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cheap overhead mics

M

Matthijs

Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2006
2,247
1,154
Amsterdam
#1
Not really bass related, but I'm looking for cheap condenser microphones for live use. Either for amplifiing whatever happens on a small theater stage or for a small string section. So they should not be meant for close micing and I have no high spl needs. A low noise floor would be great, but would probably cost me too.

It's meant for small school productions for a elementary school that has no money to spend at all, but has a reasonably decent pa system. (I plan on donating the mics to the school). I've looked at the behringer C2 and C4 and something in a comparable price range from Samson, but I have my doubts about their long range usabilty.

The Rode m3, the AKG perception range or the SE Electronics SE-1a seem better suited, but are already a bit over what I planned to spend.

I'm not aiming for a proffesional theater performance, but I'm a bit worried about lots of noise and a spotty covering of the stage. Can I take that risk with the behringer stuff?
 
#10
Maybe I should.aim a little higher. I've seen the rode m3 for about 80EUR. There are several good reviews of the behringer and those t-bone mics, but as far as i've seen they were all tested in close micing or as drum overheads. As theatre overheads nois might be a problem and neither te behringers or the t-bone stuff specifies signal to
Noise
 
#15
I'm getting a matched pair of behringer c4's today and try them out myself this weekend. That c3 is interesting, but not available yet. I'm going to try them for ambient miking a theatre stage in a xy configuration (thanks to seamonkey I'm getting my lingo right). I'll let you all know if they are usable for more than close miking or drum overheads.
 
#16
If you can step up a bit in price I would say that the cheapest condenser mic worth buying is the Studio Projects B1.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B1Mic/

Like everything else you get what you pay for. Spending a little more now will set you up with a mic that you will be able to use for years. The B1 while inexpensive is a studio quality mic (the last studio I worked at had several and we had no problem using them along side AKG 414s). Most of those other mics are aimed squarely at the hobby market.
 
#19
Matthijs said:
I'm getting a matched pair of behringer c4's today and try them out myself this weekend. That c3 is interesting, but not available yet. I'm going to try them for ambient miking a theatre stage in a xy configuration (thanks to seamonkey I'm getting my lingo right). I'll let you all know if they are usable for more than close miking or drum overheads.
Click to expand...

Looks like Behringer is setting you up with success. They are smart enough to include a T-bar with the mics. X-Y works out great and keeps you from separating the mics and running into phase issues. Hope to see a report next week from you :)
 

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