Yeah, it's a great mic for the bucks. Getting pricier, and they are always out of stock. I got the original version a few years ago, and it gets a lot of general use.

Beyer 88 is going to be a tough one to beat for a single mic that will get used on everything.

Slightly expand jazzcabbage's question just a bit and you've got me. That is, how are you planning to use it. . .for what purposes, under what constraints and goals, etc.?

Other thoughts. . .
Somebody makes real mics under $500?

Blindly, I would go for a used AKG C414 XL II that someone perhaps bought for approximately $700 on discount and now is willing to resell for $499. High sensitivity, low noise, 9 pickup patterns, high pass filter, pad, and pretty gold-colored mesh.


It would have to be mint clean and disinfected though,

Ray H.

My only concern on the XLII is...
Sibilance.

IMHO SE T2/MKID & MKIID Multi-Patterns are a little "safer" if we factor that in.

It'll be interesting to compare my upcoming 47Jr,
to my memory of the T2. (And Warbler clips)
Chris
P.S. I do like the 414 XLS quite a bit.

Sssssomewhattt offfff ttttttoppiccccc. . .

So, assuming the OP is indeed stuck with a single mic that is too sibilant for some set of vocalists - yet really loves the mic for other things - how might he/she go about ameliorating the sibilance issue?

1. The pencil trick
2. Put a sock over it
3. Hardware De-essers
4. Find a different tracking environment where more distance and/or different angles can be applied.
5. Deal with it in post [iZotope, Melodyne, Waves, etc.]
6. Help the vocalist understand, learn the mic, and adjust technique

What other options am I missing?


Isssss ttthatttt all?

Ray H.

Note: I like the last option best - though it is often quite impracticable. And I always like finding the best tracking environment. . .again, often impracticable. I'm using my pencil for other things. I don't wear socks. I am a software guy [not hardware]. Dealing with it in post seems to have gotten much easier in the past year or two - love Melodyne especially.

Ray, while I share your taste in lots of high-end stuff, I've been blown away by how good a serious dynamic mic can sound on a huge variety of sources, and not just the (>$500) 441. I think the M88, RE20, and 421 are great, and apparently those Heil PR30 and PR40 specimens are serious stuff. Definitely real!

They probably just want "the best mic $500 can buy" - no need to overthink this.

When I was starting out and asked myself this question, I got a shure sm7b. Still use it all the time, although my mic locker has expanded quite a bit since then...

I find it very interesting that so many people chose the Beyer - a dynamic mic. Is that partly determined by the $500 limit? And is that because in order to get an all-around condenser mic, one would need to go over $1000?

I bought five Senn 835.
That doesn’t fit the thread, but I still have and use four of the 835s. I’d rather have four or five good mics than one (perhaps) slightly better mic.

IMHO the M88 is the most overall "bang per buck" dynamic (along with the 441 if you have a higher budget) in terms of quality sound.

RE20/Vintage MD421/RE15 & 16/EV635a & RE50/
SM7 all classic dynamics too.
Chris

From what I understand, the moving-coil microphone is generally less expensive to produce than a high-quality condenser mic. That's why you can get a top-shelf dynamic mic for the price of a lower-tier/mid-tier condenser. The Sennheiser 441 isn't just a good mic "for a dynamic," it's a good mic by any standard, so I've seen them paired frequently with the likes of a u67. And it's the most expensive of the bunch, but top-quality dynamic mics are often in the $300-500 range.

If I could only have 1 mic I would want a condenser. As much as I love dynamics and ribbons I would need the flexibility and sensitivity of the condenser as a multipurpose mic.

The best all around mic under $500.00 for me is the MicParts T-47. Can be used for percussion, vox, amplifiers, strings, horns, ambient, etc….

Cheap, high quality sound & easy to build.

I love lots of other condensers but they are over $500. Neumann, Sennheiser , Schoeps, Pearlman, Microtech Gefell, etc…. The MicParts T47 is in that league but way cheaper.

Heil pr40 or neat microphones worker bee.

I opened this thread to say this.

off-topic: there is one more thing (unless that was subsumed under 'technique') which you could do and which is to talk to a logopaedist or a speech/vocal coach (or then to your dentist)!

i'm quite serious about that although for some strange reasons, many people heavily refuse to even consider this option...


oh, and the sock trick is the equivalent to a ribbon mic :-)

___


on topic: i'd try to find a used c-414 or any other multi-pattern ldc...

...and by multi-pattern, i mean a mic with more than just the three basic patterns.

I remember reading an interview in Guitar Player magazine from sometime in the 80’s, I think, with Les Claypool and his fellow Primus band mate Ler (IIRC) talking about recording and bringing up the sock treatment. Two socks on a mic. You could get by with one if it has been used.

