PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production Some microphones that have twigged me recently.

so many new interesting microphones ive come across...
feel free to add your own interesting ones.

(see you tube and manufacturers web site for more info.)

1..neat microphone series.

2..Lewitt microphone series. eg LCT 240 << very affordeable.

3..ISK Audio microphone series.
particularly note the ISK PEARL that various studio users on gearspace.com seem to like....its about 40 bucks !

https://www.iskproaudio.com/collections/microphones/products/pearl

currently sold out....otherwise i would get one to try.
no brainer at 40 bucks.
heres a gearspace thread of user comments.

https://gearspace.com/gear/isk-pro-audio/pearl


4..finally the presonus revelator usb mic i might try and see how it performs on my vocs. affordeable plus from what ive seen with the control app it comes with one can tailor/tweak the incoming sound.

lots of new interesting mics coming out.
if anyone has a low cost new mic they like...post back and share why.

toodles/happiness.

om

1..heres another mic brand that some studios really really like.

https://www.astonmics.com/

also have portable vocal booths.

they comment on 'the british sound'.
so thats why american women go potty for us brit men...lol.
we have the brit sound.

2..ive been checking out further that interesting revelator presonus mic.
it looks like they used to include studio one artist daw for free . ??
but now just studio one for a few months to try out ??
i would think that this might put off some people given the many daw alternatives on the market ??

talking of daws what happened to the behringer daw that was talked about a few years back ?? was gonna be free with purchase of behr products ?

ttfn/happiness.

om

Studio One Artist and Studio One Prime Editions are discontinued and are longer be available beginning October 9, 2024.


That's the company formerly known as Behringer. You may like or dislike the microphones but everything on their spec sheets is a work of fiction. Don't ever order any Music Tribe product based on their marketing materials alone.

Music Tribe is a holding company based in the Philippines chaired by Uli Behringer. I don't know if this is a complete list:

Behringer
Cool Audio
Midas
Turbosound
TC Electronic and TC-Helicon
Tannoy
Klark Teknik
Lab.gruppen
Aston Microphones

used to be the major OEM and partner of Sampson when they were a thing.

Mike.

i didnt know about the behr aston link.
astons (includeing aston martin cars...lol) mics are outside my puny
yearly budget anyway.
im sorta surprised as aston mics artist list on their site is kinda impressive.
i thought i read somewhere that stevie wonder is a user ?

frankly over the years doing zillions of vocal tracks in studios
ive used everything from el cheapo under 100 buck mics up to very very expensive
mics.
(see if you can tell which songs in my sig used el cheapo mic vs expensive.
most people find it difficult to tell.)

heres another interesting manufacturer.

https://www.lautenaudio.com/

frankly ive got enough mics for my needs.

ps..its a shame presonus discontinued that daw software.
what do you think of CAD mics ?
someone i once knew had a m179 and liked it.

for lurkers on the forum...pretty affordeable mics...

https://www.cadaudio.com/

cad has some retro looking mics also.

https://www.cadaudio.com/products/studio-vocals

and see you tube again for reviews etc etc.

happiness.

om

Honestly I'm not very interested in new microphones unless they're ribbons or dynamics - most "new" condenser mics outside of the big companies are all the same guts as each other with maybe minor tweaks. I still say everyone should start with an SM57 and work on making that sound good before going for anything boutique - the 'ol 57 is a fantastic cheap microphone, and I've even tracked entire songs with only 57's (everything from kick to overheads to bass to vocals).

Bugera amplifiers as well. I had one, it was quite good and compared favourably against the Fender Hot Rod series.

Simon.

ive used 57 on loads of tracks over the years.
but it doesnt hurt to look around imho.

from my research on microphones it seems that new technical concepts and ideas are being implemented these days.

how bout a diy mic ??..lol.
lots of info on net. re diy ribbon and other mic types.
i might have a bash when im less busy.


happiness.

om

Funny, but while I'm the biggest gear hound I know, new mics don't interest me. Once I found a Neumann TLM49 for vocals, I just stopped looking. Also have a Shure SM81LC for acoustic guitar and a Sennheiser E906 for amps, when I need them. Of course I'm not running a pro studio, just a one basement home studio.

But I'm looking for a new guitar literally ever day. Weird, huh?

DCRON.

yep that neumann is a goodie.

ive gone thru loads of nutty gear cycles....lol.
once into all big studio gear doing vocs in commercial studios.
then in my crazy rock phase and being a bit of a renegade...lol..
went for all low end mics. its all lotta fun.
as a result some songs in my sig used high end gear while others low end budget gear. im just odd that way....lol.
love the challenge ....most people cant tell the diff.
for example the stallion rock song in my sig used a oddball mic that i got yonks ago as did the blugrass banker man song.
but it just seems to work with my vocs sometimes.
other songs very high end mic.

same with geetars...tried loads of them.
i was kinda bonkers in my younger days...like a lot of musos....lol.

gearspace.com is a kinda interesting place.
they have a high end forum and a low end forum and many other forums.
great for gear shootouts low versus high end.


talking of the sm57...i knew there were competitors out there but i didnt know how many 57 style ones....pyle/behr/stagg/monoprice and a ton of others.
there are various comparisons/audio examples on you tube.
for those that dont have lots of moolah there are 57 competitors even under 25 bucks.

some higher priced 57 but affordeable competitors i hear mentioned often are audix i5,
heil,se electronics v7,senny and various others.
there are so many models its tuff to keep up.

frankly whats really interested me is more mics coming with desktop control software like the presonus revelator to ensure great tracks get recorded eg comp/lim/gate in software etc etc.
i think we are going to see more of this.....ie desktop mic control apps/dsp.
elgato wave is another interesting mic.
(see you tube again for sound samples etc.)
we are spoilt today.

toodles/happiness.

om

Interesting conversation.

