This is a thread for requesting and offering microphone recommendations for various uses.

I need a pair of SMCs for recording cymbals and room ambiance in a practice space.

Looking for best bang for the buck, good but cheap.

I've seen recs for the Rode M5. Is that a good choice?

Or is there something better for not much more money?

JohnAlbert wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:17 am I need a pair of SMCs for recording cymbals and room ambiance in a practice space.

Looking for best bang for the buck, good but cheap.

I've seen recs for the Rode M5. Is that a good choice?

Or is there something better for not much more money?

Oktava MK-012 are the best bang-for-the-buck SDCs, especially since you can get multiple capsules for MAXIMUM VERSATILITY.

Alternatively, I also like the AKG P170s for cheap SDCs.

These are all my fav SDCs that I bought after a bunch of research here. I don’t know how they’d work on room mics and cymbals specifically, but they can also be used on snare, some amps, and all sorts of other stuff as well.

Audio Technica Pro 37 / Pro 37r (cardioid - would buy these under $100 all the time. Do a search)
Shuare KSM137(cardioid only used under $200 each, card+omni KSM141 version more expensive, closer to under $300 each)
Audio Technica 4051 (cardioid, 4049 omni version rarer and hard to find used)
Akg 451 (add them to an automatic search you can find them under $300 each)

I’m just mentioning omni because you mention room mics but not even sure how necessary that is, or preferable in a practice space.

If you buy them at a decent used price you shouldn’t have any problem getting your money back should you decide to sell. The ones I bought were sold by live sound companies for cheap and arrived looking very used and scuffed up, but I use them all the time and they work great.

My go to are Oktava or Shure SM81s, but my Lewitt 140 air and the tiny 040 are getting use a lot these days. The little 040s live in my backpack a lot of the time .

I don't recommend recording ambience in a practice space at all. I did that a few times at the behest of a drummer who was convinced that was the way to sound BIG and it never worked to my ears. Several of these SDC recommendations are good for overheads, and I'd stick with the cardioid capsules/settings.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 7:31 am Shuare KSM137(cardioid only used under $200 each, card+omni KSM141 version more expensive, closer to under $300 each)

Still one of the best deals in pro audio. I've mic'ed bagpipes, fiddles and acoustic guitars with these things as well as overheads, toms and snares. Tough to beat at even twice the price.

penningtron wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 8:57 am I don't recommend recording ambience in a practice space at all. I did that a few times at the behest of a drummer who was convinced that was the way to sound BIG and it never worked to my ears. Several of these SDC recommendations are good for overheads, and I'd stick with the cardioid capsules/settings.

I'm not trying to make anything sound "BIG."

Miking everything close up results in a real harsh, restrictive impression. I just want to get some room ambiance to let a little "air" into the recordings.

I’d just set up a pair of Oktava MK02 or Shure KSM137 as drum overheads. You’ll get plenty of bleed of other instruments for ambience. Depending on the volume of the amps and the size of the room, maybe too much. But if your drum to amp volume is balanced in the room it should be fine.

MK02 is the best deal going. There are some fakes out there, so maybe educate yourself on how to tell. The 137 sounds similar but a bit better to my ears. A little less harsh in the top end.

The Pro 37 is a good call too, but have honestly only ever honestly tried that one on acoustic guitar.

tommy wrote: Tue Mar 04, 2025 10:53 am
MK02 is the best deal going.

Especially used on like Craigslist or even Reverb sometimes. I occasionally see the for around $150 and got one for $80 on Ebay because it were missing the pad.

As for the fakes, a friend of mine had one purchased from a Guitar Center in Chicago and it looked and felt almost exact to a real one, only real tell was the copper dimple instead of silver. They sounded almost exact to a real one as well. We could not tell the difference at all. All of my real ones are branded ASM, some people think that is the tell but it isn't. Some people seem to think all the real ones have serial numbers printed on them, also not true, that is just the original first batch imported my ASM. From what I can tell the main way to tell is the silver dimple and point at the capsules. If I could find a bunch of fakes for dirt cheap, like 4 for a hundo or something, I'd buy them cause again, sounded the same to me.