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Looking for a mic for my wife...

Sav'nBass

Sav'nBass

Jan 18, 2009
4,783
2,516
Virginia Beach
#1
My wife is the resident diva in our band.. and I am looking for a mic for her. She has a very powerful voice kind of like a Phylis Hyman/Chaka Kahn/Oleta Adams kind of thing going on with it.. I want to get her her own mic and I have no clue what to get. Dynamic? Condenser? I have had folks tell me things from SM58s to KSM32s and I have absolutely no clue what to get for her. I want to spend no more than $200 though.. (so that rules out the KSM32.. ;) ). This mic will be used for live sound and recording but it is specifically for her voice. She can sing alto or soprano quite comfortably and as I said.. she has a very powerful voice when she gets going.....

This forum needs a mic sticky sort of like the one on the Amp board.... :thumbsup:

Anyway... any help would be greatly appreciated.. I have read a few of the threads around here on mics... but I am just trying to understand more... I am the kind of person who likes to know why... Why dynamic? Why condenser? Why not one or the other?

By the way our band is a four piece band consisting of drums, bass, guitar and sax... at some point we may get keys .. but we aren't holding our breath waiting... The music we play is more of a jazzy, R&B kind of thing.. some old standards ... some new standards.. with some gospel or revamped CCM thrown in as well...
 
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#2
If she is going to be using it for live sound then you can't go wrong with the standard SM58. They can stand up to abuse and keep working. The one I currently use is at least 20 years old. Sound men are used to them and know what to expect. There is also the Shure Beta 58 that has a super cardioid pattern which makes it a little better at jist picking up what's in front of it. The Beta58 usually runs around $159 while the regular SM58 can be found for around $100.
If you want to go the condenser route there are hand held condensers made for live use but I have never tried one.
My advice is to grab a regular SM58 now and down the road pick up a studio condenser. Trying to find one mic that does it all can be difficult. That's also wife my wife asks me why I need so many microphones.
 
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#4
Rode M1 dynamic fits in your budget @$99. I got one of these for my wife but I guess I would describe her vocal qualities as opposite of your wife. I have little experience with other mics so I can't really compare for you. There are some helpful reviews out there that compare the M1 to 58s.
 
#5
A lot of people and sound companies around these parts are switching to Sennheiser. This is a great vocal mic for a woman's voice.
image.jpg
 
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#6
I've used Shure SM57, SM58, Beta58, Beta87, Heil PR20, Audix OM5/OM6 (and once an i5), Senn E835/935 (plus Countryman and similar styles taped to their cheeks) mics on vocals.. and in a nutshell.. it depends on the voice.

While the "industry standard" mics will work, you should go and try them out on her voice and find out which sounds best!!


last update: spelling.
 
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#12
Put her in a room with good monitors, 5 or 6 mic's on stands. Have her walk between them singing. Then do again another day with the top two or three. (Ear fatigue is real...). That should tell her which really suits her voice. I would only put mics up that have great reputation is for live use...

Mic's that I would put on the list Audix OM -5 & 6. Are very good. I like the 6 o my slightly thin voice. I put the 5 on my guitarist and his voice benefits from the more aggressive presence peak. The Shure Beta 87 is highly regarded for lady vocalists in the torch genre. As a condenser, I wouldn't bother of there is Rock and roll volume at play... Jazz stuff, it should be a strong contender.

The OM -7 is great for what it is. Designed as a very, very low gain mic for high feedback rejection. You absolutely have to eat the mic to get anything out of it. It's a love it or hate it mic with most people in the hate it camp as you simply can not work more than about a half inch off it. For super high volume stages, folks that are used to eating the mic, it is a slice of heaven... I keep one in my kit just in case. My bread and butter vocal mics are the 5's and 6's. I have 3 vintage 58's for folks that just have to have a 58. There are so many better choices...
 
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#13
4Mal said:
The OM -7 is great for what it is. Designed as a very, very low gain mic for high feedback rejection. You absolutely have to eat the mic to get anything out of it. It's a love it or hate it mic with most people in the hate it camp as you simply can not work more than about a half inch off it. For super high volume stages, folks that are used to eating the mic, it is a slice of heaven... I keep one in my kit just in case. My bread and butter vocal mics are the 5's and 6's. I have 3 vintage 58's for folks that just have to have a 58. There are so many better choices...
Click to expand...

That makes a lot of sense- I had not A-B'd the om 5-6 to the 7. Thanks for that - it is EXACTLY how I was introduced to it - and it was awesome.
 
#18
Frankjohnson said:
That makes a lot of sense- I had not A-B'd the om 5-6 to the 7. Thanks for that - it is EXACTLY how I was introduced to it - and it was awesome.
Click to expand...

Funny thing with that mic is that if you can work in very close proximity to the mic, it behaves like every other mic. Like backing off 1/4" to 1/2" makes a huge difference. Just as though you had moved 2 or 3" off a 58, om-6 etc.

Makes people paying attention think you have scary control over your vocal volume ;-)

I sang on an OM-7 for a while. The one I kept in my mic box. Tonally I like it but the gain structure for my vox channel was off the charts different from every other channel on the board. I got tired of that in a hurry...
 
#20
Sav'nBass said:
My wife is the resident diva in our band.. and I am looking for a mic for her. She has a very powerful voice kind of like a Phylis Hyman/Chaka Kahn/Oleta Adams kind of thing going on with it.. I want to get her her own mic and I have no clue what to get. Dynamic? Condenser? I have had folks tell me things from SM58s to KSM32s and I have absolutely no clue what to get for her. I want to spend no more than $200 though.. (so that rules out the KSM32.. ;) ). This mic will be used for live sound and recording but it is specifically for her voice. She can sing alto or soprano quite comfortably and as I said.. she has a very powerful voice when she gets going.....

This forum needs a mic sticky sort of like the one on the Amp board.... :thumbsup:

Anyway... any help would be greatly appreciated.. I have read a few of the threads around here on mics... but I am just trying to understand more... I am the kind of person who likes to know why... Why dynamic? Why condenser? Why not one or the other?

By the way our band is a four piece band consisting of drums, bass, guitar and sax... at some point we may get keys .. but we aren't holding our breath waiting... The music we play is more of a jazzy, R&B kind of thing.. some old standards ... some new standards.. with some gospel or revamped CCM thrown in as well...
Click to expand...
Two threads for similar question? LOL

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/i-want-to-buy-a-mic-for-my-wife.1131197/#post-16900889
 

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