Best Mics for Vocals
- Thread starter Cadorman
- Start date
Depends on the vocalist really....I personally prefer the Sure SM7b for my voice. I’ve got an Audio Technica AT4033 that works ok for some vocal duties(but I prefer it for other applications like acoustic guitars).
Not real sure, I had a shure 58 at one point in time, and I liked what it did .
But I am no coni sure of mics.
mcblink
Ambassador of Riffs & Spliffs
I promise you that I have some coffee in my whiskey for sure!
I wish I had an answer for that, but I can’t really think of one.
A lot of people start by trying LDC(large diaphragm condenser) mic’s...fairly common for studio vocals.
Models like the AT4050, and the AKG C414, are popular and versatile multipattern LDCs in the mid $ range...MXL models in the entry $ range(amongst others). You could spend thousands on a single mic if you wanted.
My AT4033 is really a medium diaphragm condenser, and works really well on a full sounding acoustic guitar....also works reasonably well for fairly booming vocalists, and even around a drum kit.
If you’re looking for something rock solid for studio and live applications, a Shure SM58 is hard to beat.
I keep three of them set up for band vocals....always. I don’t track vocals with them too much...occasionally though.
I keep three of them set up for band vocals....always. I don’t track vocals with them too much...occasionally though.
Col Mustard
Ambassador of Perseverance
well, I'll be a Maverick and suggest something nobody can get any more...
*grins ...the Electro-Voice DS-35, or its slightly more modern version, the EV PL-95
Davie and I bought a set of EV DS-35s in about 1977, after we played on a stage where
the sound men used these. We loved the sound we got from them (and the sound men
and their equipment) that day, and were happy with the mics after we bought them.
We put away our Shure mics for spares. (we'd been using SM 58s). I bought the above pair
of PL-95s a few years later, they seem interchangeable on our stage. Been using them
ever since.
I'll also admit that the Shure SM 58, or it's Beta version, have been industry standard since the days
when every band had to have at least one of these:
That's a long career for the SM-58, ...the vocal master is way obsolete, but the SM 58 is still
in professional use, and most musicians and most sound guys are familiar with how to use
them properly. Including me, and my colleagues. Nothing wrong with the SM-58. Any bugs they
ever had have been worked out long ago.
The reason I'm bringing up the Electro Voice mics is that ours have given great service for decades.
I mean forty years plus, and we've always used them when we needed to set up our own
P.A. Or if we play a venue where they have sound but some diddly mics. We can plug ours
in and sound better. That's the quick review.
For those of you who don't mind a longer essay, here's a picture of the young Kernel and
a young Libby and Davie, playing at Doubie's bar in Flint Mi, circa 1978, using
the EV mics for all three vocals and Davie's guitar. Two of those are in the photo above,
which I just took with my durn phone out on my porch in Tucson.
It isn't that we're so deaf that we'd just buy a set of mics and never question
them, or never try others to see if anything is better. We've been playing many places
in all the years since, and have mostly used what the venues set up for us. So
we're familiar with many different rigs. And we never heard anything that was a
dramatic improvement over what we chose way back then.
these are the same two mics, very new. If you look close at the first pic,
you'll see that the gray paint is all worn off the shafts of the mics, but the heads
are still undamaged and functional. They still sound great, clear, easy to use
without thinking about them, directional, no obnoxious levels of feedback except
under extreme pressure. Fine for my fractured baritone, and for Libby's smokey alto.
Hard to beat IMHO...
Here we are in 2017, same trio, using the same mics, playing an outdoor park concert.
Acapella songs are a good test for any microphone.
*grins ...the Electro-Voice DS-35, or its slightly more modern version, the EV PL-95
Davie and I bought a set of EV DS-35s in about 1977, after we played on a stage where
the sound men used these. We loved the sound we got from them (and the sound men
and their equipment) that day, and were happy with the mics after we bought them.
We put away our Shure mics for spares. (we'd been using SM 58s). I bought the above pair
of PL-95s a few years later, they seem interchangeable on our stage. Been using them
ever since.
I'll also admit that the Shure SM 58, or it's Beta version, have been industry standard since the days
when every band had to have at least one of these:
That's a long career for the SM-58, ...the vocal master is way obsolete, but the SM 58 is still
in professional use, and most musicians and most sound guys are familiar with how to use
them properly. Including me, and my colleagues. Nothing wrong with the SM-58. Any bugs they
ever had have been worked out long ago.
The reason I'm bringing up the Electro Voice mics is that ours have given great service for decades.
