What microphone is best?

Mic Comparison video by Joe McDermott for his Recording Engineering students at Austin Community College. Illustrating a tiny piece of Sanger's Rules of Microphone Setup:
1. Knowledge trumps ignorance.
2. Experience trumps knowledge.
3. What you hear that day in the control room trumps experience.
4. How it fits in the arrangement trumps what you hear that day.
5. What you feel in your heart trumps all.

You can learn an infinite amount about microphone placement, but it only gets you so far. Note that the beat-up SM-5a sounds as good as any of them. The FatHead Ribbon Condenser would blow them all away if the source were a brass instrument.

for more details, see my "Shortcuts and Big Pictures" blog on ProAudioCoalition dot com.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• mic
• placement
• studio
• recording
• mixing
• shure 58
• microphone
• engineering
• audio
• The Fat Man
• mic placement
• studio session
• recording studio

[basketdani]

hey, I really want to buy a microphone for sound recording but I only have a 150-200$ limit, what is the best microphone for that limit?

[TheMightyFatMan]

@basketdani Of course the real answer is "depends what you're tryin' to do." A shure 57 is Really an uncompromised snare drum mic and live vocal mic. If you want something to be your studio's "The Good Mic," then you probably want a large-diaphragm condensor. Cascade owns my heart right now--the quality per dollar is staggering. Their 3-mic v57 bundle is a little over $200.  Maybe see if you can find somebody selling a v57 by itself?

[TheMightyFatMan]

OMG, I just realized that Joe is playing a song he wrote for me and my girlfriend. It's unreleased, but watch for "Isn't it Good to be Loved" by Radiola. THANKS, JOE!

--Fat

[projectgoatse]

This video is great. As a pro-amateur audio engineer, producer, writer, etc etc. this really hits home and demonstrates that good sound is not about a $7000 gold reference microphone, but the musicality of how you use what you have.

[sk7ca]

I like the second mic best! it's not so very sharp and got a pretty soft nice sound! :)