The best thing to do , Is find (make a friend) somewhere that has a great return policy. That way you can try it out for a day or two and see if it works or not for you.

In your price range its going to be tuff, and it has alot to do with the pre you run the mic through also. I've not use the Sterling line of mic's yet so I can't comment on them.

For cheap.......Studio Project C3 (around 300.00) has worked for me on female vocal before. Using my Onyz pre in my board.

P.S. In that style of music the Beta58 is a good choice! YMMV

Peace..............Scoobie

It's hard to beat an SM58. Really.

SM58 lover
Ms. Remy Ann David

Indeed on the 58! If she needs to be impressed by your "going out on a limb" price-wise(So she knows you REALLY love her!), maybe one of those Shure 'Beta' 58's? Remy? Didn't you say the Beta-something-or-other was nice? Was it the 58? Or maybe a nice AKG "stage condenser", in the 2 to 3 hundred dollar category? What does Shakira use? She looks pretty(I love her hair!)... Wonder what her music sounds like? I just saw her and her stage mic, in this months MIX magazine, I know it mentioned what it was..? I forget and am too lazy to actually reach behind me and look... sorry, I've got to get back to vacuuming... LOOK OUT CATS!!!

TG

Well you know, the Beta 56/57/58 has a higher output and an extra top octave in comparison to the SM series. Along with being a super cardioid instead of a standard cardioid. And although they look like they're nearly identical, they don't exactly sound identical. Some people feel that they sound "better" but I look at it as a completely different microphone with a different sound. TeddyG and I are living fossils! In many ways, I prefer the SM58 over the Beta 58. Probably because I've gotten so used to SM series? I like the results I get. Why change? Just to change? Only if the feeling moves me.

Having a movement now
Ms. Remy Ann David

Thanks for that! I have yet to hear one of the "Beta's"...

Far as the "SM", I think my next move will be to the "BDSM series"..? I'm already taking a beating, I may as well learn to enjoy it......

Crack that whip, baby!

TG

And, forget the Shakira mic... She uses a "...modified Sennheiser 3000 series wireless mic with a ME3005E capsule, which is modified for her..."

Doubly modified, I guess? Yes, we get it, it's MODIFIED - and YOU can't have one, no how no way! Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! Whatever happened to "proofreaders"? Though she also uses some Clair Brothers speakers, that I could get for you wholesale, "out the backdoor", as CB is right up the road from me, here in good 'ol Lititz, PA... if that would help.....? SSsshh......

She is pretty cute, though... And, looking a bit closer(Maybe too close? At the larger, inside photo in MIX.), she even looks like she might be almost old enough to date me? I am a "fossil", ya'know...

Sterling mics are simply another Chinese mic hyped by the nice folks at Guitar Center. If your girlfriend is a screamer (ya lucky dog!), get a SM58. If she's more...."feminine", with that "breathy" quality we all drool over, try another Shure-the Beta 87a. It was developed with Mariah Carey to be a great female singer's mic. I have a couple of them just for the ladies I mix for, live and in the studio. And don't let some schmuck in a music store tell you that you shouldn't use a "live" mic in a "studio situation". What does he know, he's trying to sell Sterlings!

I knew Moonbaby was good. Very good.

And what about those guys like Bono and Steve Tyler? SM58 "PA microphone" in the studio for their vocals. Why would anybody want to plug a $100 microphone into a quarter million-dollar console?? Because they're smart that's why. Really smart.

Fly me to the moonbaby
Ms. Remy Ann "I am that kind of girl" David

I agree about the Sterling Audio stuff. The only mic that i've liked would be the ST31 and that had a nice mellow sound on a Gibson Acoustic. Otherwise they are completely overhyped. For $200 i'de say you should check out the Electro-Voice RE410. It's a hand-held condenser and sounds amazing on plenty of vocals. SM58's are great microphones that you see everywhere, but I wouldn't jump on the bandwagon without testing each of them together. Go to any shop that will allow you to test them and see what you come up with.