I mean forty years plus, and we've always used them when we needed to set up our own
P.A. Or if we play a venue where they have sound but some diddly mics. We can plug ours
in and sound better. That's the quick review.
For those of you who don't mind a longer essay, here's a picture of the young Kernel and
a young Libby and Davie, playing at Doubie's bar in Flint Mi, circa 1978, using
the EV mics for all three vocals and Davie's guitar. Two of those are in the photo above,
which I just took with my durn phone out on my porch in Tucson.
It isn't that we're so deaf that we'd just buy a set of mics and never question
them, or never try others to see if anything is better. We've been playing many places
in all the years since, and have mostly used what the venues set up for us. So
we're familiar with many different rigs. And we never heard anything that was a
dramatic improvement over what we chose way back then.
these are the same two mics, very new. If you look close at the first pic,
you'll see that the gray paint is all worn off the shafts of the mics, but the heads
are still undamaged and functional. They still sound great, clear, easy to use
without thinking about them, directional, no obnoxious levels of feedback except
under extreme pressure. Fine for my fractured baritone, and for Libby's smokey alto.
Hard to beat IMHO...
Here we are in 2017, same trio, using the same mics, playing an outdoor park concert.
Acapella songs are a good test for any microphone.
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BFT Gibson
Ambassador of Originality
Went through a bunch last 2 months. I like a AT3035.....works for J & with me. Live we used 58 almost everywhere....gosh 25+ years,,,seems to be the main Vocal mic provided. Interestingly. don't even bring em up to recording room. Just do not like the recorded sound much....favor condenser. That AT 3035 is very clear..vey sensitive & responded true to singers voice..in my case embarrassingly clear..
stringtree
Well-Known Member
There is a lot of choice out there now.
I've always like the AKG C1000s. Great instrument mic as well as for vocals.
Its the last video.
I've always like the AKG C1000s. Great instrument mic as well as for vocals.
Its the last video.
stringtree
Well-Known Member
This is a Great read from Sweetwater! :dood:
Buying ones first mic, is like buying ones first guitar. Ones just got to take that plunge. When one lives with it a while, one will develop likes and dislikes
and will zero in based off prior application of using one.
Buying ones first mic, is like buying ones first guitar. Ones just got to take that plunge. When one lives with it a while, one will develop likes and dislikes
and will zero in based off prior application of using one.
BFT Gibson
Ambassador of Originality
a mic for vocals is as critical as any gear we get for guitars..also...the PRE has everything to do with capturing....mic's & pre's def color just like amps do..
pop filter a must in front of mic & your room will be captured much more so..than when we slam a mic against a guitar for close up.
have had any mic made available to try out in last few years at studio $ 2,500+ ones & the MXL's i use just work for me. there is a lot of myth i found..just like in Vintage gear lure...the old stanby applies in mic's.
if it sounds good..it is good...use ears ..not a review..price tag
for very minimal dollars and research..getti g ever so closer tho the studio i go to with my basic set up
Gap 73 Pre iii--Neve--best bang for buck in gear..maybe ever got(left side of guitars & bass)
JoeMeek- the lighter color old school coloring..optical compressors..--warm up voice ..but capture just as it..use on all Vocals
6Q
VC3 v2
STudio projects- VTB 1-tube pre..on every guitar i capture...can record exactly what you put in --right back at you..its my Right side of all my recordings of guitar
DBX 286s-this is the digi -if want cold capture like new music or non arganic-i use this..it's as strait down the middle as you can find with no color
pop filter a must in front of mic & your room will be captured much more so..than when we slam a mic against a guitar for close up.
have had any mic made available to try out in last few years at studio $ 2,500+ ones & the MXL's i use just work for me. there is a lot of myth i found..just like in Vintage gear lure...the old stanby applies in mic's.
if it sounds good..it is good...use ears ..not a review..price tag
for very minimal dollars and research..getti g ever so closer tho the studio i go to with my basic set up
Gap 73 Pre iii--Neve--best bang for buck in gear..maybe ever got(left side of guitars & bass)
JoeMeek- the lighter color old school coloring..optical compressors..--warm up voice ..but capture just as it..use on all Vocals
6Q
VC3 v2
STudio projects- VTB 1-tube pre..on every guitar i capture...can record exactly what you put in --right back at you..its my Right side of all my recordings of guitar
DBX 286s-this is the digi -if want cold capture like new music or non arganic-i use this..it's as strait down the middle as you can find with no color
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