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anonymous 2 December 2007

Well, I spent all the money I had, and bought what I want. My next purchase will be microphone. Want to give you an idea what my studio looks like to avoid advice's of 1000+ mics, I have a dead room(roughly 12x12x6.5) where i record and a control room(9x9x8) upstairs, I run the snake from one room to another. I recorded several people for the money, but they all were friends of friends. So it is not a major full time recording studio, but i would mind taking it to the next level. Right now I have:

1. Audix Fusion drum mic set (3xf10, f12, 2xf15)
2. Sm57, Sm58
3. Mxl 992, Mxl993
4. Electro-Voice ND868

What should i buy next? I am thinking of upgrading my LDC, to use for vocals and acoustic instruments. I don't have a budget, so whatever the price will be... i will save for it. But i am not going to spend more than $800 for the mic. It just ain't worth it in my situation. I have M-audio Octane 2 delta 1010 cards, upgrading my monitors soon too, probably to Alesis m1(Just because I can get them for $120 on eBay and they have a better woofer than dx4). I also have a $140 dollar headphones.

Comments

Cucco Sun, 12/02/2007 - 20:39

Hmmm....where to begin -

"I don't have a budget"
....
"But i am not going to spend more than $800 for the mic"

It sounds like $800 is your budget.

For $800, you have quite a few options. None of which will be amazing mics, but many of which are classics in their own rights. Examples would be
EV RE20
MD421
MD441
Bluebird
Beyer M130
Beyer M160
AEA R92
and so many more...

The room dimension you mention are a tad on the frightening side. with both rooms having 2 identical dimensions (read: horrible standing wave problem - 1 room at around 90Hz and the other at 120Hz) and low ceilings, $800 would be better spent on Owens Corning 705 and some Ready Acoustics (Those standing waves will take a good 6" of absorption before you even make a noticable dent on them). You mention the room is dead...but how? Are you using broadband absorbers currently, or egg-crate style stuff?

Also, I wouldn't jump straight to the Alesis - regardless of the woofer situation. Have you ever mixed on them before? Have you ever critically listened to them before? They're a decent monitor, but by no means are they a great speaker. There are great speakers to be had for very little money, but none of which I would even consider buying without some serious time listening to them first.

Sorry...I'm not just trying to poop all over this post - I swear. I would just hate to see you make moves because -

1 - you want to spend money
2 - some schmo on the internet tells you what *they* would buy
3 - you think you need it.

Relax...be patient. The answer will come to you in some other form than ASCII.

Cheers-

J

anonymous Sun, 12/02/2007 - 20:55

12x12x6.5 is rough it looks like:

..... __
___|...|
|.........|
|.........|
|_____|
Ceiling is uneven too.
I do have bass traps, and it is dead, but honestly it does have a problem around 160hz. By saying i don't have a budget i ment i don't have money yet. And is it reasonable tu buy Neumann tlm 103 for example for my studio, or blubird will be fine(as far as ammount of money i can charge).
You can checkout some pix at http://myspace.com/gertokrecords[/url]

Cucco Sun, 12/02/2007 - 21:45

Personally, I wouldn't opt for the TLM 103. Yes, it allows you to advertise that you have/use Neumanns; however, it will eat up any budget you might have and will really not suit many of your needs. (The 103 is not a good "all-around" mic - it excels at a few types of voice - namely edgy - and not much else. It's too dark to be considered a pop vocal type mic but not smooth enough to compete with a decent ribbon.)

The Bluebird is a great mic for the money (for even a lot more money too) and with it, you could afford to get a Bluebird, a Cascade Fathead, a Senn MD421 and an Oktava MK012. I personally would feel very comfortable with that setup in my arsenal.

Cheers-

J.

bent Mon, 12/03/2007 - 06:49

I'm with Jeremy on that one.
The TLM103 is not very impressive, I'll occasionally throw it up for an extra room mic or on acoustic guitars, but I haven't had it out in a while.

The 421s are classics, as is the RE-20.
Oktava's are hit and miss. I've got two of their MK219s which sound totally different when A/B'ed - but I'll still take the better of those two versus the TLM!

anonymous Mon, 12/03/2007 - 11:07

Ok this is a big plan for about a year:

1. Buy Blubird
2. Buy KRK RP8(or some equivalent), Sell DX4
3. Buy 2 more sm 57 and rode nt5, Sell Audix Fusion 6pk
4. Buy EV RE20, Sell EV ND 868
4. Buy Fathead II
5. Buy GT Brick

Assuming that with my current job and expences I can save $200/month, I will have all that by august 2008. Of course with some paid recordings I will get everything sooner. After that my mic closet will include:

1. Sm57 x 4
2. NT5 x 2
3. RE-20 x 1
4. MXL 992 and 993 (just to use as a room mic and hat mic)
5. Bluebird x 1
6. Fathead x 1

Total of 11 mics nice preamp and decent monitors. What do you think? 8-)

Davedog Mon, 12/03/2007 - 22:13

AND, just to make it all the more confusing, the Heil PR40 is another LD dynamic that'll knck your socks off.

Same cash (around 300 online) direct competition with the MD421, EV RE20, Shure SM7....better highs than all of em and the lows are quite punchy and thick.

Aint acquiring gear fun! :roll:

anonymous Tue, 12/04/2007 - 17:38

Well khm... +md421... 370 at the door GC. While I was there Had a chance to listen to HS80m and KRK RP8 I am glad I did that... HS80M are so much better! But I am curious will not they be too big and lod for my boxy control room (9x9x8)... Will I be better of hs50m?
Or what do you guys think of Ikey m808 (did not have a chance to listen to them but freq resp graph looks good), or any other suggestions? I think hs80m is going to be overkill!

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