If your room isn't up to spec a dynamic microphone such as a used EV RE-20 for around 400 would be a thing. The last song that I recorded I used my RE-20 instead of more expensive condensers (my room is good but I wanted to get LOUD and I didn't want to kill my other mics...the line "Time's a meglomaniac" is quite concussive, LOL)
https://whyp.it/tracks/273324/the-escape-worms

 

My search has concluded!

I miss hanging out at Sam Ash in New York . . . testing gear before buying. Things have changed. Now . . . to select gear, I must create threads, do Google searches, scroll through endless Reddit posts, watch YouTube videos, etc. In this case, I narrowed down my choices thanks to comments and suggestions made on this forum and another, then researched to compare microphones suitable for my voice and the sound I’m trying to achieve. I decided to get the . . .

Sennheiser MK4

because . . .

1. This mic seems to have all the goodness of the AKG C214 but with less sibilance issues and a little darker and perhaps “smoother” tone. Some users claim that the MK4 has a baked-in sound. This might be a con for some. I happen to like that sound

2. It’s made in Germany and has close ties to Neumann components and design . . . nearly built side-by-side.

3. It's a bit subjective, but the MK4 seems more like a mic that cost double this price

I would also like to get the Shure SM7b for times when I am singing with more dynamics . . . belting a little. I opted for a sensitive condenser mic because of the following reasons:

1. Better suited for my upcoming project vocals

2. It will be less forgiving, and force me to pay more attention to nuances and subtleties

3. It will force me to treat the room and create a better vocal booth

Thank you all for helping!!

 

I spent lots of time at Sam Ash even before I was a musician. I bought all my records at their Green Acres Mall store (my first was a John Mayall album, the second and third The Grateful Dead Europe '72 and George Harrison's Concert For Bangladesh). With birthday money and paper route money bought a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe there and a Kustom combo amp there too. At the one on Queens Blvd. got my Ensoniq ESQ‐1 and my Steinberger GM4S in the mid 80's as well as harmonica, cables and a plethora of this and that...and lastly about seven years ago the boxed version of Serum that came with a hard drive. Good times!

 

Last edited: Apr 15, 2025 at 6:29 PM

Beesneez Oliver FET

 

LOVE my Lewitt 440Pure! Subtle, clean, good level, needs a 48V phantom power interface like the USB-C Presonus Quantum ES2. Good luck to you! Musical Adventure awaits you. Don't look back...
I also love my Sennhieser 421MD Mk 1. Bass rolloff control on that one.

 

There's a Mahalia for sale near me for a great price and I keep repeating the mantra..."Death at the hands of my wife just isn't worth it..Death at the hands of my wife just isn't worth it..Death at the hands of my wife just isn't worth it....".

 

Probably because it is ultra neutral, to be "tailored" by emulations afterward.
what ppl like about one mic over the other is mainly EQ response.
Each maker create a signature sound by altering response.

BUT at the end, if you create a flat response and add an EQ curve (and some saturation ?) afterward, you are in same the ballpark.
And you can add this "signature" yourself by using some subtle saturation/EQ as separate process.

It remembers me Blackstar amps (created by former Marshall ppl) : they created ISF to voice their amps from "american" to "british" voicing.
https://fr.blackstaramps.com/lessons/blackstar-patents-isf-what-is-isf-and-how-can-you-use-it/
It looks like a simple parametric EQ to me ... so WHY nobody done it before on their amps ?

They simply revealed that most of what ppl call "signature" sound on tube amps is just ... voicing choice.
Main components are the same, and amp makers COULD give you more controls, but they don't want it.
Amp makers could have done it WAY before, BUT they wanted to keep their "signature" sound AND market share jealously.

That's why, at the end, most similar category amps just sound the same when SET to sound the same (but you will be fighting against the design) :

Amp voicing is mainly an OVERPRICED "FIXED setting" by maker's design.
Same with mics.

So you think you need more amps and more mics to "cover" more sound possibilities.