The best suggestion i can offer is to try before you buy when possible. What works on my voice may not sound good on your voice, and visa versa. We've used mainly behringer B2 pro, and Rode NT1a's to record our vocals (hip hop/rap). Both of which are way under the $500 mark. Id suggest looking at large condenser mics. with cardiod pattern, variable patterns are ok, but you gotta think that every switch/connection is gonna degrade the signal a lil.

Just my $.02,
Peace,
BEN

i use a blue baby bottle for my hip hopping, but a sony c800g would be even better.

Deleted for bad form... spam and all caps- too many sins at the same time. You should move to Las Vegas! :D

Who the hell told this schmuck Boneless Dick he could sell his services here?

Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I haven't spoken to his significant other yet...

I'm sure the moderator will take out the trash asap...

Otherwise, how's it going Moonbaby? Long-time, no see(Never actually, but can't, thus far, be helped...).

TG

Oh! The topic! I'd go to the store and pickup a Shure SM57 AND an SM58(If you don't already have 12 of each?) and give them both a real try. At least you'd have a "base" to start from in your mic search. You'd know what "good" is... Then, you'll have something you can compare to any others that you consider... Me? Ain't NO studio mic for 500 bucks or less, that I would consider as "excellent" for any vocal purpose other than maybe an EV RE-20 or a Senn 421, or similar, which are dynamics - which you should have a couple of around the studio anyway, along with the Shure's, BEFORE considering a fine condenser. Of course, you'll also have to have a fine mic preamp - first - otherwise, you just won't know what you have when you find it. And when you DO find "it"(A great vocal mic that is), it'll cost you more than 5 bills...

tringlesceo wrote: i use a blue baby bottle for my hip hopping, but a sony c800g would be even better.

Yeah, sure the Sony c800g would be better, but even better still would be to make a microphone from the stretched tympanic memberanes from unicorns. It and the ELAM 251 are likely to be the only mics more expensive than the Sony. :lol:

I am curious about 1 thing...why do folks feel that Rap Vocals require a different mic? A good mic is a good mic. The NT-1A is a great mic for many things and it's a great price too. It might work well for rap, jazz, pop, rock, hell, just about anything. The same goes for so many more mics.

IOW, what makes a mic a good mic for rap?

J.

Check the Shure KSM 32 out!It's wondeful on vocal breaths adding air to rappers!

I like the BLUE MOUSE, its a bit on the harsh side, but it gives vocals a kind of raw/edgy taste. I like it personally. :)

try an Nt2-A for $399

Cucco wrote: [quote=tringlesceo]i use a blue baby bottle for my hip hopping, but a sony c800g would be even better.

Yeah, sure the Sony c800g would be better, but even better still would be to make a microphone from the stretched tympanic memberanes from unicorns. It and the ELAM 251 are likely to be the only mics more expensive than the Sony. :lol:

I am curious about 1 thing...why do folks feel that Rap Vocals require a different mic? A good mic is a good mic. The NT-1A is a great mic for many things and it's a great price too. It might work well for rap, jazz, pop, rock, hell, just about anything. The same goes for so many more mics.

IOW, what makes a mic a good mic for rap?

J.

its cause they dont know anything about mics n figure theres different mics for different things,

n since rap vocals are different for singing or rock vocals, there might be a certain mic that deals with the type of sounds rap vocals make better then others...

northern_california wrote: n since rap vocals are different for singing or rock vocals

Yeah, they (rap vocals) rarely require any talent.

**LET THE FLAMING BEGIN**

Cucco wrote: ...snip...I am curious about 1 thing...why do folks feel that Rap Vocals require a different mic? A good mic is a good mic. The NT-1A is a great mic for many things and it's a great price too. It might work well for rap, jazz, pop, rock, hell, just about anything. The same goes for so many more mics. ...

You know, without having tried to record hip hop or rap, I would think that with all of the explosive spoken-word vocal gymnastics a good dynamic would sound better than a LDC. But you always read about them going for the high end mics, so I guess you are right - a good mic is a good mic. Can't be that anyone in the music industry is motivated by style and snob appeal rather than sound.

To my Man freesignal...You know what... I would be pissed because of your comment about rap vocals needing very little talent if it wasn't for the garbage that has been released in our genre since the greats were killed (Pac And B.I.G). The fact of the matter is that the art of hip hop (ART DAMN YOU) is becoming really wack
due to over saturation and lack of lyrical skill. also alot of
people have confused rap with hip hop lyracism. to prove my point listen to an artist named Common (the latest album he recorded) and compare it to Young Jeezy. Jeezy is a Rapper and Common is an M.C. (M.C.'s and D.J.'s are the cornerstones of hip hop)
Rappers are gross perversions of what hip hop is. A rapper is what an M.C. see's when looking into the mirrors of a fun house at the carnival. anyway...
I'm trying out different mics myself because what works for some people might not work for others...right now I'm messing around with The Bluetube pre amp,Mxl 990,Nady SCM 900, will be getting a Shure beta57a and plan on upgrading to a
C 414 soon as I get some more cash. I advise anybody trying to get a good mic to look as this forum and constantly check out product reviews on the web because honestly from what I'm learning you can never have enough mic's and each session may require something different. Peace

Well My first thought was to have some fun here,
but out of respect for those in the genre that work hard i will be serous and leave my opinion out.