I'd only add that I would recommend passing on any USB based mic. From my early years in the cakewalk forums, the folks who were using the USB mics were the ones coming in asking for tech help to get them to work without serious latency and other issues with recording in their DAW about the clocks not properly syncing and things drifting on playback.

Those mics are ok for podcasts and other simple things but put into a DAW with other soundcards in the system and they were nothing but trouble. Someone had actually posted a sticky on how to make them work but it seemed to not work for the vast majority.

Maybe that has been worked out now..... I don't know.

My advice is still the same, avoid the USB mics for recording. Get something that plugs into your external interface.


Another thing..... To the average listener..... A $200 mic sounds just as good as the $2000 mic. And for a home studio, that $2k mic is simply overkill and bragging that you have money to throw around. Again, back in the cakewalk forums, there were several people who used a $59 condenser mic for vocals and it sounded really good.
I bought one, fairly decent, condenser mic and use it for everything.


Back in 2009, I attended a songwriter convention in LA. One of the sponsors was a new mic company called Gauge Mics. They had a booth where you could compare, side by side, A/B with a switch, their $100 mic with one that cost 10x more. Suffice it to say that I was hard pressed to hear any difference between the two mics.

GH.

great comments.

1..re cheap versus expensive mics ive done vocs at home on el cheapo
and then gone into big studio useing expensive mic and the same 'vibe'
just wasnt there.
to be fair...vice versa...ive done vocs in a big studio and just
couldnt duplicate next day.
sometimes ya just get that magic track thats difficult to duplicate.
which prolly explains why some groups with great hits cant get the same
groovy sound picture live.
a couple of songs in my sig i know would be very difficult to redo
in a big studio or high end studio.
conversely a couple of my sig songs used expensive high end voc mics.
sometimes ya just get those magic days where everything works.

2..re usb mics. i agree. but it seems things are now changeing for
the better. lots of new usb mics focusing on zero or very low latency
and with some pretty groovy user controlled dsp desktop apps.
heres another i wasnt aware of..
BEACN usb mic. (they also have an interface.)
with real time noise suppression built in and other groovy features in software.
this is a very interesting vid showing all the neat user dsp features.



(many other vids re beacn useage on you tube.)

ymmv as usual.

in summary GH it looks like there are pretty amazeing things happening
with usb mics. of course if i got one from amazon i would test at home.
so i can see first hand what it will do and if i dont like it...
return it within 30 days. its the application of dsp to these usb
mics i find interesting.

check out also the shure mv7+ sometime.
(note all the dsp fx again and denoiser and plosive handling.)
(also note comments re shures own sm7b.)


tech is moving so fast its difficult to keep up...lol.
happiness.

om

< From my early years in the cakewalk forums, the folks who were using the USB mics were the ones coming in asking for tech help to get them to work without serious latency and other issues with recording in their DAW about the clocks not properly syncing and things drifting on playback. >

While technically true, when used by someone with basic recording knowledge that can properly set up equipment, usb based microphone latency, syncing and other issues have long been overcome for usb mics used for home recording. Usb mics are recognized by computers as internally clocked audio interfaces with their own internal clock and no external clocking access. They are practicable when used as a single source device for most types of sound sources like recording a guitar, vocal, or vocal/guitar combo from a single mic source to voice for podcast, recording an amp and similar devices. All of which are practicable and applicable to recording into BIAB.

Usb mics as a source in multitrack recording with multiple other recording input sources could have issues as they are incapable of being clocked. Recording with a usb mic should never have these issues when used as the audio interface with BIAB. Once latency is addressed and set, a usb mic is simple, quick, and effective when used in combination with BIAB styles and instruments.

This is particularly true since the release of 2025 with the new features and upgrades added to 2025. The addition of Stem Splitter, VSTi3, and Playable RealTracks previously introduced, along with the associated upgrades and enhancements to the ACW have brought forth an old feature, unknown or ignored by DAW users most specifically, that has more production and arrangement capability than Utility Tracks or Tracks View, But that's another topic.

For users making backing tracks, practice tracks, Karaoke, or original compositions and do these tasks without need of post production DAW comping, editing and mastering, usb mics are completely efficient and practicable.

EDIT: OM posted as I was composing. His points directly support mine regarding post-editing and dsp features like noise suppression which can also be addressed post recording. If the basic signal chain is addressed properly and set up correctly, dsp and post editing is nothing more than selling features and convenience.

Many professional microphones are available as with both USB or XLR connections depending on how the cable is terminated. You can also purchase XLR to USB adapters that adapt your beloved existing microphone.

As GuitarHacker pointed out, it was the wild, wild west when USB was the new kid on the block but time has a way of softening the rough edges.

Music Tribe owns Tannoy, TC Electronics, Behringer and many more companies.
The quality of the products is usually in keeping with the heritage of the given company.
Behringer makes, in the main, good quality stuff these days. They used to be haphazard but no longer.
I have three or four excellent pieces of Behri kit.
USB mics are only as good as their converters.

