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I need to purchase a large condenser studio mic for vocal recording, and I need to do it on a budget. I know mic choice is very subjective, particularly for vocals, but I hope someone out there has some experience. I've considered the RODE NT1 and NT2 (and saw a helpful review in this forum), the Studio Products C1 and C3 (best of the Chinese, according to reviews) and low end AKG and SHure products. I have an Oktava small condenser that's OK, but not great.

Any opinions?

Comments

KurtFoster Fri, 04/15/2005 - 14:46

All what you wrote is accurate. Any of those would be a purchase you can make with confidence, although I personally don't care much for the low end AKG stuff. IMO, SP and Rode mics seem to have gotton it right while AKG seems to be resting on their reputation.

It's subjective which would work best for you ... you need to listen and / or use these mics to really figure out which is best for your use. I know it's hard to do that but it really is the truth that ymmv. None of these are giong to be ideal for all aplications. If you want a best all around mic, I suggest the medium diaphragm mic AT4033 ... a favorite of mine for just about anything.

My pov is, if you want something that is bright and present ... look to the SP mics ... the Shure KSM series mics will be a bit less strident and the Rodes to me are "super nuetral" sounding which I sometimes find unexciting.

I'm sure others will chip in here and mention what they hear from these different mics. I'm curious to hear other thoughts on this.

Like I said, it gets personally subjective in the area of mics ...

anonymous Sat, 04/16/2005 - 22:57

If you are looking for a good all round condenser I personally love the Rode NT2000 - superb mic !! I just bought a Studio Projects LSD2 which I believe uses the C1 or C2 Capsule (??) and I was very impressed with the sound of that mic. To my ear it seemed to be a tad on the bright side, but that can be good thing for certain applications. If you are strictly looking for a good vocal mic I have spent the time to A/B many high end mics to a Marshall V69 mic (Mogami Edition) and it has come on top on many occassions. The down side is it is mainly a vocal mic so you will lose some flexibility. I hope that helps, thanks.

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