Studio Mics?

[Taylor007]

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of shopping around for some mics for a home studio. I have recorded in commercial studios several times and am having trouble remembering which mics I used. Right now I'm looking at three: the Neumann TLM 103, AKG C414Buls, and an AKG C451B. I will be using these for recording vocals and acoustic guitar. Anybody have recommendations, or experience w/ these??

[RDuke]

I don't have experience or comments on the models you mentioned. In my own studio I've been using an AKG c1000s (small diaphram condensor) and Rode NT1 (large consdensor). For stereo recording, I position the AKG about eight inches out, aimed where the neck joins the body, tilted in slightly toward the sound. The Rode I position about twelve inches out, aimed at the wood behind the bridge, again pointed slightly inward toward the hole. Both of these are in the $150-200 neighborhood. They actually sound quite similar, though the Rode is a bit more sensitive and should be used with a shockmount. I've used both for vocals and like 'em. My mic preamp is a modest Midiman Audio-Buddy.

Rick

[trpullen]

I just sold my old trusty AKG414 B/ULS. If you are recording digitally, I would urge you to stay away from that guy. If you are still running a nice large format tape machine, they are wonderful, in the digital realm, they are kinda harsh.

If you have the dough, the Neumann is never a bad choice....though it might well be overkill for a home setting. Are you planning to do just demo work or do you need to have CD release quality?

I have heard a bunch of buzz (not from the mic but from the trades and users) about the Studio Projects Mics. A nice matched pair of small diaphrams would be nice for guitar and a large diaphram for vocals.

Just a thought.

[trpullen]

From Mix Magazine

PMI Audio, the USA distributors of JoeMeek and Trident-MTA gear, now offers a new family of studio mics. The line's rather unassuming “Studio Projects” name may be a bit misleading. While the SP mics are inexpensive, their sound and construction quality belie the low price.

All Studio Projects mics are side-address, large-diaphragm condensers of similar construction, and include the cardioid-only C1, the multiple pattern C3 and the T3 — a multipattern tube mic.

The C1 is attractive and housed in a heavy cylindrical aluminum case about eight inches long and a little over two inches wide. No roll-off or pad switches are provided. (They are included in the C3 and T3 models.) The mic has a serviceable — if not ultra-rugged — elastic band shockmount and a nice “flight”-type case. My main complaint with the latter is the rather ugly and irregular cutting of the foam padding in the flight case.

Center electrode microphones with gold-sputtered membranes and transformerless FET circuitry have become almost a de facto standard for this type of microphone. The folks at Studio Projects have wisely stayed with this tried-and-true recipe. Frequency response is listed at 20-20k Hz, self-noise at 17 dB (A-weighted) and sensitivity at -37 dB. Again, typical measurements for a mic of this class. The C1 can handle SPL levels of over 130 dB, a little better than most mics in this category. This allows the C1 to be used in situations that would overload other microphones of this type.

I plugged the C1 into a PreSonus MP20 preamp and recorded a male vocal. My initial reaction was, “I've heard this sound before.” What I didn't realize at first was that I was hearing the mic without the usual touch of broadband, upper-end tweak that I typically apply to add a bit of “air” to lead vocals. Without any tweaking at all, I achieved the desired timbre. Curious about this, I asked my friend Morgan Pettinato at Eastcoast Music Mall to run a TEF analysis on a C1 he had in stock. The resulting graph revealed a smooth, broad and rising curve in the 10 to 12kHz range. The C1 was inherently adding the “air” that is sometimes needed with some other large-diaphragm condenser mics. Lest I leave you with the impression that this mic is overly colored, that is not the case at all. The small upper-range bump is subtle and pleasing — a definite plus in many applications.

An overdub session with a tenor sax let me try the mic on higher SPL sources. Saxophones are often recorded with ribbon mics, but the C1's extended high end and high-SPL handling had me curious. This time, I ran the mic through the JoeMeek Studio Channel VC1QCS, but used the unit's insert jack to bypass its compression/EQ sections to track with the preamp section alone. The VC1QCS utilizes Ted Fletcher's new “current sensing” technology, which matches the mic's impedance to the pre, previously done with transformers.

