Budget microphone suggestions? (Budget figures inside!)

Anything about hardware musical instruments.
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Interesting, thank you people!

Shy mentioned the Beyerdynamic M 201, unfortunately that's not listed at the store I'm going to. I'll ring them and ask them if they have this particular mic, it'd be great to hear the difference between a less coloured one and, say, a Shure SM57, which is quite obviously coloured (said from reading, not from personal experience of course!).

I do wonder about condensers and whether or not they're made to move? Dynamics can obviously be moved around with (as they're often used in live gigs), but what if a person were to hold a condenser mic, rather than set it up on a stand etc.? Would the air moving past it as the mic moves be recorded enough to be obvious? Would the volume be really sensitive and fluctuate while vocalist (me :P) is moving (considering that the mic might move away and then closer to the mouth, depending on the movement), or is that something more characteristic of dynamics? Or neither?

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shure beta 87 is a condenser designed for handheld vox, i know akg mkkes one as well... vocal mics usually have a built it pop filter, you generally need one to record vox.....
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If I were buying a mic in this range I'd be thinking about:

A) What else I am likely to be using it for
B) If I want something to keep forever
C) The environment I will be recording in
D) My preamp and its quality

With a reasonable pre and a Shure SM58/57 it is possible to make nice recordings without having to worry about picking up a lot of ambience (well in comparision to many condensors, it's part of the point of the heart shaped pickup pattern of dynamics like the 57/58). The Shure's are very solid too.

If I were druid I'd have a look around and see if I could find a guitar store that sells a lot of SM58/SM57 LC's for close to cost price if possible. Failing that there are sometimes music stores flogging them new on ebay (in Australia).

I have a 58 (basically the same as a 57 except for the grill). I will probably keep the 58 for life. I have an AKGD880 as well. Wish I'd gotten a 58 earlier....The AKG is OK, but it's not an SM58. I believe Bono sings into a 58.

See: http://www.mojopie.com/sm5758.html for some more info. There are lots of articles out there about 57's and 58's.

And no. I don't work for Shure.

Keep away from $99AUD microphones.

Spratman ;)

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I'd recommend the Audio Technica 4040. This is a classic mic and is extremely versatile! My other suggestions would be the CAD M177 / M179 or Trion and the Studio Projects B1! The B1 is an amazingly cheap mic but is a first class mic!

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If you can get an AT4040 in Australia brand new for less than $500AUD I'd be very surprised dickiefunk! Look here even: http://www.haworthguitars.com.au/contro ... da21fx6pvq

Well beyond druid's budget. I got a quote for an SM7 here in Australia a little while ago and the answer was $1200AUD...

Spratman ;)

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The environments I expect to be recording in are varied, wherever I can go basically. :P It could be outside (open flat or forest (eek)) or inside, and I will just have to try my best to get as good a sound as possible.

Thanks for your feedback people!

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