I have a couple of nice dynamic mics that are great for performance, now I'm thinking about a recording mic for my mini studio. Again, price is a critical issue, but so is sound quality. The mic will be used for 1) my voice 2) my daughter's voice 3) my 6- and 12-string guitars and 4) my daughter's 29-string harp. It will be primarily used with my Boss BR-900CD recorder. Price range: probably around $250-$350. I am unimpressed with MXL mics, and like Rode, SE, Shure, and Sennheiser mics. I would prefer a multi-pattern, as I believe that will give me a larger range of sounds.
Opinions?

There is one hell of alot of large diaghram condenser mics out there right now.  I have a couple of diffrent ones. I bought this awhile back it does ok for all around home stuff.
it's the avlex avs79, Teedro has some real good sennh. mics. and here is a link to someone who kinda researches some of the stuff we have questions to.

http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording/articles/tyford/preamps.shtml
http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording/articles/tyford/condenser/condenser.shtml
http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording/articles/tyford/condenser/miccompare.shtml
hope this helps some .

I've been using an Audio Technica At 40-50 (around $550.00)and like it pretty well. It is not the best mic for me since I have a rather high, nasal voice and it seems sensitive in that respect but others I've recorded with it, especially deep-voiced guys , sound great. The surprise to me was the AT 30-35. It's Half the cost and , as far as i can tell, a better mic for me. (check out my song No No No if you want to hear it)

I also use a Shure Beta 87 on live gigs and that sounds great. I have never tried it in the studio but you might want to since it's only about 250.00.

I used a friend's Shure KSM 27(or something like that) for a song i posted called Your Little Room. It's a close mic job and to me it sounds pretty silky. He said he paid around three bills but I've never seen one in a store that I remember.

If you you want to go really cheap and convenient, Samson makes a low-end bus powered USB condenser mic that actually doesn't suck too badly. It's under a hundred i believe, but if you're going directly into a computer (sans interface) and watching your budget, it's pretty hard to beat. When you've got more bucks, a Blue Mouse is a great value. Crystal clear transparency and under 1500.00

Good luck.

Thanks guys. Good information in general. Actually I am looking at the AKG Perception 400 at about $300. Has good specs; multi-pattern, 20-20k response, swithable pad and roll-off, comes with shockmount and flight case. This is a new mic in a new line of mics, probably made in China. Reviews I've seen of the 100 and 200 look pretty darn good, the 400 seems to addess the complaints I've seen there. Yeah, I love my Audio-Technica, but I can't afford the 4050. CAD also makes some great-looking mics, including the C-9; a multi-pattern tube mike for $300. Pretty impressive stuff for such low prices. That's why I am particularly looking for folks that have used either of those mics, but all opinions are always valued here.

Nueman tlm103 on eBay for around 400.00 or buy it now for 600.00 this mic is outstanding in its performance.  It sounds like a mic that costs 1000.00 more.  It is becoming one of the work horse mics in alot of the mid grade studios and even some of the better studios.  When it comes to mics I definitely would not get in a hurry and do some sound against cost comparisons.  I'm not happy with any of the condenser mics that I have in my home studio
and I'm looking to save money for a better mic. I'm looking in the direction of the tlm103 or better. 

I've read numerous reviews on the this mic  from alot of recording engineers and the reviews seem to all be the same.  That this mic outshines other mics in the under 1000.00 range.  I have yet to find a mic in the under 500.00 range that pleases me. I use em but don't like em.

After recording on "real" gear I have a tendency to compare mics to the ua87 or equivalent.
hope this helps some.

OK, Goat, you've got me curious now. What mics *do* you have? What don't you like about them, what do you like about them, what would they be good for, what not? I think this would be valuable information, not only for me but for many others as well. In fact, I should probably post some info on my dynamics for the same reason.

When it comes to mics they all have diffrent responses and inherit noise and builds.
I would expirement if you can (borrow or research) to find what mic or mics would work best for your situation. The overall sound quality that you can produce is realitive to all the inline pieces that you use. Starting with the mic to preamp to mixer to Ad/da converters to compressors/eq ect. ect. 

  You could go out and spend alot of money on let's say a ua47 or 87 or a vintage groove tube mic. It would probably improve your sound somewhat, but without all the other high end gear inline it would probably not be cost justified.

