Tips on buying my first proper microphone

[Jan-Vidar Tandberg BakkeParticipant]

Hi there,

I'm Jan-Vidar from Norway, and I just signed up for a membership.

I'm currently in the process of gearing up my Studio. And despite playing guitar for 25 years (+ some piano and violin), I'm a beginner when it comes to music production.  If you are curious, I have a Focusrite Clarett 8Pre USB audio interface and a couple of Adam A7X monitors. And now, I am looking to buy my first proper mic for my studio. The studio is a relatively small room (around 10 square meters), with reasonably good sound isolation built into it. If the acoustics are perfect or not, I don't know. As this is a home studio, I have everything mashed into that room. And one of the problems I have is that I can hear the fan of my Mac when I turn the volume on my headset up. So if anyone has any tips on that as well, I would be grateful.

Anyways, let's get back to the initial question. Let's say I have about $1000 to spend on a condenser mic. Which one should it be? I know it's a pretty open question, but my hope is that base on the information above, some might have an idea of what I need. I'm mainly going to use the mic for vocals and some acoustic guitar recordings. And I'm hoping for a sound that sounds clear and professional. Meaning, it's certainly not the mic's fault that it sounds bad.

I am looking forward to hearing from you all!

With love, Jan-Vidar.

• This topic was modified 3 years ago by Jan-Vidar Tandberg Bakke.

[Magnus EmilssonParticipant]

Hey Jan-Vidar.

That's enough of budget to give you rather nice options. In that price range I have used and liked these two:

Lewitt LCT 640 TS https://www.thomann.de/se/lewitt_lct_640_ts_authentica.htm
Very detailed, stereo microphone that, when used as a mono mic, has variable polar pattern. Sounds very nice, Warren has a video or two about this mic. It's neutral but takes eq and compression very well. Discounts available here https://academy.producelikeapro.com/60-off-lewitt-microphones/

Mojave MA-201Fet https://www.thomann.de/se/mojave_ma_201fet_vg.htm
Slightly more "character" in the high end and a very nice character at that. Sounds great on most male voices and acoustic guitar. Can take loud levels as well. Less versatile than the Lewitt due to fixed cardioid pattern.

/Magnus

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

Hej Jan-Vidar

I started a thread about this topic a while back, actually it almost got into article territory. Quick recap.. get something good that still hold a position when you are about to get something fancier.

https://academy.producelikeapro.com/forums/topic/building-a-mic-locker/

Also... you must head over to audiotestkitchen.com An amazing site when you are about to look around for mics.

Mojave mics are very much on my radar too.

 

/Magnus

 

[Jan-Vidar Tandberg BakkeParticipant]

Hi, again guys,

Thank you for some excellent answers. You opened my eyes to even more brands than what I had been looking at so far. I am kind of surprised none of the ones I have been looking at has shown up. So maybe I have been looking at the wrong places for advice. 🙂

To be honest, I have just been watching a lot of Youtube videos trying to find the right mic. It's hard to know which videos are sponsored. So I struggle to know which ones to trust. Let me tell you about the microphones that have come up so that I can get some feedback on how these will do as well.

1. Shure SM7B: I guess there is no surprise that this pops up. If I'm not mistaken, this is a dynamic microphone. What triggered me on this one was that it doesn't catch much noise in the room. So this would solve my computer-fan issue. So many people recommend it. But I have a feeling the internet is polluted with reviews on this mic. So that word of mouth has made it gone viral. Do you have any pro-tips regarding this? From the clips I have heard, it sounds great.

2. Røde K2: This mic came up in one of my searches as a microphone that has the qualities of much more expensive mic's.

3. Neuman TLM 103. The most expensive Neuman I think I can afford. Is it worth it?

4. AKG C414 XLS: Just heard good things about it.

Ok, so I guess this is a wide range of microphones. And it will probably tell how little I know about mics. But still, I would know if any of these are great and recommended.

 

The thing is, when I try to listen to all of these microphones, I struggle to tell which one is bad and which one is excellent. The only thing I know is that the microphone that I will buy now will be my mic for a long time.

About the Lewitt LCT 640 TS. I'm automatically getting skeptical when a microphone can do so many different things. It makes me wonder what the drawback is. Is it good at all of the modes, or is it mediocre (seen from the price range)?

I also saw in the thread from Magnus Johansson some talk about pre-amps. Do I need this after a while? I thought my audio interface had it? But I guess having a separate pre-amp is better?

Sorry for all the newbie questions. But that's why I signed up for this. I want to learn from experienced people.

Thank you in advance!

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