(ps yep it seems usb tech has improved.)

this post is about not just cheap mics but ultra crazy cheap mics and vids.

if anyone wants a bit of fun and is interested not just in cheap mics but crazy cheap mics under even 25 buks
ive been watching some vids on you tube where people buy off temu for a few buks
clones of well known expensive mics and then compare with sound tests against expensive mics.
there are also interesting threads on this topic on gearspace where thousands of studios hang out.

heres why i think there might be a place in ones expensive mic locker for such ultra cheap mics.
maybe a bunch of musos/bros get together one weekend to do some rough demos.
maybe in this case it turns into a party as sometimes occurs...lol.
does one want to chance getting wrecked a very expensive mic costing maybe over 1k ?? or some might say even a few hundred ??
its something to consider.
if i remember the demo song coastal highway in my sig...
i used on my vocs a tascam tm80 under 100 buk mic i was testing out for fun.
some people seem to like it.
(if you wanna listen use decent earbuds. bb/rb/rt's plus pg fx only used)

here are a couple of vids i found interesting viz clones and expensive high end mics.
as one will see there might be a place for clones if one is concerned about a really expensive mic getting damaged.

the following vids certainly i found of interest. (tons more on you tube.)
temu mic example..



one more vid on cheap mics....



and a under 15 buk vocal comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AINNvq_NSxg

lots more info on you tube vids and gearspace.
lots of interesting stuff.

happiness to all.

om

Interesting comparison on the Nuemann U87 and its 'lookalike' companion. The price difference is far more astounding than the audio difference.

AT.

of course another reason why one might get a pack of el cheapo mics is if the group knows its gonna be a rowdy crowd when playing out live say at a club.
so one doesnt wanna chance a high value and/or vintage mic.

once years ago i saw the who live doing if i remember my generation and daltrey swing out the mic and then pulling it back.
not sure i would wanna do that with a pricey mic.

of course one has to ensure any mic is safe.

for the live rowdy situation i would probably plop not for ultra ultra low priced but maybe a well known mic manufacturer.

eg...a pack of mics like these behringers ?




happiness.

om

I've only played on gig in my entire musical career where someone used a condenser mic on the stage. 99% of the gigs were Shure 57/58 mics. My own personal stage mic is a 58.

Those things can double as hammers. Mines been dropped, been on fire*, and soaked in my breath and sweat and still sounds like it did the first time it was used. That's why Daltry wasn't worried about swinging it around. I don't recall him ever dropping it, but I wasn't there so maybe he did. But he could afford a new one.


* We played a nice venue with a hopping crowd. At the time, we were using pyrotechnics. One of the flash pots was a little too close and slightly over filled with slow burning powder. It created a column of fire. Who knew that those foam windscreens were highly flammable? We knew it was going off at the start of the song so we were safely away from it but yep, it lit up the windscreen.

Yes, the Shure stuff sure is tough

Yes the Shure SM 58's & 57"s are the toughest mics around bar none. I use one myself for live. I would not consider a condenser mic for live really.
If guys like Mick Jagger twirling that SM 58 around like a mad man, you know that thing can handle it.

As a general recommendation I second this. However, there are some USB mics that include their own ASIO drivers and have a headphone jack, which help to minimize any of the issues you mentioned. I still recommend avoiding them, as it can be cheaper in the long run to have an audio interface and multiple microphones rather than multiple USB microphones, not to mention all the different drivers...

On Mac it doesn't matter as much, since CoreAudio does all the heavy lifting that makes drivers basically irrelevant, provided the mic is class compliant (nearly all are).

yep any shure ive had was pretty indestructable.
built like a brick house.

talking of shure im checking out currently inexpensive mics that are like the shure 55 Elvis mic.
various manufacturers of such.
eg pyle/monoprice/and others.

heres some comparisons tween shure and monoprice and pyle re 55 elvis style. (lots of other you tube vids also.)



the latter are under 100 bucks.


what im also interested in also is mics with built in modelling dsp.
that emulate classic expensive microphones...eg...slate.



but outside my budget.

om

Modeling mics? Been there, done that. You record tracks then audition plug-ins to get it right. Sounds wonderful until you spend the time actually doing this. It gets very old really quickly.

I currently own both the Slate VMS ML-1 and the discontinued ML-1 Vintage Edition —same microphone in a larger, nickel plated housing. Both have cases, shock mounts, wind screens, the plug-ins and all the expansions. Contact me and make me an offer—neither has been used in years.

There used to be mic modeling preamps from Antares and Slate to make the process quicker. I owned both and since sold them. Both are long discontinued for good reasons.

I have the Antares mic modeling plug-ins. They still work but are no longer available separately. Nowadays, only available with a subscription to AutoTune Unlimited. Oh yea, haven’t engaged those in 20 years—surprised that my upgrades have been free and still work; won’t miss them when that changes.

I’d rather get the sound right the first time by finding the right microphone for the source and just using it. As one can imagine, I have a wide variety of microphones that I’ve accumulated over the last 60 years. I’ll talk about that in another post.

