Start with an sm57. It’s cheap, you’ll always find a use for it over a lifetime, and it’ll survive nuclear attack. You might find it’s fine for everything in which case search over, back to making music.
Complement this truly brilliant dynamic mic with the most noiseless mic pre amp you can find, unless your sound interface preamp is fine in which case… Search over, back to making music.
The more expensive options are “also buy an sm58 because even tho they’re similar they’re also weirdly more different than they should be and often a better match for vocalists but not always” and “buy an sm7b they’re even better at excluding room sound but there’s not much in it tbh”.
For vocal there is a genuine thing of perfect match of mic to person but you’re unlikely to find that match in a forum and tbh hunting that match is an absolute fun killer outside a studio with 80 mics to try out.
Listening through the comparisons again in that video I definitely like the RE20 the most, for his voice that is. He has quite a trebly voice so for someone with a much darker deeper voice a different mic would probably be more suitable. I really want to get one at some point, just has that classic smooth but clear sound profile.
Definitely a good idea to have something classic like a shure dynamic in your arsenal.
I didn’t catch whether you are looking for an XLR mic specifically and whether or not you are planning to record into an audio interface or you record analog? this could also heavily affect the choice you might make. There are some decent USB mics or also USB versions of existing mics.
For recording hats I would imagine a stereo pair would be nice to have. I got a couple of pairs of the Rode M5 because they were so cheap, I wouldn’t recommend them as a main vocal or instrument mic but they should be fine for things like hats in an overhead config.
Bad room…. Then a dynamic mic with a hyper cardioid or even better, super cardioid polar pattern is what you want. Sennheiser md431 can be found in your price range. Beyerdynamic TG-V70 also a great mic. Sheeeet, I have an audio technica m8000 Hypercardioid I got for $25 and that’s an amazing microphone.
The 320 sounded much harsher in the top end to me, I definitely preferred the RE20 as a sweet sounding mic but I’m sure you could get great results from the 320 anyway.
Super/hyper cardioids do have great side rejection, but you have to watch out for the rear lobe which will pick up sound from directly behind, could be an issue. And some supers/hypers can have odd colouration for off-axis sounds, which just means that sounds coming from 45-90 degrees can sounds a bit unnatural compared to sounds coming in from straight ahead.
It can be worth perusing the spec sheets for mics and looking at the polar patterns and frequency response graphs to get an idea of how they respond. Here’s the polar pattern for a Sennheiser E906, a decent little side address dynamic mic intended for things like guitar amplifiers -
You can see how uneven the treble response is at different angles as you get away from pointing straight ahead. Also note the rear lobe which will pickup sound from behind at about 6dB less the front.
Now here’s an MKH 8050, an amazing but rather expensive supercardioid condenser mic -
The off-axis response is really quite consistent until you start getting into the very top end of our hearing range, and this smoothness is noticable in use. The higher quality (and usually more expensive) mics will tend to have more natural off-axis response like this. It’s mainly important if you’re trying to record natural ambience or have one mic pick up a few subjects in front of it, for instrument/vocal mics where you’re always right up close it doesn’t matter so much but I thought I’d mention it anyway.
True, but attenuation at the sides (90 degrees) is better and room sound will come at you from all sides not just the back.
Also, since we’re discussing positives and negatives, hypercardioid is also going to have a smaller sweet spot due to the directionally of its polar pattern and thus is more difficult to control if you’re dancing around and trying to sing.
Yep, it really depends on the use case. I think a general rule of thumb would be that for reasonably loud sources that you’re recording close up, cardioid will probably be absolutely fine. If you want to record with a bit more distance (like 1-3 meters away) between the source and mic then a hyper or super cardioid can be a great choice. That’s why sound recordists for film/tv like to use them for overhead booming indoors, the mic can’t be in shot of course.
I’ve got a lot of mics (too many really, hangover from band producing days), but, the two I use more than any others are:
Shure SM7b.
Sennheisser MD-441.
If I could only have one of them it would be the MD-441.
I think of it as an HD dynamic mic… way more detailed and revealing than an SM57, obviously a dynamic compared to a Neumann U87… but it’s a fantastic all-rounder.
I’ll second the 441. Great mic that doesn’t get talked about very often. If I was just starting out, I’d grab a 441 first if I could afford one, and an SM57 if I couldn’t.
Third the MD-441 and RE-20 - IF they suit your voice / voices of your intended vocalists. And you won’t know that for sure until you try.
I also use an SM7B for dialogue and vocals when a condenser is not the right choice. If you go for one of these large® diaphragm dynamics you’ll want a decent amount of clean gain available from your mic pres (+50dB or more) or you’ll want an inline booster like a cloud lifter or fet head - they need phantom power.
I also use Behringer XM 8500 (SM58 copy - costs about £20!) - lower handling noise and a slightly different frequency response than a 58 but totally usable particularly live and for the money you can’t go wrong.
This website is an excellent resource for checking mic polar pickup patterns and general specs:
Check the low end response on the frequency graphs at that site or the manufacturers to check your chosen option(s) will be suited for bass drums/cabs!
I’d probably consider another path too - decent LDC (large diaphragm condenser) eg Rode NT1 black 2014 version (£200 ish) and then spend the rest on acoustic treatment. Add another high SPL capable dynamic for kick drums and bass / git cabs.
The do-it-all approach is perhaps not the best either. Particularly with vocals - a given voice can work great with some mics and terribly with others. And a mic that’s great for bass drums likely won’t be sensitive enough to capture the details of more delicate sources so you might be better getting 2 mics as some people have previously suggested.
I also use the 441…. Just a killer mic! I get very little room bleed and even with significant amounts of compression doesn’t really bring a lot of room sound up.
Highly recommended… but I didn’t cause it’s outside the OP price range…. Save a little moar and grab a used one off eBay?
As other have said , you can’t go wrong with an sm57… you can get a 58 instead, then remove the protection to have a 57 . It’s cheap, indestructible and you will always have ways to use it.
Thanks! Just waiting on my luxury Itailian office chair and then it will be complete! Word of advice tho…. Don’t hang your speakers on a framed wall, if I turn it up the whole shibazz shakes/goes resonant. Concrete or brick wall is probably good.
