Which mic for what

[sunray]

Hi Guys

I hope this is a good place to post this and apologise in advance for doing an identical post in another site.
I have been doing PA work for years(conferences, fetes, presentations, shows etc) and my main stay mics are 57's, 58's, 747's & AT8033's which I know well.

Just recently I have been getting more involved with band work and have acquired at auction a complete s/h band PA, less speakers, which includes a selection of mics. This list shows the desk i/p's and my assumptions of which mic’s were used, the ones shown in black I am fairly sure about, the red items are less obvious to me:

Kick - Unmarked but obvious
Side - 588
SN – BE300/CK91 (I have always thought of these as being studio mics)
R1 - 8033
R2 - 8033
R3 - 8033
HH – YuBrothers T600
Cym1 - YuBrothers T600
Cym2 - YuBrothers T600
Lead - SM57
Ryth - SM57
Acoustic - BE300/CK91 (I have always thought of these as being studio mics)
Sax – 588
KB - Direct in
Violin - KMS84 (I have always thought of these as being studio mics)
Lead Voc - BETA87a
Voc1 - SM58
Voc2 - SM58
Voc3 - SM58
Drum Voc - BETA87a
MC - SM58

In addition there is a C451 which I cannot imagine belongs in a band setup.

The 3x Yu BrothersT600 appear to be very cheap with rotatable 4 pin plug to change impedance and have 1.5V battery, they sound fairly bright and directional. These are obviously not of the same quality as the rest of the kit.

This is not a random handful of mics chucked in a box for a sale as the spaces in the purpose built mic drawers are labelled, there are 2 unmarked, hardly worn empty spaces.

What thoughts do people have as to which mics would have been used for which purpose? and do you think this is a good selection.

The original bands use is of course a fairly universal sort of set up as a hire in system, should I be looking at changing any mics?

Also what speakers should I be looking at, (I tend to go with Bose and JBL), the rack contains 4 x Behringer FBQ1502 EQ, 2 x Behringer MDX4600 compressor, Behringer CX3400 crossover, 2 x QSC RMX850 foldback, 3 x QSC RMX2450 main.

All suggestion are very welcome.

 

[AwkwardLoudness]

The Shure M57 is likely the most widely used guitar cab mic. My only complaint is that it takes a while to find the sweet spot for mic placement. A 45° angle with respect to the mic stand and pointing at the approx mid-radius of the cone at close distance is generally best with the SM57 but the exact spot varies depending on the speaker. I prefer a Sennheiser e906 among affordable dynamic mics <$200 for speaker cabs. The e906 is easy to setup quickly and achieve great results in my experience...just let it hang in front of the speaker where the dust cap meets the cone...great for bass cabs too if the 3-way switch is set for low frequency. The vintage Sennheiser e409 is even better but more rare and pricy. Ribbon mics like Royer R122 and Cascade Fathead are awesome as well.

SM58 is fine for vocals. There are higher priced mics that are marginally better for live music, but the difference is more noticeable in a studio in my experience.

I don't know much about drum mics. I always outsource drum tracks to a real studio and later mix with other stuff that I record.

 

[sunray]

I see quite a lot of interest in the 906 particularly for guitars.

An AKG D112 [or other kick mic] has been suggested for micing any sort of bass amp or bass instrument

I was planning on getting some e604's, now D40's have been particularly suggested by a drummer.

I'd appreciate any more suggestions and opinions.