Or so he said…

And back on topic - I love my MD441-U, and it took quite awhile to find one at a price I could get froggy with. So worth it. It would be my one mic - and if it broke I’d go for a Beyerdynamic M88.

AKG 414 TL. (not the TLII) Might not be the master of many things but never let's me down and will record anything very well.

If this is a “serious” question and not a market inquiry..
General recordings from ac gtrs/vocals/some other percs?classical gtr?rap?

with some more info might be able to target something more specific, but for a general purpose do-it-all mic, without knowing nothing I’d go for:

- Shure KSM32 would be at the top of my list, regardless of use.. very good, low noise, smooth sounding mic. (maybe even used).

- Another great option could be a Shure KSM141, it is an sdc but it can handle vocals quite well too, is low noise, and has 2 polar patterns, cardioid and omni. It can handle just about anything, smooth not very boosted topend.. open in a “natural” way.

- Another option might be a used Sennheiser 441, although it has more of a charachter or a sound to it, is quite a great one.

Also a used AT4060 tube mic used could be a great addition, dunno if you could find it for 500$ though..

Just my 0.02$,



Cheu

Reality... these are opinions. One can make an amazing sounding recording with a handful of SM57's. Actually, it can be a better choice on some sources than a super high quality condenser.

Logically thinking, the best "all arounder" is going to be a really nice dynamic like the 441 or the 88, as it brings the benefits of a dynamic, and some of the detailed qualities of a condenser (especially the 441). Something of high-quality that strikes right between the two types is going to be the mic that offers the widest band of use with best (if somewhat compromised in certain situations) performance.

Shame on you if you don’t buy an M88

njet: the best allrounders for me have been versatile multi-pattern ldc's - and especially those which offer wide cardioid pattern - rather than those narrow pattern dynamic mics you are suggesting, in pretty much any situation and for any application!

additional benefit of ldc's is that they have high output so they can get used even with relatively wimpy preamps; in fact, on loud sources, they could get used with phantom power units alone!

There it is, out in the open… microphone shaming.

Grasshopper asks what is the value of "wide cardiod"?
(My AKG P120 & Soundelux U195 are this)

Is it better than narrow Omni?
Thanks, Chris
P.S. I feel a condenser vs. dynamic smackdown brewing.

Advanced Audio CM414

If it’s a mic smackdown, dibs on the Buchanan Hammer.
My backup would be the Warm 47. It probably won’t work as a microphone after heavy contact, but that big boy is a skull crusher.

As anyone can see, I have wide cardioid thread boundaries.
In an untreated room I tend to pick up a lot of off-topic content.

ya serious?

ldc's - compared to sdc's - are less consistent in terms of their patterns and have less flat frequency response: towards the lf, their pattern gets wider/less directional (which possibly is the reason why some folks wrongly think they have more lf in general); almost all ldc's have some ripples in their frequency response, some of them quite heavy.

wider patterns (with both sdc's and ldc's) go a bit lower/have less steep lf attenuation and often yield a more flat frequency response.

high sensitivity, high output, high spl capability, low self noise - all pretty much typical for most ldc's - and a mostly flat frequency response in wide cardioid make it a winner!

imo there is no competition between dynamic and condenser mics: variable pattern ldc's (or actually mdc's such as the tlm170r's) simply outperform most any other mics in almost all areas (but pattern consistency/off-axis behaviour in which sdc's win) and hence are highly versatile in terms of application.

Sure... could be for the way you use mics. I find that I don't often use different patterns, except for specific situations. Fig of 8 for MS. Omni for lead vocal on occasion. In answering the OP question, "One mic under $500," I'm going for a cardioid. None of these are very narrow, like shotgun or even hypercardioid. I'd happily use 441's for everything if I had a locker full of them. Or 88's. I could function very well with that.

I never got on board with the big gain preamp need thing. I never even really heard of that until all of the Cloudlifter type devices appeared and everyone started grousing about how low gain SM7's are. And I've been doing this stuff since the 70's. Radio stations where I've worked, and the Purdue studio I have now always had SM7's everywhere, and low gain was never a consideration.

sorry but the m88's and md441's pattern IS very narrow when compared to say the tlm170r in wide cardioid!

anyway, as much as i love and as often as i use my dynamic mics (mostly live), i'd rather have but a pair of multipattern ldc's than a locker full of dynamic mics - luckily, i have both (and then some)...

..but pls don't get me started on the sm7 (or the c1000)!

Lets say anything and everything but individual drums (I wont be mic'ing up any kick drums or anything like that but overheads could be a possibility)