Skip to main content

I know there are a bunch of these what mic should I buy threads already, and I've read a lot of them, so i hope everyone can deal with another.
Here is what I got:
So far my recording rig is as follows, Mackie Onyx 1620>Mackie firewire>Custom PC(AMD 3200, 2gigs ram)>Traction 2.
In additon I've got a furman power conditoner, couple sets of headphones including the SennheiserHD 280's, 100' 16 channel Horizon snake(Its crap I think, but I got it), as for mics I currently only have got an SM58 and a AKG D112.

Ok so what I'm doing with this all: my main objective in the future will be live recordings of small bands(at some point I may need a bigger board for bigger bands), but in three weeks I am going to be setting up in a rented house way out in the woods for three weeks with a singer/songwritter and laying down tracks for an album. We plan on doing
one track at a time(or atleast one instrument at a time perhaps stereo mics). this album's instrumentation will be fairly simple, Taylor acoustic with a built in mic, fender jazz bass through a SWR workingmans pro head and 4X10 cab, simple 4 piece drumset we may even exclude the toms and record what little tom hits there may be seperate, and then electric guitar through a fender 40 watt tube with 12" speaker. And then male vocals, I can provide a link to an mp3 if you care to hear what the vocalist sounds like.

Since my whole budget right now is $2000 I'll actually have way less for mics since I still need to get another pair on Sennheisers @ $100, a 4 channel Mackie headphone amp @$100 and then studio monitors which I'd love to get the powered mackies off of ebay but may settle for the powered Yamahas. So lets say that my bare bones mic budget is $1000, keeping in mind that I'd love to get mics that will be useful in a live recording down the road.

So what I've thought of getting so far is a pair of Sm57's for drums and stereo recording of the guitar/bass amps which will then be gold later for a live recording, and then a pair of SM81's for stereo overheads on the drums both studio and on stage, and for Micing the acoustic guitar, and any other acoustic instruments we may add. Vocals are kind of the tricky thing here as I'm not sure how well the sm 81's will work for vocals but we may just even use the sm58 because live it sure sounds great live. Of course we can always rent a nice condenser for the vocals as well so I don't want that to sway my choice too much.

There is where I'm at currently. I am definetly of the mindset of buying fewer but better mics and trying to use them more universally for now. And I definetly like the idea of stereo Micing to create more space in the sound whenever possible. Does anyone think that I'm on the right track? Any different suggestions for mics? Or perhaps with my budget is there some other piece of must have gear that I'm forgetting? Thanks for reading my post and any advice you may have will be very appreciated.
Thank You!

Topic Tags

Comments

Davedog Thu, 01/11/2007 - 10:06

Sorry so late on the response. .... You have the right idea. Go ahead and implement it. The 58 on vocals should be very adequate. Its also a fact that SM81's sound very good on some vocals and you may get lucky there. Dont be afraid to experiment and whatever you do , use the pad and a screen if you're gonna sing into em. Look at another dynamic like a Sennheiser MD421, perhaps one of the new Heil dynamics...PR40/30/20....The new ADK ViennaII or the HamburgII are both under $300 and sound fantastic. In most cases you would be better off with a great dynamic mic for the same price as a cheaper condenser and for your future work in a live situation, this will serve you more in the long run.

anonymous Fri, 01/12/2007 - 18:31

Thanks for the response Davedog. I really apprecitate the vote of confidence, today I went out and bought the two sm57's, stands, and cables from my local store. Wow, amazing how much more I feel like I can do already. I just tried miking my acoustic guitar with the two sm57's panned left and right while using the 90degree XY technique and positioned them near the twelfh fret. Sounds amazing! Good clean full instrument sound, sure beats the days of just using the single sm58, can't wait to get the sm 81's!

Davedog Sat, 01/13/2007 - 12:17

EXCELLENT! First steps...small steps...If you have never used or heard the SM81's on an acoustic instrument then you are going to have a LARGE surprise when you finally get to that. 57's are 'good' on everything, but the 81's will take you to a sonic place that the 57's just cant go. A blend of the two can be nirvana when done properly. LUCK