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[eat your parents]

Regarding budget and sound wise.

We have a few dynamic mics at HQ, but are looking to invest, so any advice would be grand.

[M.A.R.T]

you cant go wrong with good old shure sm58's for vocals and sm57's for everything else.

some of the audio technica condensers are meant to be quite good and budget friendly aswell.

Well i just bought new mics for the lock up!

Audio technica ones! The pro 4l is a decent mic! Go to atmosphere light and sound and the guy there, Brian, is ace!

Get my SHure sm58 on the day of our gig on the 25 th for my own use and cant wait hehe!

The pro4l is a good mic and it was £60

[soundian]

As far as dynamic mics go, SM58s are still standard for vocals (cos they can take a lot of abuse), SM 57s for guitar, snare, most brass.

The only real problems with dynamic mics are: the bass proximity effect (more than an inch or two away and the bottom end practically disappears), and the lack of sensitivity to high frequencies (typically not much after 15KHz).

It all depends on what you need the mics for. If you're recording then invest in a decent large diaphragm condenser.

If it's for live work, your own vocal mics are all you really need (unless you require a lot of DIs). This is mostly for hygiene prurposes (you never know who's been spitting in the mic before you and germs do love the hot, humid atmosphere of gigs), but some vocalists benefit from having a particular type of mic.


And I would suggest a national company to buy something like mics. You won't need technical backup, which buyiing locally normally assures you but large companies don't, and it'll be significantly cheaper cos they can buy in bulk.

[spellchecker]

Probably worth adding that a pop shield is a worthy investment / blue peter DIY job if you are planning on recording vocals. I thought my SM58 was broken until I started using a pop shield, suddenly the sound came to life. Bit of EQ and fanny's your aunt. I didn't have any tights at the time (all in the wash), so I just used cling film and poked lots of holes in it. It still worked very well actually, except for the occasional wispy-crisp-packet-floating-in-the-wind kind of noise.

There's always e-bay for purchases too... I've seen a couple of nice Rode mics on there. Oh yeah, with condenser mics, don't you usually need phantom power?

[SteveCrisis]

Shure SM 58s get my vote. Although I did once possess a very stylish, highly receptive Beyer Dynamic mic (model no. evades me unfortunately) that cost around 120 quid at the time (1992).

[soundian]

Originally posted by spellchecker
Probably worth adding that a pop shield is a worthy investment / blue peter DIY job if you are planning on recording vocals. I thought my SM58 was broken until I started using a pop shield, suddenly the sound came to life. Bit of EQ and fanny's your aunt. I didn't have any tights at the time (all in the wash), so I just used cling film and poked lots of holes in it. It still worked very well actually, except for the occasional wispy-crisp-packet-floating-in-the-wind kind of noise.

There's always e-bay for purchases too... I've seen a couple of nice Rode mics on there. Oh yeah, with condenser mics, don't you usually need phantom power?

Condensers do need an external power source. Budget models usually have a battery compartment, medium range require phantom and the big boys have their own power supplies.

Condensers typically have lower SPL (sound pressure level) handling ability. Check before sticking them in a kick drum or in front of a bass cab.

[Joe Atom]

Any ideas about good radio mics?

[soundian]

True diversity UHF with a balanced output.

Anything less is a toy.

[eat your parents]

Thanks for all the advice,

Much appreciated!