what mics we sezzin?

currently got sm58 .. my beats are low so need a bright mic for vocal contrast

Had the Rhode nt1a

looking to try something new

any recommendations for condenser between £60 - £130 range

Akg c1000, me and a mate got a couple when we tried to start up a pa/sound engineering business, always worked well man.

try the apex 460 , it is the best all around vocal mic, it is bright
and less harsh than most budget condensors,

however the at 2020 is bright and solid, but can get harsh with bad
processing and overdubs, anything in the 100 $ range should work nice,
but for voice, hiphop especially. your gonna want a warmer tone.
something
like the apex 460. or ask the sales guy wich one sounds the best
and go from there. remember you can use your sampler as a mic pre for
dynamic mics like your 58. and juice it up to a nice level with
isolator, compressor or eq.

,. Safe for the advice..

just purchased Samson c01+headphone deal for cheap ..also an art v3 tube pre amp ..not used em yet but it'll deffo do the trick

..
for £50 ..

http://www.themicstore.co.uk/user/produ ... 0SR850.gif

Fockin dealage!

..

http://artproaudio.com/images/products/ ... top_lg.jpg

Fockin peelage!

Good luck with the art v3 tube pre amp, had one and never could get much usable sound out of it....very high noise floor/ hiss from the cheap ass tube...if you replace the tube it might be better.

I recommend a Shure SM7B , or even a cheap ribbon (although be careful with ribbons as they can be fragile) like a Fathead or Nady.

I got Behringer B-2 (from the time when Behringer were made in Germany, not the later produced B-2 Pro which in made in China). I bought it from my friend years ago for 100€. It was just dusting in he's shelf, so he didn't need it and i got a damn good microphone for cheap The sound is pure gold, since the it's almost linear flat. There's a small emphasis around 18-20kHz, but i've noticed that the pop filter compensates it quite well. Usually when i records vocals with it, i turn on the low-cut filter from it, which is 6 dB/Oct. at 150Hz.

i copped the apex 210 ribbon, it sounds decent,

it has a really dark rich tone, only thing is you need a good mic pre,
im mostly lucky because my tascam 224 has 48 volts , eq , compression and fx, and if i need the fx on my 606 to help model this mic into a better sound,

it looks feels and sounds retro and vintage, it is a total contrast to my loud and bright almost sharp and harsh at 2020, both mics are almost to harsh so next i need to find a condensor or tube with a less harsh tone for my voice.
maybe the black widow or mxl 990, or maybe even something blue, or ill grab the 460, because that mic kicks serious ass for rap.

i cant wait to record raw to tape with the 210 ribbon. then spice it up with adding some eq. still waiting for my new tascam tape recorder. which ill use for mastering/ balanicing too.

If a mic sounds harsh .. Trow a sports sock on it .. easy fix

Blavatsky ..I know what you're saying about the tube .. in comparison to bluetube I used to..have.
say in that..recorded some drum sounds ..not bad just gotta watch the levels .. on vocals though there should be no issues .. long as you project well you don't need inputs cranked up too high


--

the C01 is sounding nice through it .. Warmth of a radio show mic .. no complizzaints

the samson c01u is a decent mic for a pretty reasonable price (got min for around $70 at microcenter!)

apex 460 is a good deal, my friend recommended on it and after the testing I dare to recommend it here

YO KRIS ! is it the blue robbie you are talking about ?
I was going to grab one, but it doesnt sit well with my budget range atm,
so Im going to look for a nice sounding tube or mic pre, yo you can also keep your signal nice and clean and run tube emulator VST's. the other day i was all buggin cause decent tubes are like 5 grand, then i found a shit load of free vst's. it felt like a shopping spree. haha.

yo, alot of these mic and pres, when you record them digital the highs are way off base, like well beyond human hearing range, well for my voice anyway, the only mic ive found that works nice with my voice is the apex ribbon,

so I discovered that if you run your vocal or whole track thru this thing, it totally cures the entire frequency band of the track, + enriching it with a nice warm sound, it kinda digitizes it in a way I cant explain but im really happy with the sound, and suprized at how awesome this thing makes my mixes sound.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-UX512RED ... pd_sim_e_3


it might be an illusion, or something, so im going to experiment more, but i got it for 20 bucks, check the price on these fuckers.

http://medias.audiofanzine.com/images/n ... 09422.jpg.. Bonkers .. it was the presonus blue tube



.. didn't know how to use it properly .. but I'm happier with the v3 if I'm honest

almost got a decent mic collection going, learning to mike drums .
and mic everything else, learning polar patterns and proximity. room echo and stuff, can anyone suggest a mic pre or mixer that sounds good and is affordable . i thought berhiinger ultra tube sounded good on a mxl 990. but still no ribbon tone, I dont even take my ribbon out of the flight case tho, it's only for parties or if i have chicks over, otherwise i reach for the mxl 440. straight up the best mic for my voice, if you wanna compare it to the AT2020 , the 2020 sounds like broken glass and nails on the high end for my voice. The 440 sounds like butter and a little fatter in the middle on my voice. it has a nice character, but that smoothness for esses might muffle other sounds that occupy that frequency range, like female harmonic nuance.

the mxl 441 is the best drum mic i ever heard. i got an apex 415 coming, cant wait to have a shootout the the mxl 440.

Everybody has their own unique voice. The mic that works for me, might not work for somebody else.

I've bought a ton of gear in my time. I used to only rap & cut vocals, and I was a perfectionist. I'll give you my favorite budget pieces of gear.

My favorite budget vocal chain is the one I have now.

SM7 > Rane MS1 > DBX 160x > Apogee Duet (Converter / Interface)

If you're thinking about buying a cheap preamp, I can't recommend the Rane MS1 enough. I bought mine for $20 missing the gain knob, so they can be had for cheap. Just make sure it comes with the power supply, because they're pricey on their own.

The Rane is dead silent, it's clean, and it supplies plenty of gain. Enough to power the SM7 for my vox, without pushing it. There's something about this pre that handles transients very quickly. It makes it perfect for rap vox & very easy to perform, IMO. It might sound a little thin compared to other pres I've owned; Great River, Avedis Ma5, etc. paired with the sm7 it's the perfect combo for my voice.

I've spent $800 on just a preamp. The difference in overall quality is maybe 10%. I got over buying expensive gear & got down to just making music, and I'm perfectly happy with my $20 Rane. The Ms1b model is suppose to sound the best due to the burr brown chip inside.

Mics, my all-time fav is the SM7. I had a 414 that sounded the best on me through the ma5, but that combo was costly. Plus if you're cutting vox in your little home studio, I like dynamic mics a lot more. I know everybody thinks their acoustics are on point, but they're most likely not. The sm7 will take away the terrible acoustics of a bad room. They cost $300 new, which is a bargain for such a world class mic. (Michael jackson used it to record vox on thriller, etc) You just have to have a preamp with like 60 db of clean gain to make sure you can push it. (Rane ms1) the mic has a lot more overall impact on the sound than the pre, IMO.

Comp - DBX 160x ( x or xt are better over the a) - I use this comp on everything. Vox, drums, samples, etc. this would be the last piece of gear I sell that I own. These were all over so many hip hop albums in the past. Redman, DMC, Pac, all used this comp on their vox. These things kill on drums too. You can get 1 for like $150 if you really look. That's a steal, if you want a hardware comp.

For AD/DA conversion, if you have a mac, you won't find a better deal than the OG Apogee Duet. I see them go for as little as $150 now.

All the great gear in the world won't help you make good music, but I thought I'd share my experiences. It's so much better to pay a little more & be done with it & happy, then pay for crap. There's some cheap gems out there though.