Mike.

re modelling mics.

i really cant disagree with you. all good points you make.

one of my concerns if i had a modelling mic is i would probably
agonise over which vintage mic model to use on my vocs in a song.
due to the many different models.

its the same with vst plugins for me.
i once went through what i call my 'plugin phase'.
ie i had loads of them.
but i found myself bewildered by the zillion settings available.
so i culled the plugin herd.
i found i was spending sooo much time experimenting with plugin
settings i wasnt finishing a song.
just too many options.
so i went back to the kiss concept.

i also remind myself always that loads of great songs have been done
over the decades without the use of plugins.
often i just use in bb or rb the pg suite of plugins.
and ive had no complaints from people listening to the songs.
in addition more than one very experienced music producer ive met
in my travels has said to me...
'in a song if one needs to use a ton of tracks and plugins..
then sometimes this is a clue that maybe the song concept isnt good.'

one prob i have often..as im sure many people do is...
and its not pg's fault is once ive done my chord sheet in bb,
and haveing tested it with a ton of styles i might end up with
lots of bed tracks/session musos i like for a song.
for example awhile back i had at least 40 i liked for a song.
thus its very difficult often to decide what the final pg rt's//rd's
etc etc to use cos of so many good options.

c'est la vie...lol.


All.

heres a vid with vocal examples comparing several affordeable
and popular microphones used by project studios.
frankly i had trouble picking the one i liked best...
but then this rocker is getting old...lol.
can anyone tell the difference if one puts oneself in the shoes of the 'normal music consumer' rather than a pro studio makeing comparisons ??
take the blind example test....lol.



ps ive always like 'lollipop' mics.
but these days im haveing trouble finding affordeable ones.
so speak up if anyone has found such for sm58 money.
it looks like pyle had one but its currently not available on amazon.
would like to test one out on my vocs.
(the vid above shows one...the yellow Neat mic.)

happiness.

om

Same can be said for having a locker full of actual mics - that's why I stick to what I know will always work. If I'm doing vocals for myself I grab the SM7B, or maybe the MD421 if I feel like a change. For someone else it's either of those or the AT4047.

Guitar recording is really where I go a little wild - I have a 2x12 cab I leave mic'd up with a half dozen mics (but I also use a dummy load with a DI so the mics don't often get used). The cab has a Greenback and a Vintage 30, so there's a quad of 57's in front (each speaker with Fredman setup) plus a 421 in back, and an MD609 hanging in front of the Greenback too. All these are left patched in so I just choose which channel(s) when recording, and often I'll record everything and blend them. I've also got a pair of Rode NT5's for acoustics.

Drums, I use the above plus an Opus 99 for kick, or an MD421 or SM7B depending on vibe.

Basically I'm saying I go by instinct and commit to the mic rather than giving myself decision paralysis later.

I used to have an ATL Audio PK-999 that I bought for a whopping 10 bucks. It was easily the worst sounding microphone I've ever used. Pay cheap money, get cheap product.

Simon.

yep i often go by instinct also.
but i dont think one can be rigorous about cheap gear..
and assume its no good until one tests the product.

cos for example on gearspace there are various hilarious threads blind testing cheap versus expensive gear.
in the process even some very experienced AE's get it wrong.

on sweetwater as another example are various audio examples of very cheap up to very expensive audio interfaces. most people i suggest would have trouble telling the diff.

a neat low end gear forum i like to peruse sometimes is on gearspace. lots of good interesting threads.
im not knocking high end gear...ive made songs with such....
studers/big name audio consoles/outboard etc etc...
but the reality is many of us have family responsibilities so we just do what we can re creating songs.

believe it or not some songs in my sig i used a really oddball mic for my vocs...really really old cheap mic that seems to suit me for reasons i cant fathom and ive had various likes so go figure. conversely some songs in my sig used a very very expensive mic. nobody seems to be able to tell the diff so far. once again like you i run on instinct often. and try test voc tracks with various mics.

happiness.

om

just a bit of fun.....

1..uk recreated 50's recording studio.
vid from the bbc.

https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...AF6A4FE485F8091687597D5E&FORM=VRDGAR

2..dunno how good this retro 55 style mic is.



i checked sold out apparently.

om

There's an old saying about travelling that fits quite well her ... "the quickest route between two places is the route you know best"

The philosophy applies to a great many things.

Gordon.

re tried and true.

sorry but i gotta disagree somewhat.
heres why as you are a brit like me.

fyi with respect i was educated by world class professors at university in the uk who taught me to always explore lots of things.

they literally took this at that time silly lad from a very very poor part of london and gave me a world class broad education.
(ie i was from an area in london as depicted in the tv comedy 'fools and horses'...lol....for lurkers see you tube....hilarious).

dont get me wrong i dont knock my london heritage and am very proud of it.
which is why i sometimes like do a song in the east london accent like a couple of songs in my sig ive done loads of em useing pg software.
(in those times growing up i saw so much kindness with poor people helping each other it was amazeing hence why im so proud.)
now im feeling nostalgic...lol.

also i wouldnt have met my lovely wife if i hadnt broadened my horizons and travelled to various countries and worked all over the world.

in conclusion its just loads of fun for me to locate new things and interesting gear.
wish i had have located the Higgs Boson...lol.

best to you Gordon.

for forum lurkers heres a microphone company that seems popular over the years with a range of microphones for various budgets.
(see you tube for tests etc and various threads on gearspace.com.)

https://mxlmics.com/products/

happiness.

om

You record the track first with the mic — although the claim is that they are neutral, the reality is that they’re lifeless and more sibilant than most cheapo Chinese mics. You then select the plug-in that gives the sound you want—that’s when the time wasting begins.

