Before you dismiss "cheap" mics

[4Mal]

My new favorite condensers are modded Oktava 219's. Mine have all the common mechanical mods done and the stock electronics. May or may not do the electronics mods down the road. They sound pretty great the way they are now. Way, way cheaper than a Neumann.

my acoustic trio uses one 219 placed center of the semi circle. We swing it a little towards the lead vocal and the backup leans in a little. I keep my cab off to the side of the circle a bit and hte mic does the acoustic instruments and voices realy well. Great mic on the cheap.

 

[Podgorny]

$2500 for a pair of mics?
That's no gear snob, my friend. That's someone who bought some good microphones.
Someone who spends $25000 on a pair of mics - THAT'S a gear snob.


And all that aside, if you think that your chinese-built microphones are as good as a proper "high end" mic, you are sorely mistaken. HOWEVER, the difference is not so big as to turn a potentially good recording into a bad one. Only recording engineers care what microphone was used on something. Everyone else just cares about the music - how it makes them feel, how it connects, what it says to them.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

$2500 for a pair of mics?
That's no gear snob, my friend. That's someone who bought some good microphones.
Someone who spends $25000 on a pair of mics - THAT'S a gear snob.


And all that aside, if you think that your chinese-built microphones are as good as a proper "high end" mic, you are sorely mistaken. HOWEVER, the difference is not so big as to turn a potentially good recording into a bad one. Only recording engineers care what microphone was used on something. Everyone else just cares about the music - how it makes them feel, how it connects, what it says to them.

which is precisely why great engineers always have some cheap ass mics lying around to get interesting sounds...
the signature vocal sound on many beastie boys hits is a radio shack pos, for example....

 

[Bardley]

I did my ProTools Master Mixing class a few years back with [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. He has recorded everybody. (Steely Dan, John Denver, Dianah Ross, and many more) He said in the class that if he could only have 2 types of mic in the studio, they would be a Shure SM57 and a Shure KSM32. He said you could get a killer sound on just about anything with those mics. Neither of these are that expensive in the big scheme of things.

Just an interesting thought.

 

[OrionManMatt]

Curious on what cheap mics some of you would use for toms.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

cheap kit mics?
sm57.
audio technica pro 35 are nice for a clip on condenser.
audio technica pro 25 (newer version out now, 25x or something like that) is a nice dynamic as well.
i had a pair of radio shack pzm mics i stuck 9 volt batteries on and mounted to different surfaces for lots of stuff...
those were awesome.

 

[elpezpr]

Are 421's considered cheap? For the toms.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

421's are great mics, although i hate the clip mechanism with a passion.
cheap?
not at all, sound or price-wise.

 

[OrionManMatt]

421's are great mics, although i hate the clip mechanism with a passion.
cheap?
not at all, sound or price-wise.

Yeah. I like 421s and wouldn't mind finding a similar-sounding alternative but those clips...ugh. I've used those with some foam on the top side with great results.

And you mentioned SM57. Have you tried the Audix i-5? I've reaaally enjoyed those on snare lately.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

i haven't tried audix lately, although i did have audix mics through an endorsement for a band i was working for.
audix were great, but maybe too much so....i found the low end to be extremely transparent...
too much so for my personal tastes.
the d6 kick mic would send sub amps to clip before i could really feel it.
i did like the d4 on guitar, and the om6 is a really nice, even mic for female vox although could get a bit sibilant.
there's a few audix out now which look tasty, i'd like to check out...
the lollipop looking one especially...
ymmv of course...