Beyerdynamic M88! I Finally Found MY Vocal Mic!

[open-road-matt]

I ended up with only two shows out of my usual 3-4 week summer musical tour. I drove from Knoxville, TN to Wisconsin to play those two shows! To make the trip a bit more fun I stopped at Sweetwater on Tuesday morning.

I've been through a lot of nice mics over the years but I always end up coming back to my Audix OM-5. I have a baritone voice and the Audix has always helped my voice cut through in noisy environments. Plus I can get a lot of volume before feedback when needed. I've certainly had better sounding mics than the OM-5 but the OM-5 always works for me and I know what I'm getting. In fact, I had sort of given up on finding a better mic.

But......I've been playing a lot of piano lately. Tons and tons of piano and I've been adding more and more piano to my live stream shows. I'm still not super comfortable playing the piano and singing into a mic. I'm getting better every day but I still need to occasionally glace down at my hands. The Audix OM-5 is so directional that if I am not right on it, the vocals are just gone! I had better results with my old SM58 but for the first time in a few years, I was ready to do some mic shopping.

I had somehow never even heard of the Beyerdynamic M88. I found it while I was doing some reading. The main purpose of my Sweetwater stop was to shop for stage pianos but I figured I would give the M88 a try while I had the chance. I'm so glad I did! I feel like this mic was custom made for my singing voice! Every note I have sung through it has made me happy!

Here is a long story of me putting it through its paces:

My first show was Wednesday night in Milwaukee, WI. I didn't think it was going to be a "real" gig! I live stream on Wednesday night and I had reached out to some friends to see if they could help me find a place where I could live stream and we could invite a small group. There is a tiny little park outside of this great place called the Milwaukee Sail Loft. I've played at the Sail Loft before and the owner said we could set up in the little park and I could live stream.

I pictured a causal gathering of friends and I had anticipated using a stripped down set up, mostly catering to the live stream but giving those who came out a nice sound too.

When I got their the owner had me set up in my usual spot covering all of that little park, the outdoor bar and the deck! I knew from experience that I'd have to be pretty loud to cover all of this with my Bose L1, Model 2 and I was afraid I wouldn't get to try out the M88.

I had a huge mess of technological trouble that night. I was using a new webcam which had worked perfectly in my testing at home and then suddenly wouldn't work. In my panic to fix that, I screwed up my audio settings. It was awful! I never did a sound check! I plugged in the M88, selected the M88 ToneMatch present on my Bose T1 and started playing! I loved it! I was pushing a lot of volume, I was maybe 4-5 feet away from my L1 with ZERO feedback trouble! I have never enjoyed my voice the way I did that night!

You can hear how it sounded here. Listening back, I would have pulled a tad of low end out of the guitar but I think it probably sounded better live than it does on the direct recording. You need to go to about 17:30 in. The first 17:00 has a terrible echo that was the result of my screwing up my audio settings. It finally dawned on me what I had done and I fixed it so it's fine from 17:00 on.

https://www.facebook.com/Matt-Wahl-M...21091737974963

All in all, I was very happy with the first outing!

The next evening I was scheduled in Egg Harbor, WI for their concert in the park series. This was the main reason for the trip! It is by far the biggest area I need to cover using my own PA. This would usually be the show where no matter what other nice mic I had with me, it would go in the bag and I would use the OM-5 to avoid any feedback. I was pretty sure though that after my experience on Wednesday, I would have no trouble using the M88. It worked perfectly with no feedback!

Here is a shot of where I set up. The park goes up from there in tiers to form kind of a natural "amphitheater."



Anyway, I know that's super long. I also know that mic preference is so subjective and what works for one might not work at all for another. I haven't ever read about the M88 here on the AGF and I wanted share my experience in case it might be a good fit for someone else.

Matt

P.S. Just for reference, here is a partial list of mics that I have owned and used live: Neumann KMS-105, Earthworks SR40v, Heil PR-35, Sennheiser e935, Audix OM-7, Audix OM-5, Shure SM58, an EV that I can't remember and I'm sure there's more.

[SpruceTop]

Matt,

Mighty Fine, Bro! From 17-minutes on, good balance on vocals/guitar/harmonica and your guitar sounds really good. I think I'll grab a few more beers as I listen to your complete concert. Keep On Keepin' On!

Ken

[SpruceTop]

Matt, I'm diggin' your repertoire!

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Matt,

Mighty Fine, Bro! From 17-minutes on, good balance on vocals/guitar/harmonica and your guitar sounds really good. I think I'll grab a few more beers as listen to your complete concert. Keep On Keepin' On!

Ken

Thanks Ken!
It's great to hear from you and I appreciate the kind words!

It was a weird night. Fun for sure but I am a creature of habit. Even though I've been playing live for a long time, I don't really do well with trouble! I make it a habit to get to a venue early, take my time setting up and I like a thorough sound check. Then and only then can I relax and enjoy my show. I hate to admit it but the camera trouble and then the audio trouble threw me for a loop. This was the first time taking my full live stream setup out in public and there were kinks that needed to be ironed out that I haven't ever encountered here at home. But I guess it all kind of worked in the end!

Thank you too for the compliments on the guitar. That is my J45 with the Baggs Anthem. I'm running it through a Line 6 HX Stomp using an IR that I made with a RODE NTK using Jon Field's IR generator. Even though I'm using an IR, I have just a tad of the Baggs Tru-Mic rolled into the sound. When I do my live streams at home I often can't tell the difference between the sound coming out of my monitor and the acoustic sound of the guitar!

Matt

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Matt, I'm diggin' your repertoire!

I missed this while I was typing the other reply! Again, thank you!

I try to do as many originals as I feel like I can and then lean heavily on John Prine, Buffett, Robert Earl Keen, Johnny Cash......