Chinese mics have gotten much better over the last decade. Those who made a living modifying the crap with upgraded components have either gotten out of it or just learned to build good mics from scratch.

I sold my U87s a few years ago and picked up a pair of UST Twin87 mics. These have twin analog circuits that switch between the sound of a vintage U87 and a modern U87Ai — no emulation, two complete circuits. For $600ea, it’s a hell of a deal and one of the best investments I’ve made. Not ideal for everything, though. I still have my Neumann TLM193 and BCM 104 plus other mics. When singing background, a Warm Audio WA47F sounds good on my voice but it lacks when doing VO work which is where the UT FET47 shines. Both are supposed to be accurate copies of the $3,500 Neumann U 47 fet i (the UT is closer). I was going to audition both and keep one but found I liked both for different uses. The first time I used a ribbon mic on an upright bass was the last time I considered using anything else.

If a $50 mic did what I needed, I’d buy it. For years, my secret weapon for drum overheads was a Realistic 33-1065, $18 at Radio Shack. I still have two of these though I’ve not used them in 30 years or so. Fun fact: these with the cables cut off were used as scanners, diagnostic devices and Tricorder props on many of the Star Trek series — I get a kick out of seeing them in Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and the various movies.

Oh, there are lots of good reasons to not go the quickest route.

Mike.

wow re sibilance thanks for the info.
great info in your post.
yep ive heard from various sources that the chinese mics have improved.

gotta love those UT mics...and reasonable prices if one compares to big studio mics.
loved the vocals on you tube done with those UT mics.
now ive got gear lust...lol.

trouble is i cant really justify the expense of 600 bucks given anyone of us posting our original songs on the net these days are lucky to get a few hundred plays sadly...no matter how good the song.

ive heard some great songs from a myriad number of pg users that should be all over the air waves and radio stations of the world but arent.
crying shame the state of things.
i wont even go into what i think of what i hear on the radio these days...sigh.
so much talent on these forums that should get a chance to be heard on the world stage imho. the music biz is nuts imho.

re realistic mics. your right Mike...ive heard from many people over the years that they like certain models. very underestimated ive heard.

heres another mic brand i came across.
(various endorsees who have worked with big name artists.)

https://adkmic.com/

note some products with swappable capsules if i remember.

but way outside my budget cept for this adk lollipop mic.
yummy look lol.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CLOL12FX--adk-c-lol-12-fx-large-diaphragm-condenser-microphone


for tech details heres more info from adk web site.

https://adkmic.com/shop/c-lol-251-tl

toodles/happiness to all.

om

Except when you're getting paid by the job not by the hour, which is more what I was talking about.

Speaking of good mics that are much less expensive than their name-brand counterparts, Advanced Audio mics are often "clones" of vintage/expensive mics, and I've had the pleasure of using most of their models side by side vs the "original" - in many cases the AA was the better mic. I also love that they're another small British Columbia company, and the company founder Dave Thomas is one of the friendliest guys out there (and actually answers emails)!

We could not agree more regarding the clones. And great to hear about Dave Thomas. Thanks for the info.

Bud

Good discussion.

its nice to see another BC company doing well with advanced products.

i came across this interesting tape op article re Advanced Audio.
as well the points made re clones in the article might be of interest.
(for any lurkers tape op has lots of articles re studio gear.)

https://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/121/cm-48t-large-diaphragm-tube-mic/

heres a video re Advanced Audio....various instrumentation plus vocs.



its mind boggling how many mic manufacturers there are.


om

re Ribbon Mics.

well heres a turn up for the books.

for anyone interested in ribbon mics...
called no hype microphones.
i love the name.

various positive comments by studios on gearspace.
a lot of heavy hitters on GS.

heres the companies web site...

https://nohypeaudio.com/nhaproducts.htm

lots of audio examples on the link above as well as links to users.

hope this helps someone into ribbons.

om

Michael Joly's article Chinese Ribbon Mics

I have some of Michael's mod'ed mics and they're pretty good but I've not used them in years. He was the one who pointed out that cheap mics were getting better when he got out of the business in 2018.

As to inexpensive Chinese ribbons, I sell the NADY RSM-5 and it's ok. I like my 60 year old Shure 315 better — my go-to on upright bass. For best results with a passive ribbon, a variable impedance mic pre or a Cloudlifter CL-Z is an absolute must. You can make your own with a FETHead and a homemade variable resistor box but being able to change the frequency response and transient sensitivity with a twist of a dial makes all the difference.

Mike.

you know your stuff.

1..the prices of all the nady mic range are so reasonable that
even a band starting out in a basement with no money would be
off to the races practicing songs etc.
2..re variable impedence circuits...im baffled why one doesnt
see on all mixers or sound interfaces they offer such for dynamic mics.
i know some ART and Audient products do.

3..im kinda knocked out how good these isk mics sound given
their extremely low price.
heres a sound sample isk pearl..acoustic gtr.



and isk gem mic...amazing..female vocs and piano and other instruments.
a very nice religious song. superb vocals.
i would be amazed if anyone wasnt impressed given the very low price of the mic around 50 bucks.
give it a listen...knocked my socks off....fantastic climatic ending.




happiness.

om

heres a groovy under 100 bucks retro lollipop mic i came across.
looks fun but dunno how good it is...