  I have and use the avlex avs79 (made in china) this is not a great mic usable for some things. not recomended for vocals.

  I have and use the sure ksm27 This is a much better mic for the price has alot better sound and requires less eq fix on the top end.


  I Have used the audio tech at2041, at2021,at4033  each of these mics worked for good in certain application .

 I have not used the AKG 4040. everything I've read (reviews at harmony and other places) seem to indicate that this mic is pretty good for the cost.

  As I have improved all my input chain I am wanting to improve my mic situation.
I'm still trying to get "pro studio sound at home" so when I say about the mic not producing what I like, you'll here engineers say that some mics produce the "big sound"
ie the nuemann 87 and 47 mics are industry standards (there's many more though).
 
One of my friends has a nice studio built into his basement and he recently bought the 
nuemann tlm103  this mic for the money produced what I call the "big sound" on vocals
we did some comparison with the sure ksm27 and the tlm103 had a better overall sound to it.  I would consider in the fact that he is using an amek console strip for the preamp/mix.

  So after all this i probably haven't helped you much, but IMHO I would try to buy the best mic (read lots of reviews) for the money that would fit your needs. Compare mics like the akg4040 or the ksm27 or AT2041,2021 or rode nt2-A  and on and on till you find the one you like for your situation.

The goat speaks the truth.

If you got the cheese for a Neuman, buy one! In fact, i wouldn't mind a U87 so buy two and i'll pay you back.

However......I got the impression from your original post that you were looking for a good cheap mic. "Price range: probably around $250-$350"

While there are no Neumann killers in this range, some mics are better than others. Right now I have TWO AkG's sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be repaired. They've never left the studio and neither one lasted more than a year or so. Needless to say, I'm not buying another AKG ever, regardless of how they spec out and regardles of the press they get - there are other good mics out there.

On the other hand, my Audio Technica 4050 fell down the stairs (don't ask) and i use it all the time with apparently no change in it's response.

Goat's also right on about research. you can find out a lot by reading and if you have the time, testing. This past Summer, I was looking for a primary vocal mic for the studio that was under two thousand. I found my Blue Mouse by actually buying and returning four mics in that price range, testing them for a day or two while i had them. This worked out great and the guys in pro audio  didn't care. I tested mics from Rode (the classic) Neumann (TLM 127) and Audio Technica along with the Blue.

The Rode mic was easily the worst. I A/B'd it with the  AT 4050 and there was no way I'd pay that kinda money for that kinda mic. I will say their cheaper mics are pretty good.

The AT and Neumann mics were freakin sweet and i almost bought the Neumann but when we tried the Blue, we realized that for the money (almost 400.00 less) we could deal with the , to us, imperceptible tweak in the high freq. This mic was only 1275.00!

The studio is 500 miles away from my home but i intend to use the Blue up here this year so I'll let you know how it works out..

Preamps, mixers, rooms and other factors affect the way a mic sounds. You should test them in the same studio, with similar settings along the signal path and just record different stuff. i dedicated a channel in a Protools session for the mic i tested so each take was identically set up.

I've never bought a used mic but that might be a good way to go

Goat and Alerion, you are both absolutely right, that is why I have been doing this. I am astonished, Alerion, that you were able to return mics. I had thought that was generally not done by anyone. I'll have to check around. Only twice have I found stores that would let me AB a couple of mics, that is how I ended up with my nice Sennheiser dynamic.

I'm very sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with the AKGs, but that is the kind of stuff people like me need to know. I have an A-T that has also had a fair amount of abuse and still works like a charm.

Anyone looked at the new CAD Trion mics? They look substantial, the specs are good on all three and they cover a good range of mic types at a very reasonable price. Bottle/lollypop styles, which look cool. They have a multi-pattern condenser, a ribbon, and a tube version, all designed and built in America.

I don't know about used mics, maybe if it was a really high-end mic, but I just don't know enough to tell if it had sustained damage in it's previous life.

And you are right about my price range; cheap is definately a plan here. It takes me many years to build up just a little cash, and I want to make it go as far as possible when I do spend it.

I'm glad you posted this about the CAD mics I really hadn't payed to much attention to them as I had gotten my hands on one a few years back and was not impressed with it.
Looks like they have improved there mics alot over the years expecially trion series stuff.