To record rap or that type of high energy vox I would use a sm57 or even a less expensive shure 606 with the low end EQ'd down.
that way I would maintain a crispness and a natural distortion/dirt on the vox for caracter

Sorry bwac but I disagree. I think you need a fantastic mic because the voice is even more important in hip hop. You want a real sound with a full low mid section and a few embellishments in the 5-10k range.

I would recommend Rode NT1(A) or even the APEX 460 in that price range.

Well, since I feel pretty strongly about hip-hop / rap, I'll drop my opinion on with the others!

First off, there are some definite rappers / hip hop / whatever you call them, that ARE actually artists. I feel like the genre is a very powerful way to say something, and lends itself to good one liners and clever sayings. This is the kind of rap that I think anyone should be able to appreciate. Maybe not like it, but appreciate it. Combine rap & Blues like G. Love & Special Sauce and I really enjoy it!

Then there is the garbage that the Honda Civic dude with 19 inch rims and a $2k stereo listens to as his car rattles from his giant subs. The kind of trash about killing a ni**a, bein' a thug, f'in bitches, complete with incomplete sentences and an ignorant way of speaking. I went to a concert recently that had various artists, one of which was a rapper. I found it hard to understand what he was saying, since he was yelling the whole time, but in just about EVERY one of his songs he would say one of the following:

Everybody say hooo, hooo, ho ho ho!
Everybody SCREEEEEEAAAAAM!
WhAt!? WhAt?!

Don't even get me started on the "music", well, ok, I'll go anyways. Some people call it creativity, some call it clever, I call it scraping by copyright infringement. This guy threw a heavy ass bass drum over OTHER PEOPLES FAMOUS SONGS!! My friends were singing words to the originals while this dude was 'spitting' lines about the "true new york" and how he was "in philly so give me a cheese steak."

There's my rant, longer than everyone elses... Sorry

Good luck on getting a nice microphone, I can't suggest any from lack of experience, but get out there and bring some creativity and inspiration into your genre!

maybe a forum should be started where we discuss what is happening to music in general. my man sarNZ made some very valid points (as did most of you that posted after I did. By the way I just got wind of the rumur that 50cent and Eminem are using the Sony c800g. I don't know if it's true or not but I don't think you can go wrong with the c800g on your vocals with a nice preamp.

Personally I just record, I like it when the talent is well 'talented' it makes my job eaiser, but the type of music really doesn't matter to me. I can enjoy anything recorded well.

my kind of engineer...It's guys like you that make me proud to learn. Biggup Link555

maintiger wrote: try an Nt2-A for $399

Second that! I use that mic all the time with good result.

I use an AT2020. It's cheap and sounds good.

It can make a difference recording a good hip hop artist. There's three different people I have recorded that really show this.

First is the guy that's loud and basically screams his vocals into the mic. At this point, it really doesn't matter, just have to try and stop everything he says from clipping. At this point, it doesn't really matter unless they're willing to accept some direction and suggestions from you and make use of their voice so the equipment matters. Sometimes you have the softer people where it's hard to get a decent level and you have to constantly keep telling them to move up or have to keep cranking up the levels to get anything. The third is some one with a good voice where the mic actually captures the tone. There people something have actual singing talents as well and incorporate that into their music.

There's an artist that's partnered with my studio. I'll have to post up some material when he finally releases a CD. He doesn't scream and he has a good voice. Using an extremely crappy mic with no kind of preamp would probably leave it sounding tinny and kill the feel of the music.

Regardless of whether you like the genre or not, equipment will matter just as much as talent when trying to get a good product out of the whole session.

empri330 wrote: To my Man freesignal...You know what... I would be pissed because of your comment about rap vocals needing very little talent if it wasn't for the garbage that has been released in our genre since the greats were killed (Pac And B.I.G). The fact of the matter is that the art of hip hop (ART DAMN YOU) is becoming really wack
due to over saturation and lack of lyrical skill. also alot of
people have confused rap with hip hop lyracism. to prove my point listen to an artist named Common (the latest album he recorded) and compare it to Young Jeezy. Jeezy is a Rapper and Common is an M.C. (M.C.'s and D.J.'s are the cornerstones of hip hop)
Rappers are gross perversions of what hip hop is. A rapper is what an M.C. see's when looking into the mirrors of a fun house at the carnival.

cmon man you cant be that ignorant, why do all these kids always think the only "real hip hop" is super lyrical abstract underground shit, and that its rappers like d4l and jeezy that are killin tha music, when its really ignorant fans who stereotype certain sub-genres of rap, everything that you say about "gansta rap" can be said about abstract shit, theres both really good music and really bad music on both sides of the spectrum, you shouldnt let 1 rapper or a couple of rappers dictate what the whole sound of the sub-genre is to you, just cause you think it sounds wack doesnt mean its wack...

Its funny I would like to see the same heated debate between the glam rockers of the 80's, the grunge heads of the 90's, and the 'sounds like Chad''ers of the 00's.....That would be great spadex and bits of crusty hair gel would be flying.

Just to be clear "sounds like Chad" refers to all bands who sound like Nickelback....

PEACE-music is music....