You're going to have to be a lot more specific. What's a 'not too astounding price' to you? $1000 or less? $500 or less? $300 or less? $100 or less?

What kind of vocals (male/female, rock, metal/screaming, rap, folk, etc...). Do you want a bright, airy sound? A dark, warm sound? Is noise an issue (recording very quiet sources will bring self noise out).

There are a lot of mics on the market and they all excel at something...

True True. I'm looking for nothing more than $300. Male volcals, focusing mainly on rock/screamo.

If there is a lot of screaming, my suggestion is actually not a condenser, it's the Shure SM7b. It's dry and in your face sounding and handles screaming well (and just about any other application as well).

If you want a bright condenser sound, I'd suggest the Blue Bluebird. Also a very versatile mic. It would be great for any style of singing where you want to bring out some top end and keep things crisp and detailed.

You may have to go used, cause these are "$300ish", not "under $300".

Boring, I know, but for less than $300 and without knowing the individual vocalist and the other equipment the obvious choice is a Shure SM58. If you start with that you'll alway have a good mic. It will always be there when the Chinese condensers you experiment with later just don't cut it.

BobRogers wrote: Boring, I know, but for less than $300 and without knowing the individual vocalist and the other equipment the obvious choice is a Shure SM58. If you start with that you'll alway have a good mic. It will always be there when the Chinese condensers you experiment with later just don't cut it.

Not my personal cup of tea for vocals (though they're good in live situations because they don't break and they cut through without feeding back too easily), but it's true, it's a mic you'll hold onto forever. If you're going to go this route, I would actually advise the SM57 (essentially the same thing) and then get a separate pop screen for when you're tracking vocals that you can place in front of any mic when you move on. SM57s are still my favorite snare mic and if you want an aggressive guitar tone, they will get it for you. I took the transformer out of mine and I like it more now, though you lose about 12 dB of output.

I'll go with Bob! He's obviously a stupid mathematics professor but a great sound guy! But then my opinions are probably based upon the fact that I cannot balance my checkbook? But having done a fair amount of live recording, FM broadcasts and live television, that's why we keep recommending those SM 56/57/58's and their Beta Brothers. You don't need no stinkin' "YOU87" if you have a 58, 57 or 56. I think it makes complete mathematical sense to purchase a single 58 for $100. Than a single 87 for $2500. I mean, I don't think I hear 2400 better thingies from one microphone than the other??

They both record 20 to 20,000 other thingies. So it's really hard to tell which one is better. But if you have a lot of both it's better.

Lots of both smart and stupiderer thingies
Ms. Remy Ann David

I thought the 58 only went from 50 to 16000Hz? :lol:

Codemonkey wrote: I thought the 58 only went from 50 to 16000Hz? :lol:

Yes, but Remy measures in other thingies, not Hertz. I thought you would have known that.

oops.

How many thingies to a whatsit then?

SM58 can do wonderful things in the right space, I would not rule it for this screaming application.

AT 4030

How many thingies to a whatsit then?

42, of course!

I'd go with a dynamic for rock/screamer stuff - no question. SM58 or 57 with a sponge thingie - I have an old Beyer M300 that does well if the low end needs a lift.

There's so little vocal stuff above 16K, freq. response numbers don't matter - it's the sound.

[edit] http://www.cheap-tracks.com/mp3/cheap-tracks_brett&juliette_sample.mp3 was recorded live with the Beyer mentioned above. What's lacking in that vocal track? Nothing a screamer needs, IMHO. Guitar was on an AKG C1000 - both mics into a Mackie VLZ mixer. This is one of my very first digital recordings.[/edit]