Show us the Mics!

Let nearly all of my mics go when I shuttered the studio in '95. Only kept a handful.

Still have the Neumann TLM 170 that's been my favorite for half of forever - bought it in '83 when they first came out.
Four Beyers: an M88, plus the old M500 and pair of M69s that I've had since the mid-70s.
Also two battleworn-but-sturdy Shures for hazard duty, just in case: SM58 for vocal and an SM57 for my cab.

Not recording much these days - at home I'd actually be fine with just the Neumann and the M88.
I like having the M500 around too, though. Crisp yet sweet, a different kind of presence than the M88 (which excels in its own way).

I don't miss most of the mics I gave up, and nearly all would be replaceable if I ever wanted.
Sometimes wish I'd kept the RCA 77 though. That was really something, a unique sound.
But I know if I still had it I'd hardly ever be using it.
 
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Our drummer is a MadMan. Here's how he has his studio drum kit set up:

kick in: dynamic for punch
kick alt: “scooped” sounding dynamic for slap
kick out: tube LDC for boom

snare top: dynamic for punch
snare alt: SDC for air and body
snare bottom: dynamic for rattle

hi hats: SDC

toms 1, 2: dynamic for punch

overheads: stereo ribbon mic designed to hear both the cymbals and kit (panned “drummer’s perspective” — hi hat on the left, ride cymbal on the right)

rooms close: spaced pair of boundary mics on the far wall of the main tracking room (panned “drummer’s perspective”)
rooms far: pair of boundary mics in the hallway/echo chamber adjacent to the main tracking room

“woody” custom subwoofer mic angled in toward the snare and kick from about 4 feet from the front hi hat side of the kit and about 1 foot off the ground. Gets a great “lofi” or “loopy” sound

smash: boundary mic on the floor beneath the rack tom that has been distorted and compressed for aggression

1176: console mult of the kick and snare mics through an 1176 set to compress heavily to add urgency and body to the kit
 
Nice Neumann mic's

My guitar amp mic and drum set mic's


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Sweet!! I have that exact drum kit for the band!
Killer. Audix D6 on the kick for the win.
I have a smattering, a 57, we have a switched 58 for the drummer.
I have one of these at home. Just for demos for the bandmates, nothing serious.

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We also got a load of these for the band and at home.
Yes they are cheap Behringers. We had no money.
By the same token though, they are very solid steel bulletproof and for live in an AB they are the same as a 58! Feedback reduction wise, sound wise, construction wise.

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They were $26 Cdn at the time each!! A really good Behringer product.
5 of these, 1 - 58. Hmmm... when on a budget? These!
 
For recording a guitar amplifier in the studio, i like miking from 3 feet away to add the ambinece of the room. This is pretty much poo-pooed by most, but its the sound you hear on all of my home recordings.

I know a lot of guys who think more is more. Some guys like to use the Michael Wagener method of 14 room microphones (seriously) and various close microphones, but the setup doesn't really sound any better...its just more complicated.

Close Miking Demo.jpg
 
I’ve been tempted to try a couple of those Warm Audio offerings.
What do you think of this EF86 / 6267 tube microphones I have a few 6267 tubes for amps I was building
what I have is a 1962 Valvo, 3 each 1965 UK Mullards they sounded the best in the amp I built and a 1958 Telefunken
my friend from Germany all way's supplied me with tubes that tested off the charts great supplier since 1986
when Covid hit he sold out all his inventory. I have been queued in on this microphone and I think I have enough
6267 tubes to dial it in it's a 4 week back order my band mates are in Hawaii for the next 8 weeks I think it's worth a try.

 
What do you think of this EF86 / 6267 tube microphones I have a few 6267 tubes for amps I was building
what I have is a 1962 Valvo, 3 each 1965 UK Mullards they sounded the best in the amp I built and a 1958 Telefunken
my friend from Germany all way's supplied me with tubes that tested off the charts great supplier since 1986
when Covid hit he sold out all his inventory. I have been queued in on this microphone and I think I have enough
6267 tubes to dial it in it's a 4 week back order my band mates are in Hawaii for the next 8 weeks I think it's worth a try.

You posted a link, or something, referencing them not long ago. Yeah, the price is right…the words are there…my curiosity is peaked. I’m just not in the spot right now. If I was…I’d give it a go. They look decent enough, for sure! An actual old school style tube mic would be a sharp knife in the kit.
 
You posted a link, or something, referencing them not long ago. Yeah, the price is right…the words are there…my curiosity is peaked. I’m just not in the spot right now. If I was…I’d give it a go. They look decent enough, for sure! An actual old school style tube mic would be a sharp knife in the kit.
I ordered it see how my tube selection works out 10 years ago the tubes cost more than the microphone
 
I use a few sm57s, a couple sm58s, a couple e609s and 1 e906. I've owned a couple " nicer" mics, but they didn't sound any better for what I do.....to me anyhow.

Here's how they usually live, except the 58 is for vocals mostly.

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well and so... I read this whole thread with interest.
Don't laugh please...
I'm retired now, so I have no need to buy anything new any more.
My music partner and I bought our microphones in about 1976.
At that time the pro sound guys were using Electro Voice DS-35s.
So we bought two of those. My ex partner still has them.
IMG_1298.jpeg
A few years later, when we had earned a few bucks, I bought myself a pair of PL-95 mikes (above)
made by the same company. The specs are the same AFAIK, and we used all four of them
interchangeably and were able to mix them with no trouble.

I still have my PL-95s. When I retired I kept them, and Davie kept his DS-35s.
I'll tell you this, it might be fifty year old technology, but they still sound great.
They also stand up very well onstage next to mikes owned by other performers
or sound professionals. My experience with them now is that they need much more
gain than modern mikes. I dunno why. But when they have enough gain, they have
plenty of presence without feedback, they have the legendary EV "proximity boost"
and seem accurate in all frequencies that I can hear with my auld ears.

So for me, these old EV mikes have given excellent service for decades.
I'm sure I've earned hundreds of dollars using them.
Here we are in some bar in 1978 or so
Doobies 1978.jpg
and here we are a few years later (like 35+) using the same excellent mikes to great effect.
Elk Rapids stage.jpeg
So I guess those old EV PL-95s have paid for themselves. I've listened to them compared to what other performers had
on multiple occasions... and the EV mikes still sound great.

Lucky us, we played mostly gigs where the sound system and mikes were supplied by the venue, but ever so often
we'd get a gig where they paid us extra because we could bring our own sound and they didn't have to lay out any
cash. We were always for THAT. I can't complain about those PL-95s.
 
The EV Pl-95's was the choice of our lead singer Carol I gave him one for a Birthday gift late 1970's early 1980;s
I used a Sm58 then a AKG Tri Power sure wish I could buy a new cap cell for the AKG it gave me 30 years of service
 
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