home studio microphones

[mikegee]

i am shoring up my home studio for some bodacious recording sessions, and i am pondering what essential type of mics i should have in the studio. not specific brands or models of mics so much, but what different types of mics to have in the studio.

i am thinking;

- a large condenser mic
- a small condenser mic (maybe a pair)
- a handheld dynamic mic
- a cardioid small diaphram microphone

- also thinking bout a ribbon mic

anybody ever try a headset condenser mic b4?

any other suggestions? thnx in advance...

[Whoopysnorp]

I doubt you'd have much use for a headset mic in the studio--seems like that'd only be useful for live work.

You're definitely going to want at least a few SM57s. For a pair of small diaphragm condensers, check out the MXL604s--I have the 603s and they're great. MXL and Studio Projects both make some great low-cost large diaphragm condensers, and of course if you wanted to go past those in quality you could go for a Rode or an Audio-Technica.

[mikegee]

ok, thnx. those are some good suggestions... any ideas on affordable ribbon mics? think its a good thing to have in the studio?

[dolivas]

If you're doing any kind of vocoder work or sound mangling of your voice I would actually suggest a headset mic for that. Other than for getting your inner Kraftwerk or Jean-Michel Jarre on, you can also have both of your hands free to play synths, twiddle some knobs or be like Ed Winter and get your creepy-looking pale funk on.

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by mikegee

ok, thnx. those are some good suggestions... any ideas on affordable ribbon mics? think its a good thing to have in the studio?

Yeah I do think a ribbon is nice to have in the studio. The Nady RSM mics are ok and you can mod them out. It is a Chinese mic that is distributed by different brands. The best I've seen so far is this guy __ www.shinybox.com

He tests all of the ones that he gets and changes the transformer as well. You still should perform these mods on it:

http://www.oktavamod.com/othermods.html

but from what I here they are quite nice.

[dolivas]

I would imagine ribbon mics would be good for wind instruments and the such. So if you plan on recording horns I would imagine a good ribbon mic would help as well.

How about tube mics? it's not really a pattern mic per say but it would give you a different sound I imagine from the rest of the mics you mentioned. Can anyone vouch for their usage...

[Whoopysnorp]

I have that MXL V69 tube mic, and I love it. I swapped the stock tube out for a new old stock Mullard 12AT7 and that made a great improvement. It sounds great on vocals.

[mikegee]

ahhh a tube mic, yes... excuse my ignorance on this, but, ok, if i have a tube mic, i dont really need a tube preamp, right? and for the non tube mics, what is a really good mic tube preamp, would you say? does a mic tube preamp work as well or better than a tube mic? will i notice a huge sonic difference using the tube mic preamp? thnx again

[GearJunkie]

Originally Posted by dolivas

If you're doing any kind of vocoder work or sound mangling of your voice I would actually suggest a headset mic for that. Other than for getting your inner Kraftwerk or Jean-Michel Jarre on, you can also have both of your hands free to play synths, twiddle some knobs or be like Ed Winter and get your creepy-looking pale funk on.

hahahahahahahahahahaha.

[Nubus]

I personally am a fan of plastic microphones. They are cheap and found in abundance. You can expirement with them. You may also want to consider a stereo microphone. I have an electret condenser by Sony that is stereo. I also have this Audio Technica stereo mic that is suprisingly useful in the home studio. You don't even have to use both left and right if you want to, but either way it sounds really great. You save space without a second mic stand.