Yet another microphone advice seeking thread... (vox & acoustic guitar)

Hey gang,

I've been pouring through threads on here and a couple of other forums and my head's swimming in the alphabet soup of microphone names. Hopefully you all can help point me in the right direction. I'm looking for a mic that can be had new for less than $500 that can serve as an all-in-one solution for both my vocals and acoustic guitar (recorded separately).

Up until now I've been using cheap mics but I've decided an upgrade is in order now that I have a nice, new acoustic. My vocal "style" is almost whispered - I don't really belt it out, because frankly I'm not very good as a vocalist. I can make due with what I've got, but the cheap mics I use never seem to capture my voice fully, especially the growl-like quailty I'm going for. For acoustic guitar, I want to capture my warm, woody tone.

I'm a complete mic noob - my interface is a MOTU Ultralite (for now) that has 48v phantom power. So, what should I be looking at?

You need a good large diaphragm condenser. I really like my sterling st77, but it isn't ideal for every voice, quieter male voices do sit well with it I think though, and It is realy good on acoustic guitar. It's a pretty neutral mic (not a lot of color) and it's very airy. Other popular options in that price range are the AKG C4000s (warmer and less high end, good on other kind of vocals, also pretty good on acoustic guitar), the audio technica at30 series (very colorless and bulletproof can sound pretty good on most any vocal with a good bit of tweaking and takes loud instrument sources like a champ), and the rode ntk I was never fond of but a lot of people like it. They have poor build quality, but you might like the sound.

I hadn't heard of the Sterling mic, going to start researching it. Thanks! You mention Audio Technica - I was looking at the AT4047 which is $550 at GC right now (close enough to budget). Would that be a "better" mic than the 30 series? I'm so confused by the naming conventions that each of these companies use - comparing them seems about impossible.

I wonder what people think of the BLUE Bluebird - I know it's been around awhile, and probably done to death - but I did a little session with one the other day (as the vocalist) and I was kind of impressed with the sound...?

It depends. The 40 series is probably supposed to be nicer I guess since their most expensive and probably well known mic the at4050 is what they are based on. However I don't really like the at4050 for most applications as much as my at3050, it only works well on female vocals it seems and on everything else they're just alright. Not worth the price for sure.

To me, if you're in teh $500 range, might as well spend just a few extra bucks and get the Neumann TLM-102.

Though i don't know about that particular mic. I do wish I would've not bought so many

I havn't used many of the other mics mentioned here. But you can get the Blue Dragonfly from frontendaudio for $600. I know it looks funny, but I promise you will not be dissapointed with the quality. We have used it for vocals even after to comparing to our AKG-C414, and I've always looved it on acoustic guitar.

Here's the kicker, this thing costs $800 at sweetwater AND musiciansfriend. Front end audio (great, smaller dealer) has recently lowered it to 600.

I picked up a used Mojave MA201fet off of Ebay last year for just a hair over $500. I'm absolutely in love with it and I use it for almost everything.

And when you find one you like call/email full compass also. Not trying to spam here, but they have some really good prices if you just ask. So far a lot of good advice. It's hard to beat some of the standards though like the akg c414 and Neumann TLM102. Not that they are better than the other mics mentioned. But you could probably get most of your money back later if you did decide to sell it. And there is a reason the C414 is in probably just about every studio.