Cheap-ish Microphones

[WeaveMcQuilt]

Afternoon folks,

 

I've recently become chief technician to a venue. Having been through stock, I'm looking for microphone ideas.

We run a play throughout the week with Jazz evenings on a Sunday night.

 

Occasionally, the performers require us to provide sound equipment for them, and our mic stock list is abysmal.

 

Mic stock list consists of:

 

1 x AT813 Uni Condenser

1 x AKG D190

1 x Behringer ECM8000 (not sure why we have this?)

3 x Shure C606 (all of these are truly battered and sound awful)

 

I have never used the AT813, but I usually stick the D190 on the piano (could probably do with a pair for Hi/Lo really)

 

 

As I said, we run Jazz evenings, lots of brass, so I'm looking for the following:

 

4 x Vocal Mics (Sadly SM58s are a bit out of budget)

4 x Instrument Mics (Trumpets, trombones, clarinets)

2 x Overheads (along the lines of C451 - but cheaper!)

2 x Close Miking (recently had to mic a banjo and a bodhran!)

 

 

Budget isn't huge, but isn't too small either.

I'm no sound engineer, so go easy on me :P

 

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[GDJ]

www.red5audio.com/

After reading good reports on this forum,just bought a RVD30 from Red 5 Audio.Last week did comparison test through our theatre PA using SM 58.Our findings were it is excellent build quality and value for money ,very clean top end and slightly more gain than the 58.Using the same EQ setting not quite the fullness of sound but we were being very critical.As someone who is used to mixing sound with SM 58s on vocals was very impressed,definitely worth considering

[Wilflet]

Firstly- Never use the ECM8000 for live work. Its a reference mic, used for measuring room/sound system performance with the appropriate software- its omnidirectional and so you'll get no gain out of it for live use. If your not using it for its intended purpose stick it on ebay, they generally fetch about £40 so you'll have a bit more budget.

 

for vocals I prefer AKG D5 to SM58, they're cheaper too.

 

for overheads: the Beyer MC530s are about a quater the price of 451's, very good for the money, quite small body so you can get them in interesting places (like the Senn. e614)

http://www.thomann.de/gb/beyerdynamic_mce530_stereoset.htm

 

for banjo/bodhran I wouldnt look for anything different than your other instrument mics- my preference with either would be e904/e604 largley for being less conspicuous, with 57's as a second (more realistic) choice for most gigs. If your budget can stretch to a load of 57s get them, they're versatile.

[Matt Riley]

Right - so I'm firmly going to recommend buying some solid branded kit, supplemented by bargain basement stuff which you can upgrade as necessary. Having said that- you often get the budget that you ask for, so if I were in your position, I would work out what the most modest, but usable mic box for your usage scenario costs and ask confidently for that amount of money- you'd be surprised how often it works :)

 

In terms of your kit list I reckon don't waste too much money on overheads - the cheapo thomann t.bone or the cheap behringer pencil condensers are absolutely fine for live use. In terms of vocals, I would spend your budget on a smaller number of SM58s and look up a tutorial on cleaning old dynamic mics on youtube, which will hopefully give your old c606s a bit of a new lease of life if you need to use them for backing vocals.

 

When it comes to instrument mics, again I would buy as many sm57s as I could afford and then supplement them with some super cheap bargain basement t.bone CD55s (or similar) to make up the numbers.

 

You might want to think about a few of those £7 thomann DI boxes as well soon.

[S&L]

red5 rvd30's - perfectly decent for both vocals and close mic'ing - I have used these mics for guitar cabs, saxophone, percussion, lead vocals, backing vocals - in fact you will find that if you put them in front of any instrument - they just work! I use these where you would usually consider an sm57 - you will be very pleased with the result - and being hyper cardiod they are easier to control.

 

 

 

t bone em700 - great overhead condensers - used these for high hats and all sorts of percussion - I find these cleaner than the behringer alternatives.

 

D190 - keep hold of it - they are a bit quiet and too dry and the gain is a little low but otherwise you can use them where you would use an sm58

 

8 x red5's, 2 x em700 and you may never buy a shure again.

 

just as an aside I was teaching myself how to record digital multi-track with an x32 yesterday and borrowed an acoustic guitarist and female singer. - I had already used red5's live with an x32 and was really impressed (several compliments in a rock bad touring theatre environment) - listening to play back through headphones the result was stunning!

