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  #16  
Old 12-17-2010, 06:36 AM
rhancox rhancox is offline
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I know this isn't the thread to be going back and forth on this, but Chris, I never read one word that disputed your advice. Everything I've ever read from you makes perfect sense. Personally, if I was going to create a room in my house just for recording, I'd be finding all of your posts to use as a starting point in the project.

But the truth is, not everyone has the room, the resources, or the inclination to create the perfect recording environment. I know for me, it's not what I'm after at this point in my pursuit of the hobby. And I'm sure the same can be said for most of the folks who have started threads just like this one.

Your advice about how to find the right mic for one's voice is all well and good, but for most of us, we just want a decent mic. We're not interested in how it makes our voice sound. Well, as long as we don't start sounding like Spongebob Squarepants.

In time, as we all gain experience, we'll get to that point. But for now, we novices want to know what to look for and what to watch out for. A person with your experience is the first person we'd like to hear from. At the same time though, we're not ready for the details you prescribe most of the time.

The OP wants a mic to start recording with. He's not interested in creating a pristine studio to make professionally mastered CDs yet. Help get him started, not tell him how to finish. We have to crawl before we can walk.
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  #17  
Old 12-17-2010, 11:27 AM
Dark Eyed Junko Dark Eyed Junko is offline
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+1 on the MXLs that rhancox mentioned. $100 and you get two of them. I got mine years ago and still use them. If I were doing some serious recording, of course, I would invest in something much better. For recording a few tunes for my own pleasure, though, I'm satisfied. By the way, I also run my mics through a PreSonus tube preamp (got it used for under $100).
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  #18  
Old 12-18-2010, 09:09 AM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
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Chris says, "I mean, I used to put room treatment on the back burner until I tried to put together my own little DAW-based studio & found it to be so important to the process of recording. If recommending that it not be forgotten in the race towards more & more equipment seems like a recommendation to spend more money - then you're ignoring the DIY links I always provide.

And Bob, what did you bring to the table here besides more personal, derisive & ongoing criticism of someone who's only trying to help? What "help" did you bring to this discussion tonight? Are you into recording? Is it sport for you, or are you just bored always being the personal thread critic of those who actually have something to share? Let's be a little more respectful of one another, OK?

Rhancox, what I was trying to point out is that creating a relationship - no matter what you're trying to achieve in life - is the best way to achieve positive results. And in the music world, that takes time & trust, be you beginner or pro."

--------------

Well put, Chris.

1. Room treatment, and knowing how to do it, is extremely important. Even the best mics on the planet suck in a bad acoustical environment. That's one reason people go to recording studios. Find a good one and rent an hour or two. Record a bunch of stuff. Take the tracks back home and see if you can get your own recording to sound that good.

For a fun twist, take the mics you use to the studio, record once. Then let them use their mics and record again. Compare the two back at your place. Twist #2 would be using your preamps in their studio with your and their mics because, in addition to knowing where to put the mics, the room, the mics and the preamps all determine the sound

2. It's easy to bite someone's butt without putting forth any valuable content. It's also a waste of space. This or any forum is NOT the place to empty your spleen.

3. Relationships. Know why you can't try mics and bring them back? Because jerkweed musicians "bought" gear on thursday or friday for their local band gig and then returned the gear monday morning. That sucks. And if there are any people out there reading this who have done this, please lend me your gear for the weekend and let me mess with it. I'll get it back to you on monday. No, I have no idea how that scratch or dent got there. No big deal, right? Hey, I just found out I need it next weekend, can I just keep it this week?

If you approach the retailer with respect, you stand a lot better chance of getting some back. I had a retailer mail me three mics last month so I could figure out which might work best in my system. I haven't bought much from them over the long haul, but we have a good relationship. I did my tests and they were back in the mail on my dime four days after I got them with a thank you note. That's a way of showing respect.

If you're new to all of this, that's how it works. If you're a jerkweed, until you man up, things will not get better.

Regards,

Ty Ford
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  #19  
Old 12-26-2010, 04:50 PM
kellyb kellyb is offline
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getting back to your original question of mic choices:

For a guitar and vocal mic, "even response" are magic words. When you're in the $1-200 range, it's usually Thin City, and nails on chalkboard bright. Your recordings will sound wrong, and there isn't enough eq to fix it. That's my 20 years of obsession talking, though. I'm sure there are a few diamonds in the rough. I think they're are a couple Studio Projects mics out there that people speak well of.

One think I'd try and do is get a mic that will always be great, whether you upgrade or not. You'll spend a lot of money in lost resale as you move up the ladder. I've got some very nice mics, and the following are ones that I'll keep unless I can't, and they're all around $300. Their responses are even, meaning not hyped in the lows or highs (important for ac guitar and voice), and they're well, well built with quality schockmounts. They're universally well regarded, and easy to recommend even if you can't demo them. AT and Shure have much better quality control than some of fancy mics I've had.

Almost anything Audio Technica: 4033, 4050, 4047, 4051, pro 37r
Shure: ksm 27, ksm 32

Great mics, and you won't immediately have to start saving to buy a better version of it when GAS hits.
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  #20  
Old 12-26-2010, 06:03 PM
Cue Zephyr Cue Zephyr is offline
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+! on Chris' recommendation on the MK-012 and M179. Both work well together on guitar as well.
I have recordings of some different configurations and combinations if you want to hear either.
I had to get mine imported from Canada but it was so worth it. It isn't quite good enough to make me sell my MK-319 though.
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