I placed the C1 about three feet away from the sax, slightly lower than head level, in about the same position I would normally place a ribbon mic. The result was immediately gratifying. The sax came through with outstanding warmth and clarity, and, again, no EQ was needed. Next I tried the mic about six inches from the bell. This produced a biting sound that would be great on rock sessions. Even with this close proximity to a wailing sax, the mic never came close to overloading. The saxophonist — a veteran player in the New Orleans recording scene — repeatedly asked me if he could borrow or buy my C1 test unit!

The Studio Projects C1 lists for $300. I purposely saved that bit of information 'til the end of this article. It would be too easy for some people to dismiss this mic based solely on price. On price alone, the C1 is an obvious choice for a small studio on a budget, but more importantly, its excellent sonic quality and high-SPL handling make it a great choice for any studio looking for a quality, large-diaphragm condenser mic — or several.

[trpullen]

Or this from Mix:

DOUG OBERKIRCHER
Doug Oberkircher started recording and mixing records in 1985, after serving as chief tech at The Hit Factory in New York City for a few years. He's worked his magic behind the board for Spyro Gyra, Vanessa Williams, Dream Theater, Unspun, David Clayton Thomas, Jason Miles, Night Ranger, Arcade, Firehouse, Diving Pearls and Sting. Oberkircher's deft engineering was part of the winning formula that garnered a Grammy (for Best Male Pop Vocal) for Sting's “She Walks This Earth,” off the album A Love Affair — The Music of Ivan Lins.

Oberkircher is quick to praise both vintage and modern mics for recording vocals, citing the tube and FET Neumann U47s, the AKG C-12, and the AKG C-414 and B-TLII as favorite mics. “I'm also using this new Studio Projects tube mic, the T3 [distributed by PMI Audio],” he adds. “I really like it, and it's very reasonably priced.”

[Taylor007]

wow, tom thanks for all the feedback.
I would like to record a CD.
It will be my third, and i'm tired of studio
recording outside the home. I just never feel
comfortable and the price is very high.

What I need is a great mic for vox. and one for
the acoustics.

[david_m]

Depending on your price range, I highly recommend the Neumann KM-184. I picked up a stereo pair of these for $1,000 recently, and I've been quite happy. The KM-84 is basically the "standard" small diaphragm mic for recording acoustic guitar. The KM-184 is an updated version of the KM-84. The mics are very quiet and very clean. I'm powering them with a Joe Meek TwinQcs preamp.

I tired out a couple of Behringer B-2 mics recently, and I was VERY impressed with these mics. The have a dual membrane, a 10db pad switch, and are switchable between omni and cardiod patterns. The dual membrane mic set to an omni pattern yields an almost stereo effect from a single mic. At $199 each they're a steal. I haven't bought one yet because I'm saving my pennies for my Taylor stock guitar.

Good luck, and happy hunting.

David

[Robbie]

Another candidate you should look at are the new Rode NT4 and NT5. One of them (forget which) is a specialised stereo mic (in a coincident arrangement for the technically minded), whilst the other are small, matched condensor pairs, the idea being that you can experiment a bit more with their positioning when recording the guitar in stereo.

One thing I have always wanted to do (but don't quite have the money at the moment) is to buy an omni and a figure of 8 and indulge in some "Middle and Side" recording (known as M&S for short). This is another stereo micing technique that tends to give very impressive results (many orchestral recordings are made using this technique). be awrae though that this requires a VERY complicated arrangement on your mixer. Basically you have to send the two mic signals to three channels, splitting the figure of 8 between two channels and reversing the phase of one of them. There is a cheap Phonic mixer that I use that can do this automatically for you, and you can buy a cheap CAD microphone (I forget the model number) that has switchable omni and figure of 8 patterns. Buy two of these and a phonc desk and you'll be laughing!

Rob

Also consider the Oktava MC-012 or the Marshall MXL 603s condenser MIC's. There are many recommendations for them and at roughly $200-300 a pair, they're great for home studios.

[Steve314]

I've been using a relatively low-dollar, medium diaphragm condensor made by a company called Avlex. I had never heard of the company until I first saw this mic, but the price was right, so I went for it.

It's a Superlux PRA-H7A, and I couldn't be happier with my recorded sound, be it vocals or guitar...

Steve