Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

[spleenharvester]

As title. Nothing too fancy, I just use a Vintage V300 and my voicebox. I'm thinking your standard run-of-the-mill Shure SM58?

Also am I better off doing vocals through an amp and then just mic'ing the amp up?

 

[uOpt]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

This is in a studio setting, right? I would get any of the AKG perception condenser mics. Proper studio vocals are a reasonable price.

 

[teleblooz]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

I have a few you may be interested in. Heading out till the evening. If interested, shoot me a pm and I'll respond when I get home tonight.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

Are you playing both live at the same time?

 

[spleenharvester]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

It's just for home recording really, will probably be recorded separately. I have a budget of £70 or so, I know next to nothing about mixing so buying anything more expensive is probably lost on me anyway. Just bored of recording stuff on an old webcam as you can probably expect.

Reckon the AKG Perception 120 would be a better choice than the SM57 or SM58?

Also sorry to bump an ancient thread, I abandoned ship for a while.

Thanks in advance!

 

[uOpt]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

Reckon the AKG Perception 120 would be a better choice than the SM57 or SM58?

Both SMs heavily color the sound, whereas the condensers are pure. Unprocessed you will probably find the pure sound bland and putting too much of a looking glass on your singing or whatever you are doing. The SMs drive things a drive on their own but of course in the studio you might not want that.

Off-hand I am not sure how cheap you can go with the condensers before they become bad quality. At 70 pounds the SM might be a better buy. I honestly don't know.

For rock singing the SM58 is probably an easier path to a good recording. For voice acting, talking on a youtube video and recording things other than voice or electric guitar you are probably better off even with a cheap condenser.

 

[trevorus]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

You might check out some lower end AKG or even just to get into a condenser, buy an MXL 990

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[ginormous]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

Brands like Behringer and MXL are inexpensive for a reason.
They'll sound OK perhaps, but don't pound on them the same way you would a Shure hand mic.
Don't expect much from them in the way of durability.

I say this as an owner of an MXL large-frame condenser.

Look for a gently used Blue or a Rode, they'll serve better in the long run and record well doing it.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

^ +1. I would look into something like a Rode NT1A or AT 2020. I particularly like using ribbon mic's for guitar, but they take a lot more work to get right for the uninitiated...

 

[trevorus]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

Brands like Behringer and MXL are inexpensive for a reason.
They'll sound OK perhaps, but don't pound on them the same way you would a Shure hand mic.
Don't expect much from them in the way of durability.

I say this as an owner of an MXL large-frame condenser.

Look for a gently used Blue or a Rode, they'll serve better in the long run and record well doing it.

That may be true, but that goes for most condenser microphones. They aren't made to take a beating like the SM Shure stuff is. The other consideration is the recording environment. Just how quiet is it otherwise. If there is vents, a refrigerator, traffic, trains, etc., a condenser will likely pick that up, even the cheaper ones. This might be a situation for going with a dynamic mic.

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[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

That may be true, but that goes for most condenser microphones. They aren't made to take a beating like the SM Shure stuff is. The other consideration is the recording environment. Just how quiet is it otherwise. If there is vents, a refrigerator, traffic, trains, etc., a condenser will likely pick that up, even the cheaper ones. This might be a situation for going with a dynamic mic.

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This is all true, but there are simple fixes you can do to get round most of those issue. And room reflections will be an issue regardless.

 

[chadd]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

The Audio Technica 2020 is in the same price range. I've never used that one, but the more expensive models have produced good results for me in the past.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Need microphone for acoustic/vocals recording

That may be true, but that goes for most condenser microphones. They aren't made to take a beating like the SM Shure stuff is. The other consideration is the recording environment. Just how quiet is it otherwise. If there is vents, a refrigerator, traffic, trains, etc., a condenser will likely pick that up, even the cheaper ones. This might be a situation for going with a dynamic mic.

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To clarify for the OP:
The Shure SM series has been around since the 60's.
They were put through some heavy torture tests (some of which are recreated on YouTube), and have proven themselves time and again in the most severe environments.
The 57 has been the official White House mic of every US president since LBJ, its' first year on the market.

Condensers are by their nature more delicate. The diaphragm (sound membrane) is much thinner, which makes for a wide frequency response,
but as trevor said, even with shock mounts condensers eat background noise for breakfast.
Also, with a overly hot signal they can be acoustically overdriven (think of a speaker cone bottoming out), which creates a rattling, broken-sounding distortion.

In a studio that's been acoustically treated to reduce noise, that won't be a problem.

The only work-around here is to record what you can while it's quiet in the house, EQ the mids and somewhat roll back the lows which dynamics tend to boost by design, and go back to clean up later (erase the sound between the singing parts, etc) in the mix.