Rockville RCM02...

https://www.amazon.com/Rockville-RCM02-Microphone-512-POP-Professional/dp/B0CLBD5SXG

see web site and you tube for vids.
i might get one to see how it performs on my vocs.
he he...noone yet has been able to tell re my soundcloud songs which ones the vocs were done on very high end over 1k mics versus low end mics under 100 bucks.
can you tell the diff ?? lotsa fun...lol.

om

Putting Pro in the name of a cheapshit microphone doesn’t make it so. Specs don’t mean a thing with these—those who know what they’re doing can make anything look good on a bench. Likewise, YouTube reviews are useless. The algorithms make great sound impossible and those armchair experts hiding behind huge microphones don’t know what they’re doing—where are any real tests that measure real world performance? I’ve not seen one yet.

The fact is that the state of the art is pretty good except at the bottom end where cheap components, feedback circuits and zero quality control still rules. This Rockville is a bottom end mic and way overpriced at that.

You want cheap? Go to the source.Wish, TEMU and cheap microphones on. Alibaba will get mics just as good for half or quarter the price (depending on import duties—getting really weird here in the US). You might get lucky and many of those are better built. A lot of the $300–$900 mics start out as one of these and are tweaked by importers with a few components replaced, custom transformers etc.

Pop Filters

As for that lousy pop-stop screen… I’m going to let you in on a not-so-secret. You’re going to love this—cheap, highly effective and nearly acoustically transparent. Between my deep voice and occasional need to work close, I am every pop filter designer’s worst nightmare—I’ve spent hundred$ over the decades until I discovered 7/8” Aquarium polyester biofilter media . On a side address mic, a couple rubber bands will secure it nicely. Wash it occasionally; have a few pieces for different singers to ensure good hygiene.

There are some commercial makers using this stuff Hakan Pop Filter

It’s available pre-made. This is exactly the same thing OE version of $103.50 pop filter and my favorite version Clamp-on pop filter. These are also available on the Chinese sites but usually have a minimum order of 2–500 pieces—cheaper on Amazon if you need only one.


Yeah, I know a thing or two about a thing or two… I sometimes went to my dad’s workplace, AMPEX, as a teenager and hung out in the lab where the cool stuff was happening. During the 1970s,I learned how to build a broadcast station from scratch studying for my FCC Class 1 License.

Mike.

i appreciate your comments but as you indicated re cheapy shack mic earlier i suggest respectfully not every cheap recording product is bad in my experience. it depends on the product.
ive had good vocs from dirt cheap mics and very expensive mics.

lets look it this way i suggest.
these days someone wanting to get songs down can set up a rough project studio under 500 bucks (includeing a refurb pc <<90 bucks.).

ok it might not be the best project studio gear wise...but..
years ago when gear cost a fortune a lot of people would never be able to earn the money to buy gear.
at least today a poor person can get songs down even if not the best mics or speakers etc etc.

i should know cos when i was a kid nobody in the gritty part of london i grew up in could afford anything.
so imho we are blessed today ?
lets take pg's starter 90 buck software. someone gets bb and rb....ie a whole software studio. 256 tracks...not a lousy few like ages ago.
years ago this would have been a dream.
btw ive owned very expensive mics.
sold one once to buy a used car i needed once to get around and impress girlfriends..lol.

lmao..i might get the mic or one other budget mic in this thread and do some vocs with it and do the same with an expensive mic and like they do on gearspace ask people to tell which is which.
there are many cheap versus expensive gear threads on gearspace which are interesting to read where even the most seasoned AE's chip in.

re AMPEX.

ive recorded on 2 inch studers and ampex mtr's.
the latter was a mm1100 or 1200 if i remember....forgotten.
those old mtr's were great.
if i remember Bostons first huge album was done on Ampex ?

happiness.

om

That is entirely the difference between an actual pro microphone and a "cheap but good" microphone. You pay for the quality control - cheap capsules are all over the place in terms of response, be it frequency, transient, noise, etc. You also pay for having the circuitry designed specifically for the capsule - you mention feedback so you likely know what I'm talking about, but for everyone else:

Most cheap microphones are built the same way. Iirc lots of them knock off the Neumann style of capsule (which on its own has a significant boost in the 4khz-ish range) and typically paired it with circuitry that had a negative feedback loop to tame the high frequency response - except the clones didn't bother cloning the appropriate Neumann circuitry in an attempt to use fewer components. Without the negative feedback, even a "good" capsule would end up sounding unnaturally bright and can often distort the treble range, which to an untrained ear can sound "detailed" as it picks up a lot of stuff your ears don't necessarily catch.

Simon.

heres my opinions.

for lots of song creators with no money something is better than nothing.
i once set up a studio for a group of musos with no money to help them.
(CDN fyi)
i told them 'this isnt the best gear you realise ?'
but they were very appreciative as finally they had 'something' as a starter to create songs.

in fact on gearspace.com is a whole forum called 'low end theory' which offers loads of interesting threads on affordeable gear.
the question is how big a gap is there tween spending over 1k on a mic viz a mic under 100 bucks.
and of course there are many audio examples of this comparison (cheap versus expensive) on you tube of course.

its like anything else in life...just gotta sort the wheat from the chaff.
(it took me a looong time to find my nice wife for example. my song in my sig
'a man and a woman' tells the tale...lol includeing a little joke bass run.)
yes there is junk gear out there not worth the low price but there is also good gear at a low price imho.

here is a link to a sweetwater shootout with audio examples of various audio interfaces. i said to my wife can you hear the diff ?
her reply...'all sounds the same to me'....lol.