  I was looking at the reviews of these mics and came across another brand that I wasn't to sure about, and that was the sterling  wich just released a new line of mics .

 i'm going to check out the new sterling st55 and st66 along with the CAD trion mics to see well they work. 

  Glad you started this thread.

Yo, Chris.
Don't go to GC. You gotta find a boutique dealer. i used a place in D.C. a friend worked at that's a production company which has retail for a bunch of gear. They no longer deal Neumann or their high-end video projection stuff but I think they still do retail.  It could be that they just assimilated the mics I brought back into their road cases but I can't be sure.
I managed a music store here in New England and we were happy to let people A/B our floor models within 14 days.  The deal was; buy it and return it within the 14 days and get store credit. You can pbly find someone in your area with the same policy.

The AKG issue really pissed me off. I loved the AKG mics we used in live event production and was psyched to get one for myself. I got a run around when the first one broke but perservered and picked up a second, with the intention of repairing the first someday. The second one broke during rehearsal a less than year later. So I'm off AKG just on principle.

We sold CAD mics at our stores and never got one returned. A lot of them were drum mics used by rock bands and they loved them. I've never used one and their market is definitely budget so I can't tell you much about them.

Used mics have spit on them.

Goat is right about the range that you're in. Under 400.00, there are really no amazing mics (that I know of). If you want an incredible mic, you'll have to cough up some cash.

HOWEVER, if you're using prosumer gear with noisy outboard FX and you're recording in a room with an airconditioner, Spending 3 grand on a Neumann top end condenser is pointless. It'll still make your stuff sound somewhat better but much of its brilliance will be lost.

I'm trying to upgrade my stuff gradually, across the board, so that improvements are really noticeable and hopefully quantifiable.

Good luck

Goat: Yes, this has been a good thread. Lots of good info showing up here. Haven't heard of Stirling mics either, I'm looking forward to hearing what you find on both those and the CADs.

Alerion: You are correct on every point, once again. I realize that there are no "magic mics" in the price range I'm looking at, I mostly want to avoid any turkeys, your experience with the AKGs being a good example of what I want to learn to avoid.
No, I don't go to GC, I just use them for looking up current gear and prices. I actually have a couple of local shops that carry good mics, one of them allowed me to AB a RODE and a low-end SE. Didn't really like either one, both colored the music way too much.  I prefer to buy stuff locally if possible, and there are some good shops in San Francisco if I need to go farther.

I've noticed that CAD makes some very nice drum mic sets, they appear to be pretty popular. The reviews have been pretty good, that is why I am interested in their new line.

http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2006/Sterling-Audio-ST-Professional-Mics.html

heading to ab these mics tomorrow st55 st66 against the sure

I tested 4 microphones today,  and Alerion is not gonna like the results, I'm afraid.  Here goes I tested  the st66 against the AT4040, and the KSM27, I thought the sure ksm 27 sounded better overall especially on vocals, BUT and this is gonna be hard to put down on here, a friend of mine (Andrew the night time engineer at Chapman's recording studio) showed up while we were doing the test. So we pulled out more mics and started a real A/b test with no mixer, no preamp, just mic into a didgi 002 (pro tools) and started recording my vocals. the st66 had a lot of high end presence but sounded harsh,
The AT 4040 sounded alot better than the sterling st66, Then we redid the test on the sure ksm27 against the neumann tlm103 and also the AKG C 414b-xl .

Andrew swears by the AKG and I thought he was full of it, but I have to admit that the AKG was smoother, warmer and more blended than all of the other mics that were under $1000.00  in the mics we tested under $600.00 The AT4040 was the smoothest and overall best sounding. This is straight in no EQ at all .

I was really looking at the tlm103 but now after talking to Andrew who says they have several of the akgc414bxl mics and have never had a problem with them I'm not sure if I want the tlm103 because to my ears (and others) the aKG was noticably better sounding.

Yeah
No doubt they make nice sounding mics, which is why I bought two of them. It's just a personal customer svc and QC issue to me. I knew there were other competitive mics out there so I got one and I'm happy. I'm not telling anybody else not to get an AKG and, some day if they come out with some killer-diller mic, I'll check it out. I remember thinking  the ksm27 was a good mic for the $

btw, we tested our mics thru a clear channel in Protools too but we didn't try the bxl.
However, I still have a couple of c4000s if you're interested.....