[eddie59]

I agree with the red5,s ,ive recently perchased a package of 4..very reasonable price and great,looks a bit like an e845 and appears to have a rugged build quality, definatly has the edge on a 58 and a good all rounder to boot.

[cedd]

To throw another one in to the mix, the Electrovoice Cobalt C09's are really nice sounding mics for not a lot of money. They've got a nice feel and really don't break the bank. For slightly more money the n/d767 is also a great sounding mic and my preference over an SM58, but it's also hypercardioid, so you need to watch it if your musicians are playing instruments or just can't stand still as it's a bit less forgiving than an SM58.

[Jivemaster]

Just buy from a reputable dealer, even if it's hard on budget. Buying online risks you getting a fake which may sound nothing like the real thing.

[paulears]

I'm only worried about on-line purchases from ebay when the purchase is from individuals. Ebay and Paypal MAKE me give refunds on request, and is totally biased nowadays in favour of the purchaser. Any business seller cannot afford a negative comment, so if somebody has more than 50 or so sales, they will give refunds. All my Ebay sales have big warnings about 48V phantom power, and it ticks me off when despite this you get snotty messages/ YOU RIPPED ME OFF - THIS M IC DOESN"T WORK. You contact them, offer apologies and just say - send it back and I'll do you a refund. You have checked your phantom power is turned on?

 

The response is usually either "what's phantom power?" or of course it is - I've plugged in the jack plug and the phantom light is on. You explain that a jack plug connection doesn't pass phantom (I hate those combo connectors) and often they say oops - but sometimes you just have to give in.

 

There are fakes on ebay of course, but did they really think they were going to get an SM58 or Sennheiser 848 for £40!

[Tony Lake]

You'll get more for your money if you buy a set of mics as apposed to all individual ones. plus that way you get a nice new case to keep all you new microphones in good condition! :D from there I guess just fill in the gaps from there (probably a few vocals, plenty of good suggestions already posted.

 

Have a troll through this link, I'm sure you'll find most of what you need, then you can just get a few mics on top.

 

http://www.thomann.de/gb/microphone_sets_for_drums.html

 

Maybe go for the Shure PG series, or Audix F series, neither are the best, but you can't spend money you don't have a guess.

 

that's my one and a half pence

[Oldradiohand]

Hmm, the EV site doesn't seem to show the Cobalt mics as current models. Now might be the time to get some at about the £50 mark. I've always been impressed by EV mics ever since I saw someone using an RE20 as a hammer to bang nails into a lump of wood at an exhibition....

[cedd]

That's odd. I bought a set of 4 for a local high school through SSE only a couple of months back, so they've either recently pulled them or they're just not advertising them any more.

 

I've always been a little bit wary of the Shure PG series. I'm not a massive SM58 fan, so a cheaper version of one sounds like a bad idea. I've got to stick my hand up though and say I've never used a PG series mic (apart from the drum mics) so have no first hand experience to back that up. I think I'd maybe sooner reach for the Studiospares catalogue though and buy their own brand handheld that looks incredibly similar to an SM58! Yes it might be no better than a Chinese copy (it probably is an OEM Chinese product to be fair) but Studiospares are a decent sized company who look after their customers, so it's a safer bet than ebay or Alibaba.

[mjriley]

Sennheiser e835 for vocals, slightly cheaper than an SM58 and IMO the grill is stronger than a 58's also.

 

For instrument close micing, can't go wrong with a pair of Behringer C2 small diaphragm condensors, yes there are better sounding microphones out there but when you find one for £20 a pop!!

 

And essential for electro-acoustic guitars, keyboards, bass etc. some behringer DI100 active mono DI's, don't bother with the stereo DI200 as they sound awful in comparison.

[savage1]

I have a couple of rvd30s. Haven't had any problems with them, very well made, sound pretty good flat so don't need drastic eq and the pickup patern on them makes it nice and easy to avoid feedback on crampt stages. For cheap DIs I'd reccomend orchid electronics.

[Wilflet]

. For cheap DIs I'd reccomend orchid electronics.

 

couldnt agree more. If you dont need jack loop through (generally keys, acoustics, samplers/laptops..) the microDI is £25 for an active DI that sounds as good as ones many times the price. takes up far less room on stage when you have loads in once place, is resistant to standing on, and is small enough to have a few knocking round my toolcase 'just in case'. I love those things. I should probably order some more.