Hey Recording community! I'm new here, but I have no doubt that you can help me out.

If someone searches for best mic for opera singers, this forum is among the top results. However, the results are from 2004.

Besides that, everything has changed in 19 years since then, the previous thread doesn't answer to what has happened in the singing world since, especially, the global pandemic and the move towards digital entertainment. 

So,... I'm an opera singer and have found that I need a microphone less than $1000... Really it should be less than $500, that can capture what I do for personal and professional needs, but not necessarily for professional distribution.  So this isn't recording for an album, for example, but the quality has to be very high for getting the audition or getting the gig. 

This community probably better understands the problems I'm facing:

- the acoustics of the space are necessarily important.  

- one cannot really create a top quality performance with that budget. 

- there are a bajillion other factors that can make a performance glow or, frankly, suck.

- personally, I find that I can sound like a god AS LONG AS the mic doesn't pick up the "noises" of singing... Breaths, lip smacking, and that high pitched, mucousy sound that isn't at all audible in a theater but can make a classical singer sound like a 2 pack-a-day emphasimac on recordings. 

The thing is... Us classical singers are going thru the same problems other types of singing performers are going thru, where we are expected to submit high quality performances just to even GET a live audition.  That's on top of our desire and training to sound best, and the existential importance of never uploading a subpar performance. 

So here we are: can this community help ours find an ideal mic? As far as other gear goes, personally, I would plug it into a zoom H6 or a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. I have a church that will let me record for a beautiful acoustic environment. But the mic and the technique are failing me. 

I have figured out that a mic should be a couple of feet away and ideally should be combined with a stereo mic farther away for mixing together the right sound. 

Beyond that, I'm struggling. 

So to be clear, I'm asking for help achieving professional results at a personal finance level. I know it's impossible, but we are in desperate need of some tech support. 

Thanks in advance for helping me and others in our community sound great in recordings.  The page has turned, and the chapter where we are ALL expected to create digital media has arrived, even though we exist in an acoustic artform.

Thanks for reading, thanks more for helping!