Quote:
Originally Posted by
BernieW
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Of course, that's perfectly reasonable. I think I haven't asked the right questions here; what I need is to increase my knowledge of what are the "general purpose" mics people are really using now, if there is such a thing (some in the above list probably are), and then spend some time deciding which ones, if any, would help me. Of course I cannot just ask, "what mics should I get?" or even "what are you using?" and get the same, that is pointless and I understand that. But what I DO need to do, is be aware of what is out there, and make decisions about what might be useful to me.
My mic kit now is a success; it's not meant to be a complete mic-up of a band or any type of act, it's a collection of tools I find handy for certain jobs. In that way it's been working well for me. At the venues where I regularly work, I generally start with the in-house mic kit, and use some of my own instead. ALways my OH's, probably a snare mic, maybe guitar and DI's, never vocals, but I am just supplementing these with what has proven useful to me. I need versatility, not specific pieces for specific jobs.
And then later, I hope to use it as a starting point for my location recordings. I think I will likely start using very different mics then as I gain experience with that different job, but as I say, I have a starting point. It is more important that I am experienced and familiar with what I have, so I can decide what to use, than to try to get a "best" mic for any source; there is no such thing! So again, I just need to find out about as many useful mics that would be candidates for various sources, and find ways to integrate them with my working style and techniques, and get better at knowing what will likely work *before* i buy them.
Therefore, what I should have asked might be just some suggestions that I could look into... have you guys seen any good new releases that have impressed you? Have you started using any classic or well-known mics you hadn't tried before, and found them a success? (that's the M201 for me right now). What DIDN'T work too, was there something you bought for a certain job and it was not what you expected? I just need ideas, directions I can go and investigate for myself.
I could get all U*7's and expensive ribbons and so on, standards in their own right, but I am not at that stage with my recording service. That would basically be a waste of money; they're great mics but I don't even know who my regular clients will be yet. But what am I missing, what are other standards now that at least other people do use?
For example, would M160's for guitar turn out to be something I could only use with certain players, or have you guys found them to be versatile? Are MC930's sometimes NOT good for overheads, acoustic guitar and so on, or did they turn out to be just what you wanted for something you hadn't expected? Was there something you tried on a sax one day that was better than what you'd been doing before? That sort of thing. And I know full well they may NOT be that good for me; I'm just looking for suggestions to investigate for myself, anything I should at least audition. All ideas welcome...
i don't want to be the stubborn troublemaker, but imo the choice of mics is and remains something very personal, unless one goes by market acceptance/rider-friendliness/potential resale value or whatever's hot in a specific community - which aren't necessarily bad criteria! however, i think it's more important
to gain as much experience as possible with a couple of mics than to run after every available model (as there are far too many different models available).
anyway, my 'emergency' mic kit consists of
enough mics, di's, stands and cables - enough means 'one can never have enough'...
[next is a splitter and a small mixer (that can get used as a submixer or as a matrix mixer), a (self-powered) monitor speaker, a headphone amp (with crossfeedmatrix) and a pair of closed headphones so i can hear what my mics are doing even if the pa, recording or broadcast is down/not up yet.
then there's an analyzer, a peak meter and a goniometer as i want to see what mics are doing if i cannot hear them - a vocal mic with a switch at foh for communication cannot hurt either.]
...so if you think you'll need 12 mics, better take 16-20! this gives you room for changes at the last moment and a few options to select from, say to please a demanding artist or to get more confident about a mic in a specific use case! - here's what i'm taking with me for a typical blues rock/band:
2x kick (in/out)
2x snare (top/bottom)
2x hats
2x oh
4x toms
2x bass (di/mic)
2x a-guit (di's)
2x e-guit
4x keys (di's)
2x horns
4x vocals
2x spare
2x ambi
2x clip mic
2x variable pattern ldc
i'll probably disappoint you one more (and hopefully last) time by
not naming any microphone types/models: as i said before, i don't really care about them as long as they are of reasonable quality and have the characteristics i want (especially regarding pattern - max spl, self-noise, frequency response etc. are only of secondary interest to me).
of course i don't mind if all these mics are schoeps (well, except for toms for which i much prefer using dynamic mics, both live and in the studio, for toms or timpanis); whether they are sponsored by a brand or come from a carefully curated collection, with enough experience you can usually tell relatively quickly what a mic is good for (or completely unsuitable for).
one more thing: imo it doesn't make much sense to ship equipment halfway around the globe if there are locally (or at least somewhat closer) manufactured alternatives - and to have different models sent to you just for a short comparison, and then to keep only one model, i also find a completely unnecessary (because harmful) behavior...