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/best-audio-interfaces-shootout/

as ive said before ive used big boys gear many timews ...but ive also had nice results from cheapo gear many times..
(some pg users use behr interfaces and some rme.
i havent yet had someone be able to tell the mic diffs on my various songs vocs.)

you and mike make good points and they are the reason i record tracks and listen back a la the sweetwater audio examples method.
ie 'proof in the pudding'.
listen to the femme vocs video upthread useing the dirt cheap isk 'little gem' mic. amazeing AMAZEING femme vocs on a religious song.
50 buks for the mic. i cant even get one to test as they are sold out.

happiness.

om

Nope. Tom Scholtz made the first Boston album on a TASCAM 80-8. Great machine — I was lucky enough to sell mine when prices were still good.

I fully agree.

It depends. Think of it this way - if you have five of a 1k mic, how much difference is there between each one? Likely not much. Similarly if you have five of a sub-$100 mic how much difference? Likely quite a lot - I've had cheap "matched" mics that didn't remotely sound the same. If you compare the best of the cheap mics to any of the expensive mics, yeah there might not be much difference, but what if you compare the worst one... My point is that - with cheap mics (and cheap gear in general) someone might watch or listen to a demo of a particularly good example and decide to buy it, then struggle to get the same results as they ended up with a rather poor one. And as well, you might find a cheap mic is usable on fewer sources - it might sound great only on female vocals but terrible on anything else, while an expensive mic might sound great on anything. I've yet to find anything that sounds bad on my SM7B or AT4050...

Consistency is why you pay 1k or more and why you see the big names in big studios.

Likewise, but I've often been lucky - and I used to work at the shop, so I could try things out extensively before buying them.

I have - in the producer circles I run in I've had people pick out "hey you're using a different mic" quite a few times. They can't necessarily tell me what it is, but they can easily tell that it's different than on a previous track.

Simon.

reasonable points.

im still knocked out by the female religious vocal useing the
cheap isk mic. totally wonderfull vocs imho.
i dont see how that could be improved..

you should peruse sometime for s's and giggles some of the
gear comparisons on gearspace.com.
whetber mics or mic pre's. there are legendary threads with
AE's with many different opinions to each other.
its like some blokes like truck A and another bloke truck B...
and never will the twain meet.

happiness.

om

this post is for lurkers or new users looking to buy one or more microphones.

as such here is an interesting looong thread on gearspace.com where loads of studios large and small hang out.

https://gearspace.com/board/low-end-theory/999545-affordable-ldc-microphone-multiple-voicings.html

as can be seen there are lots of different opinions and suggestions from experienced audio engineers.

i hope someone finds it interesting.
it runs the whole gamut.


lots of other interesting gear shootouts on gearspace.
for someone with little money the low end theory forum is interesting.

perhaps pg users might suggest microphones they use for that 'secret sauce' lol.
i'm sure new users to project studios might find it interesting.

happiness.

om

For our RealTracks, it entirely depends on whether the RT was recorded by us directly or by the RealTrack artist - often the artist is remote relative to us, and they use whatever microphone they have. When it's an RT recorded by us directly, I believe it's more often an SM57 than anything else. Certainly they're used a lot on drums, particularly snare and toms. That said, with nearly 5000 RealTracks and RealDrums spanning 18 years, it's impossible to say what was used on any one of them.

Simon.

ive used 57's for donkey ages.
its a very VERY old one. ive used it on vocs on many different songs.
good mic. but imho there are better alternatives these days as the market is flooded with mics.
its hard to keep up...lol.

check out these CAD mics sometimes...
CAD has a good rep from what ive seen over the years.
eg M179.
see the net for audio tests etc etc.

https://www.cadaudio.com/products/new-products


happiness.

om

My needs as a horn player are likely different from most here, but I use a Royer 121 ribbon for recording. Nothing else gives me the combination of warmth and clarity in the sound that I want. Yes, I've played into just about everything in various studios and stages.

Matt.

yep royer are great.

just in case you ever do a gig that could get raucos and dont want to chance the nice royer...here are some alternatives i find might be interesting options from cheap to expensive.

https://www.sweetwater.com/c403--Ribbon_Microphones?all&sb=low2high

i was surprised at the number of competitors...
ribbons are great but one needs to be careful in how one
handles them.

heres femme vocs on cheap mxl ribbon.
sounds pretty good to me...whaddya think ??




happiness.

om

Yep, I wouldn’t use that Royer on a gig.

I have a small collection of ribbons. All tools in the cabinet. My Shure 315 is the ultimate upright bass mic, IMO, always with a Cloudlifter CL-Z like all of my dynamic mics <500Ω. The variable resister lets me tune the low end and transient response.

In case anyone is interested, this is what I use in live concerts. It’s a Shure, built like a tank similar to the ubiquitous SM 58, reduces harshness on my horns, and is great at reducing feedback.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de..._source=1&gad_campaignid=21573890532

I've not used my SM57/58s in years. I only keep them around for the "we all use our 58s. Please bring one so that you match." gigs that I used to have before 2020.

