Dynamic or Condenser Mics for vocals

Kenny Yates · From: Hattiesburg Mississippi

Which do you prefer? recommendations Appreciated, on a poor poor budget, of course.

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

depends on what you are using it for. Live give me an sm58 dynamic. studio gimme a condensor.

condensors require phantom power so that might add to your cost.

mxl 990 and 991 condensors are only $99 for both. I use em and they work well for vocals and for acoustic instruments. to me they sound a bit warmer than dynamics.

my 2 cents.

Don Lanier · From: Illinois, USA

There are some new player's on the market and they deserve a look see,
AUDIX makes great vocal mics and the OM-2 outperforms the venerable SM58 in many ways, The HEIL PR 20 is a great new vocal mic with far better frequency response then the SM-58, The Beta 58 By Shure has a presence peak thats preferred by many vocalists but is more expensive, Peaveys Diamond Series PVM22 or 46 are excellent vocal mics and very reasonable in price.

Condenser mics do require Phantom Power and this means your console or an external power supply is required, Cost is an issue as the Low end of Condenser mics is a bad place to shop, AVLEX makes the HO-8 which is a side address condenser and is reasonable in cost, as well as several other models and these are import mics but they do a good job.

These can be used for instruments as well as vocals, AKG and Shure both make some reasonable Condenser mics but you can expect to spend between 150-300 dollars for these inexpensive versions.
Heil Sound is producing the PR 30/40 Mics which offer condenser performance but they are Dynamic mics and have exceptional frequency response but they arent Cheap, they do come in little road cases.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Sadly, or positively depending on your angle,
EVERY singer comes across different on different mics.

No ONE mic is perfect, though some of the pricier condensers seems to work on more singers than many other choices.

In general a decent condenser mic will give more
'presence' to your singer than most dynamics.
Though in certain situations I have done fine work with dynamics for lead vocals.

An example Steve Nicks did the whole live in the studio
album that she did with Tom Petty's band using a
Sennheiser 441 dynamic and usually used that mic live too.
She decided that she got HER SOUND with that mic
and stuck with it.

I have used that on my own vocals,
though I sound NOTHING like Stevie Nicks.... Wink

Of course today t you can get a decent condenser mic
for less then a 441....
_________________
DLD, Chili farmer. Plus bananas and papaya too.

Real happiness has no strings attached.
But pedal steels have many!

Gary Shepherd · From: Fox, Oklahoma, USA

The best microphone purchase I EVER made was a Studio Projects C1 for about $200. I liked it so much that I bought several more the next day. On a budget, the Behringer B1 sounds ok. You could get a used B1 for $50 or so on eBay.
_________________
Gary Shepherd

Carter D-10 & Peavey Nashville 1000

www.16tracks.com

Don Lanier · From: Illinois, USA

I agree Donald that no one mic is THE end all do all, while the Shures have held that place for years there are new technologies with materials and magnets, coils etc that are bringing the "sound" of the Neumann/Sennheiser studio mic into the range of everday joes. Peavey is now making a studio mic
http://www.peavey.com/products/browse.cfm/action/detail/item/114291/Studio%20Pro(R)%20CM1.cfm

and a handheld condenser mic thats pretty decent. I was reading the POOR POOR Budget line so I was staying away from the European Condensers since they tend to run in the Hundreds and Thousands, instead of 150-200 dollar category. While the MIC can make a difference the Users technique and the MIC PRE or Console can make a difference too. For home based recording the Shure SM57/58 is hard to beat but having a decent condenser is good as well. Ive got pairs of the Avlex/Superlux

http://www.avlex.com/pdfs/CM-H8C_catalog_00-11-06.pdf

And these are really decent mics at a very fair price. 229.00 ea

But Mics are very much like Opinions engineers all have different tastes as well as the "Name" Mics. They work good for vocals, guitars, drums, horns, etc and Ive used them in front of very loud steel amps with pretty good results.

You can spend anywhere from 100 Bucks for the Behringer all the way out to Thousands for Blue, Neumann, etc. If your just recording your self and wanting to archive your own home stuff the Superlux condenser is a great utility mic.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

If I had spent hundreds or a grand and up
on a set up to record with,

but I had only ONE mic for 'cheap money' to get,
of the mics mentioned here it would be the
Studio Projects C1. Hands down.

Really good bang for the buck.

You don't short change the rest of the system after it.
And a SM-57 ABSOLUTLY does that...

And they are pretty consistent in the manufacturing.

It is by far the most versatile mic (listed here) for ALL jobs.
There are better mics, but nothing much close
for the money that I have personally heard.
_________________
DLD, Chili farmer. Plus bananas and papaya too.

Real happiness has no strings attached.
But pedal steels have many!

Bill Leff · From: Santa Cruz, CA, USA

If you are looking for condensor mics for recording, you might want to investigate these.

I don't own these (yet) but am considering purchasing a few based on some very good press on these in the recording forums. I'm looking at the MSH-1s for recording acoustic instruments.

http://naiant.com/studiostore/microphones.html

Check out the audio samples.

Kenny Yates · From: Hattiesburg Mississippi

Thanks for the input....I'm still considering several different mics. It sure is great to get ideas from people who have actually used these mics...thanks again.

Ken

Ernest Cawby · From: Lake City, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

AKG 1000 WITH ROLL OFF SWITCH IS GOOD FOR STEREO RECORDING. I BOUGHT 3 30 YEARS AGO THEY STILL WORK WELL AND ARE STILL FOR SALE.

ERNIE

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