looking for a great semi-pro vocal mic

hey-

I'm looking for an excellent semi-pro vocal mic. willing to spend up to $600-700. Right now I've got my eye on the SE Electronics Z3300A, which looks to be an excellent choice, but i'm open to suggestions.

I'm not particularly looking for personal favorites... I'm looking for tried and true industry vocal mics that deliver under any situation, and always produce excellent tone, good warmth and presence without being too abrasive.

thanks!
chris

Dual 1.8 GHz Powermac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 26, 2007 2:40 PM

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12 replies

Sep 29, 2007 4:22 AM in response to Chris Bedrosian

2 mics you should consider trying out are the Electrovoice RE-20 and the Sennheiser MD 441. These days the tendency for the home studio market is cheap condensers, but some really great sounds can be had with high end dynamic mics like the 2 listed here. I'm not saying you should definately buy one of these, but if you can find a shop where you try them out next to budget ot mid range condesers do it. You might be surprised.

Oct 3, 2007 6:07 PM in response to Chris Bedrosian

If you can pump your budget up just a smidge, the AKG 414 is an industry standard condensor mic that sounds great on just about everything, including vocals. It has a very clear vivid sound, and you'll find it takes care of lots of condensor mic needs really well. I've seen it in most studios, it also sounds great as a room mic, distant amp mic, even nice as a kick mic

It doesn't have the warmth and character of more expensive vocal mics, like Neumanns, but cheaper-priced condensors sometimes have too much dark character for me. This would keep your tracks more on the clear and pro side.

Zzounds sells it for $900.

Don't know where you live, but in NYC B&H Photo Video used to have a room where you could test out microphones. Really best to get your mouth in front of a bunch of options to find the right one.

Oct 3, 2007 11:16 PM in response to Chris Bedrosian

We would recommend a manufacture that has been making mics of all types, for more than 20 years. That seems to be the time frame necessary to become an industry standard manufacture. With that in mind our suggestions would be: Shure KSM27, Shure KSM44, AKG C3000B, AKG 414. The Shure mics will be warm, while the AKG mics will be clear as a bell. Both great choices, just pick your price point.

Oct 8, 2007 2:28 PM in response to Chris Bedrosian

Hi,

If you stop saying and thinking "semi-pro" then you will stop thinking the gear is what is missing. The performance is most important.

With that said, try the Neumann TLM103. It's more, but it is worth the price.

Also, try different mics for a singer you have not worked with yet, you'll be surprised that a mic that you might think will not work yields great results for that particular singer. Experiment is key.

Cheers

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looking for a great semi-pro vocal mic

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