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We asked renowned Aussie garage rock producer Owen Penglis (also plays in garage rock band Straight Arrows) to talk about his favourite mics, how he uses them and why he can't live without them - http://enmoreaudio.com/owen-penglis-favourite-mics-of-all-time/

What are your fav mics ever?

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Boswell Fri, 09/16/2016 - 04:28

EV RE20: I have been using these for many, many years on almost everything percussive, with great results. A couple of years back at a live club recording, I was unexpectedly presented with a vocalist who also played fiddle in her vocal gaps. I had an RE20 set up for another act, but was not using it for this group, so I grabbed it and quickly set it up over the the fiddle. I couldn't believe how good it sounded - even better than the SM81 I would normally have put up had I known about the fiddle in advance. It was a much smoother sound that was simply easy to mix in with the vocal mic and the other band members. On hearing the recording, the vocalist/fiddler wanted to know what mics I had used for her so she could instruct her usual recording studio to set up the same for her next CD recording session.

DonnyThompson Fri, 09/16/2016 - 05:41

It all depends on the application at the time.
Like Boswell, I like the RE20, like Sean, I feel that the 57 is a fantastic all round mic, as is the 58. I like Senny 421s, too.
I really like 414s, preferring the older models with the C12 brass capsules to the newer models without them, but even the newer ones are still fine mics. The 414 is probably one of the best all-use mics available.
Royer ribbons are wonderful, and I really like pretty much anything that Neumann makes.
I won't dwell too much on mic preamps here because that's not the topic, other than to say that mic pres are an important step in the gain chain. If I had to, I'd rather use a 58 through a really nice pre than to use an expensive mic through a cheap pre.
IMHO of course.

dvdhawk Fri, 09/16/2016 - 09:34

I saw some love on that page for the E-V 635, which is another extremely useful mic in a lot of situations. If omni is not a deal-breaker for your situation, it's a great little workhorse.

I also have a couple AKG D-3600, which are oddly shaped, dual-capsule, dynamic cardioids. The second capsule is rear-facing and counters much of the proximity effect. So if you've invested a ton of time and money getting a sound you love coming out of your guitar amp, shove a D3600 in front of it and that's the sound you get through the PA, or on the recording. It doesn't add a bunch of hyped bassiness, that you're probably going to low-cut out of the mix anyway - which is why I never cared for a 57 on electric guitar. The D3600 is very accurate in that application, without the inherent challenges of using an LDC live, or in a sub-par recording space.

kmetal Sat, 09/17/2016 - 15:56

Since d brought up senny, I think the md441 is probably the most overlooked mic out there. It's a dynamic that sounds like a condenser. Killer on snare top. I think the price tag scares people.

My new pet mic is the beta 57a. I messed w one at the store the other day after the kid was telling me he liked it, since we quite a few life's of gear in commonon, I figured it was worth a shot.

After a couple minutes of talking and acoustic guitar through it, I was like 'well this is worth buying one to try' so it's the next mic I'll grab in a month or so. That and a cascade fathead.

Chris Perra Tue, 09/20/2016 - 04:26

Ok. So here's The built in pres of the Behringer and Zen Studio matched a s evenly as I could.. On the other ones previous there was some buss compression.. this one is just a limiter and an apogee dither set to low..

Built in A
[MEDIA=audio]http://recording.or…
Built in B
[MEDIA=audio]http://recording.or…

Attached files Built in A.mp3 (4.9 MB)  Built in B.mp3 (4.8 MB)