JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Microphone and Vocalist Forum I Need a Recommendation

I wanted to get some recommendations for a microphone. I want to use it for live vocals as well as studio recording. I have a baritone vocal and like to sing close to the mic live. During recording I would back off a bit behind the Pop screen. I am also looking at a budget of $300-500. Thanks for any help.

Well, you're talking about 2 different animals here... considreing that nowadays you can get some decent mics for little money, I would suggest for public performance, get something like a Shure SM58, and for the studio, you have a lot of choices... There's the Rode NT1, NT2, Studio Projects C1, B1, B3, Audio Technica 3035, Oktava MK319...

while on the subject of the studio, do you have a pre-amp? What board are you using?? If you don't have a board, you gotta consider budgeting for that too... A decent one will cost you about $200... So, considering a 58 will cost you about $100, a lot of the mics I mentioned above could be had for $200 or less, and a pre-amp or board for $200, you'll be in yor budget ballpark.... Hope this helps..

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www.mp3.com/paulradelat

Thanks Paul,
I'll look into these. Are there certain types of mics that work better for a particular vocal range? Like one mic may work better for a tenor and a different mic might work better for a bass vocal? I have heard this, but I want to know if that is getting "out there" on the technical side of things. Maybe it's something I really don't need to be concerned about. Thanks

Well, I tell you microphones and voices are very weird things... I have seen mics that work very well on one voice and not as complimentary on the next, and there's nothing wrong with either voice, nor are they that dissimilar...

Expensive is not always the ingredient to success... For instance, take the studio projects C1.. A lot of people like it and use for a lot of vocal recordings... It goes for $199... However, there have been posts of people who like the Studio Projects B1 better on their voices and that goes for $79... For some people, the sm58 works real well in the studio too for their voice... Craig Anderton is one of these people... The Rode NT1, I've seen some posts that state that works well with a baritone voice...

The other side of the equation is the pre-amp... If you have $2000 mic and a lousy pre-amp, the mic is not going to sound that good... So, what kind of board do you have? Do you have a dedicated pre-amp? The good news is that there are some out there that are better than the preamps on cheap boards... But you may find that the mic sounds good with your present board... Try that first...

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www.mp3.com/paulradelat

Thanks again,
I am actually just putting together a home studio, but I did'nt want to get away from the topic of this particular board on mics and vocals. The short answer is I hav'nt gotten a preamp, but was planning on researching them before I got one (along with the mixer). Thanks for the mic suggestions. I'll consider them and then look to another board maybe on what preamp would work well with what I decide on.

Id have to agree with Paul that live vocal mics and studio mics are two different animals.

Trying to use anything like a Rode NT1 or any type of tube mic live would be a ....well unpleasent experience they are pretty fragile and usually to hot and will feedback.

The Shure SM58 is the good old stage standard....I like the Shure SM87(not the beta) and the EV 737... they work best for me for live stuff.

Gear is one of those things that just takes years to accumulate.... well I guess the right gear for you.

But if you are starting to get a home studio together. Its totally cool to start off using a "live" mic to record vocals. Later on down the road if you "hear" the mic you want... It will almost be a no brainer.

Best of Luck
Oh Sorry One more Mic to throw in there the Shure SM 7 its not tube but used in quite a few recordings. I dont know if Id use it live.... but just one more to try out when you can.

My recommendation is to find a local studio that has a good selection of mics. Rent a little time with them and get them all setup so you can do a vocal mic shootout.

Then sing through all the mics and find out which mic actually compliments your voice.

Yeah you're spending a little extra money, but the end result will make you a much happier microphone purchase in the long run.

I recently did this and was shocked with the results. Unfortunately for me, my end result wasn't as cheap as I would have liked, but now I have a mic setup to die for and I sound like I really should.

Jody