Well, you just can't hardly go wrong with a 57 for any general purpose application.
I'd especially go for 57 or audix if your going to be doing the live thing or you need to not pick up the guy 10 feet away from you or the boom box down the road any of those nice condensers are sensitive and though having more top end and such they often need to be padded and I am just a good dynamic mic freak.
But for horns, I definitely like dynamic mics, and they are more sturdy and such, but you do need decent pre-amps for them usually ones with high impedance, and I don't go near ribbon mics, they're beter than they used to be, but too fragile, I don't want anything in my studio that can't take the carpet spill once in a while.
Or anything that can't sit in the stand for a few days without picking up metal particles in the air and messing up.
That's just too finicky for me, and I can't hear enough of a sound difference with my old rock and roll damaged ears to justify the expense and risk.
The audix mics have a nice hot out-put but do exhibit a proximity effect way more than the 57s do, so don't use them for vocal mics, but they are hot and sound good.
If you want to try a large diaphram condenser you just can't go wrong with the cad 179 with completely adjustable pick-up paterns and roll off and pads for less than $200, it's nice.
My favorite dynamics from shure are my sm7b for a good vocal mic, pricey, but it's a radio mic favorite and really beefy sounding, but needs lots of pre-amp gain, I like my beta 58 too, exhibits very little proximity effects for a cardioid, isn't overly bright or jacked up on the mid range like they do with lots of these vocal mics, and I've used it for guitar and hand drums and such even though it's really a vocal mic, I just like it's nice warm flat sound.
The entry level rhode mics are nice too I hear, these are condensers,but I think at the end of the day you probably won't go wrong with industry standard 57s which have been time tested and true and though not the best mics for all apps, will do decently for everything, and if your on a budget, thesee might just fill in anywhere you'd need and not be a dog anywhere.
I use the pre-amps in my mackie or sound-craft mixer which are nice, and do a good job, pre-amps are tons of them to pick from and I don't have a lot of experience with bootique pres but the inexpensive dmp3 I got from m-audio isn't bad, it's just a straight pre with fantom power no eq or comp or anything tube but depends on what you want, focus right starts in the 5 to 6 bill range with all sorts of stuff with whistles and bells or the nicer more pricey stuff with tubes, well, if you need a few mic pres that are decent you might just be best off to get a board like one of the mackie boards that has a few of them already in it, then you get eq and other stuff to go with and everyone seems to like these.
The vlz boards are still popular. Just depends on how many you need.But in your budget range, your not going to get anything spectatular that would justify getting one or two pres in a litle box over buying a board in that price range.
Good luck man. At 12:46 PM 12/1/2009, you wrote:
Hey guys, next year one of the bands i play for is going to be recording a 5 piece demo. I'll be doing the recording and stuff, but we need to do some mic shopping to get ready for the journey. Here are my questions. I think it was the project C1 that was supposedly really good for vocals? Is this still so? or does anybody else have recommendations for good vocal mics? Secondly, i need a good mic for percussion, as most of the recordings will be latin jazz and latin tunes, we need a good percussions mic, congas, timbales, bongos etc. Should i shoot for an sm57 for this task? Thirdly, the other remaining thing is the brass, i was thinking of a ribbon mic, but not sure if that's the best alternative. So again, is there a better choice, or are there any mics i should consider? Hey Chris B, i remember you suggesting the audix i5 mics a while back, are those good? What material are they good for? Also, if I want to use the delta1010lt for this recording, what preamps could i possibly afford that'll give me a good sound? I currently have an mp tube preamp, i think it's the arp sometehing, it was a $50 preamp at musiciansfriend i got for christmas a few years back... The budget for this project should be somewhere from $600to $800. Any advice and/or suggestions appreciated...THX, D!J!X!
