.

Sennheiser e609. For me it has one use, but gee is it good for that use: micing mic cabs. Great on stage because it doesn't require a mic stand (drape it over the top of the cab and let it hang where you'd like it in front of the cone). But I'll use it my studio space when on short notice I need to mic a cab and don't have stand ready. Remember, I'm producer, engineer, and one of the musicians most of the time. I think it limits bleed even better than the SM57 when used close up to the grill.

iRig Acoustic Stage. Clips in a soundhole, sounds like a close placement SDC mic with some compression, but rejects most untreated room sound issues like an internal pickup.

ElectroVoice RE-20 and Shure SM7B. Both of these cost as much or more than some favorite budget LDC condenser mics. I've used both for vocals. My SM7B is in the studio space, where I served to let me reduce band bleed in a live room for my vocals. Alas in the past couple of years the use of my studio space for live band tracking has been quite rare, which has led to me using the RE-20 that I have in my untreated little office, and I've really fallen in love with it for my voice.

Better recordists here have informed me that the RE-20 doesn't really remove the issues with vocals in a small, ugly, untreated room. I respect their opinion, but it just seems to work for me anyway. I don't know what to say about that. I do sometimes work fairly close to my RE-20, as close as 4-5 inches.

I have an untrained, often unattractive voice, and pitch issues. My vocals are always going to be a minority taste I think. I have recorded with some of the frequently recommended class of less than $500 LDC condenser mics and prefer what my larger dynamic mics do for my voice, at least with me engineering in my space.

As to SDC mics for those solo or featured acoustic guitar pieces which I record in my studio space, I don't have a long history with them yet, but I'm using a pair of Warm Audio WA-84 SDC condensers, which are a little above what I'd usually afford to spend, but was able to get them at a good price earlier this year.

[Bob Womack]

It's a necrothread but I'll bite.

Originally Posted by Steadfastly

This video should give you an answer to your question(s).

If you listen very carefully about three-quarters of the way into the presentation you can hear a door in the back of the room swing closed as I step away for a minute to go to the bathroom. I was there. The meeting was an Audio Engineering Society presentation held on one of the lower floors of the Jacob Javits Center in Manhatttan, diagonally across 12th Avenue from the U.S.S. Intrepid museum.

By the way, what Ethan says about perceptual steering starting at 1:15 is absolutely true and should be a starting point for those who take recording seriously.

Poppy's demonstration at 5:50 starts with a demonstration of an allegation of backwards masking on the track "Stairway to Heaven." Hilariously, I was tasked to study that allegation way back in 1984. We did a double-blind study and none of our listeners could understand the alleged "subliminal message" with the tape played forwards or backwards. Even I, when unprompted with the content but told there was supposedly content there, couldn't interpret the supposed message.

Bob

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

It's a necrothread but I'll bite.
If you listen very carefully about three-quarters of the way into the presentation you can hear a door in the back of the room swing closed as I step away for a minute to go to the bathroom. I was there. The meeting was an Audio Engineering Society presentation held on one of the lower floors of the Jacob Javits Center in Manhatttan, diagonally across 12th Avenue from the U.S.S. Intrepid museum.

By the way, what Ethan says about perceptual steering starting at 1:15 is absolutely true and should be a starting point for those who take recording seriously.

Poppy's demonstration at 5:50 starts with a demonstration of an allegation of backwards masking on the track "Stairway to Heaven." Hilariously, I was tasked to study that allegation way back in 1984. We did a double-blind study and none of our listeners could understand the alleged "subliminal message" with the tape played forwards or backwards. Even I, when unprompted with the content but told there was supposedly content there, couldn't interpret the supposed message.

Bob

Eric Valentine covers some of the same in this video.send Jim a vintage 47
At about the 19:10 mark, he talks about he McGurk Effect which covers the relationship between seeing and hearing which I think is similar to what Poppy is presenting in that if you have some preconception of what you should hear, you're more likely to hear it.send Jim a vintage 47

Later he's comparing two convertors using a cool plugin called the 4U+ BlindTest which allows you to blind test on your own.send Jim a vintage 47

At about 47:50, he tells the story of an Antelope rep trying to sell him a word clock that was supposed to make everything sound better and how he subjected the rep to a blind test that turned out about as you'd expect.send Jim a vintage 47

So I'm wondering, Bob, do you think the subliminal messaging thing really works?send Jim a vintage 47

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Eric Valentine covers some of the same in this video.send Jim a vintage 47
rything sound better and how he subjected the rep to a blind test that turned out about as you'd expect.send Jim a vintage 47

So I'm wondering, Bob, do you think the subliminal messaging thing really works?send Jim a vintage 47

Yer not getting the U47!

My the way, on the latest album project I am currently recording the female artist's vocals. I'm using a very nice Lauten Audio Eden LT-386, which is their take on the U-47. It is owned by one of my colleagues who wanted to try it out on the project.



It is a sweet mic! It is quite a bit heavier than a U-47.


Bob

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Yer not getting the U47!

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

My the way, on the latest album project I am currently recording the female artist's vocals. I'm using a very nice Lauten Audio Eden LT-386, which is their take on the U-47. It is owned by one of my colleagues who wanted to try it out on the project.



It is a sweet mic! It is quite a bit heavier than a U-47.

I've no doubt it's sweet. I own the Lauten Atlantis. For the price, it's a really outstanding mic with a very 47ish vibe. I've loaned it to a couple of friends and they loved it so much they bought their own. Lauten flies under the radar to a large degree but that Atlantis impresses me every time I use it.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

It's a necrothread but I'll bite.
If you listen very carefully about three-quarters of the way into the presentation you can hear a door in the back of the room swing closed as I step away for a minute to go to the bathroom. I was there. The meeting was an Audio Engineering Society presentation held on one of the lower floors of the Jacob Javits Center in Manhatttan, diagonally across 12th Avenue from the U.S.S. Intrepid museum.

By the way, what Ethan says about perceptual steering starting at 1:15 is absolutely true and should be a starting point for those who take recording seriously.

Poppy's demonstration at 5:50 starts with a demonstration of an allegation of backwards masking on the track "Stairway to Heaven." Hilariously, I was tasked to study that allegation way back in 1984. We did a double-blind study and none of our listeners could understand the alleged "subliminal message" with the tape played forwards or backwards. Even I, when unprompted with the content but told there was supposedly content there, couldn't interpret the supposed message.

Bob

That section was so striking wasn't it! Even though it wasn't a "fooled you" test, but was setup in the context that we're suggestable about how we we humanly "process" audio, the second time with the "lyrics" suggested, the gobblygook sounds were now "heard" as those words.