They were state of the art 60 years ago but time has passed them by. The basic design is good but the output impedance should have changed in the 1970s when inexpensive FET PAs came into being. Have you ever read this? SM57 Impedance

The Gizmo mentioned is easy to make and I'll put a new batch on Reverb now and then that sell out quickly. I prefer using a 1kW variable resistor in a box that allows me to tune the low end and alter the transient response—think of it as a Cloudlifter CL-Z without the boost.

That Shure KSM8 you linked to does look nice. I've been using AKG dynamics since 2008. The Varimotion diaphragms and 600Ω output made a noticeable improvement in my live sound—and all my bandmates noticed. Only downside is that one can tell when a vocalist is mumbling because he/she forgot the words.

Shute VAI-58, now with AI. Helps you remember the words.

Coming soon: the 58A line booster, to help you remember the notes.

Better perhaps, but again the key for me is consistency and expectation - we all know exactly how a 57 sounds, and a 57 is something that generally "works" either live or when recording, meaning it's easier and faster to get the sound we want. Same can be said for other big name mics.

Same can be said of anything really. I tend to buy Thinkpad laptops for my rare PC use, not because they're objectively "better" than anything else out there (their specs are often lower than other brands at the same price), but because I know what to expect. I know how their keyboards feel, how the mouse nub works, etc, and I know exactly what kind of abuse it can handle. Same with cars, I sold my BMW to get a Toyota because the objectively "better" BMW couldn't handle my scenario.

I've owned some CAD microphones. Sold or gave away all of them, as I did with quite a number of other mics. It's not that they were objectively bad, it's because they weren't reliably good enough on a variety of sources, meaning it was difficult to regularly find a place where I wanted to use them over anything else I have.

Lol neither would I, don't think I'd ever use a ribbon on stage, or any mic of that price level. But then again, the kind of gigs I do....

Except possibly the wrong words, or with words added or removed.

Simon.

when i was very very young in the uk...i was stupid and into 'flash cars'...lol. learnt my lesson. cars...my downfall...lol.

now like you ive got a toyota.
darn thing is boring but reliable as heck.
got a deal on it when new....had it now 12 years...amazed.

as to cad mics...mostly ive been told good things.
i get the point about consistency...but i'm a rock n roll renegade...lmao.
i love to see what i can squeeze outta cheap gear for s's n giggles.
looking at a cheap 20 buck mic right now...i might set up a challenge with it and an expensive mic of mine..lol.

just wanna mention a rb mic idea...
pg has a great (but sometimes quirky) unique daw product there.
love it...i urge pg to just sand off a few edges and take the market.
would be nice to see a mic emulation plugin built into rb.
(also basic what i would call a 'make this track sound better plugin'..lol..)...ie USEFULL AI...
i'm sure this would generate some excitement...particularly amongst poor people who cant afford expensive plugins.
most of the AI stuff i look at doesnt really float my boat frankly...but its obvious pg should add more AI features...usefull features i find exciting.
imho there is a big 'hole' in the music app market that pg could take
advantage of . ie build into its products AI and other features that poor musicians might have to pay for normally...

happiness.

(from a looney loving rock ex tech product mgr..)

om

Re variable impedence...someone might find this interesting for dynamics and ribbons.

https://artproaudio.com/microphonepreamps/product/726455/rp1


soooo...ive got a el cheapo mic from amazon coming just to see how far the mic tech has come costing peanuts compared to fancy shmancy mics ive used over the years.
maybe i'll do a mic test shootout to see if people can tell the diff from a mic thats been used on zillions of songs by studios.

in my studying the mic market it would seem the usb technology seems to have really advanced significantly.
i'm seeing lots of mics that have not just usb but also xlr connectors.
and several with 192/24 bit support....eg...

https://www.maono.com/blogs/news/maono-unveils-the-pd300x-a-next-generation-usb-xlr-dynamic-microphone-with-upgraded-192khz-24-bit-sampling-rate

it looks like the above has garnered awards.
its difficult to keep up...lol.

om

I forgot about these. My ART mic pres had variable impedance but were a little noisy for my taste. I expect that they’re using quieter ICs by now. Although you can make one for a little less, $80 is about 1/3 the price of a CL-Z. Why they use a 10kΩ variable resistor instead of 1kΩ like the CL-Z is a mystery to me but it just means that the useable sweep is in the first 10% of the dial.

No reason for these if your dynamic has a 600Ω output like AKG and Sennheiser dynamics but use one on an SM57/58/7/545 etc. and it makes a huge difference. Tuning the low frequency response by ear is very easy.

so the past few weeks ive been really delving into the world of usb mics further. and i think it was Charlie Fogle who said awhile back that usb mic tech has improved...correct me if i'm wrong.
i wasnt aware how far actually and how fast the tech has moved.
for example various manufacturers offering mics that have...

..usb AND xlr connectors which is kinda handy for flexibility.
..192/24 bit support.
..some coming with some apps for eg comp/lim/gate etc and overload protection.
..pop filters
..zero latency monitoring.
and so on...

so i think i'm gonna test out one and compare it to a studio staple mic used by studios all over the world for donkeys ages.

bottom line imho this mic tech is moving fast.
if any pg user is useing one of the latest generation of usb/xlr mics...
feel free to comment.

happiness.

om

ps Mike re those Art mic pres. yep if you look at you tube there are various mods
for them includeing changeing tubes. also gearspace.com has various threads.

If you can afford it Shure sm7b , dont think ill ever need to upgrade .