This is what happens when you ask people their opinion!

If I had cash for a vocal mic, I'd look for something well respected, and preferably not Chinese.

Many of the Rodes have Chinese capsules which are good, but have a "tizzy" sound at the top end.

I'd take advice on vocal mics from everyone else here and also look at the equipment section for some snippets of information.

Your original list looks great to me and would be fine. You may be able to get a little more for your money though.

rodabod wrote:This is what happens when you ask people their opinion!

...you get their opinions!

for an LDC:

AT 4050 will be a little more flexible than a 4033 because it gives you multiple polar patterns. I got mine for about 500 US $.

If you can find a used Sony C48p you might find one right around 600-800 US $. I really like this mic. It is very "unhyped" and natural sounding. Also multiple patterns, and can be powered by a battery.

for SDC you should look into the Josephson C42. you can get a matched pair for 900 US $. You buy them seperately unmatched for even less. Used even less (not very common though). I just got one used for $300!

How much is that brick preamp thing? Have you looked into those single channel Grace preamps? Those sound super nice.

Samson Q Kick? Im assuming this is a dynamic mic designed for micing kick drums. I would not get a Samson Q Kick. Audix D4 is is great kick mic (and tom). Better yet, a Beyer M88 is really special on kick and one million other things.

good luck senior kodiak,
mtar

I think that the switchable patters on the 4050 sound like a better deal. Is there any drawback to a mic with switchable patterns?

Kodiak wrote:I think that the switchable patters on the 4050 sound like a better deal. Is there any drawback to a mic with switchable patterns?

obviously anything with more features/switches has more stuff that can break.

other than that the only thing i can think of is accidentally having it in the wrong polar pattern for a specific application. I was in a hurry multitracking a jazz concert and forget to check the polar pattern on the piano mic (a C414). It was in omni and all i got was drums. But that's my fault, not the mic's.

mtar

michaeltheangryrussian wrote:
Audix D4 is is great kick mic (and tom). Better yet, a Beyer M88 is really special on kick and one million other things.

I agree about the M88 on kick. Very good luck with that. A cheap alternative is the AT25.

I also recommend the m-88 for kick and many other things.

If you want to spend the kind of money a tlm 103 goes for, I'd say think about spending a little more and get a Soundelux u195, it works for me on all sorts of things.

-Amos

amos wrote: get a Soundelux u195, it works for me on all sorts of things.

-Amos

ive hear these are quite nice. im saving for the I-fet7.

mtar

Mayfair wrote:

michaeltheangryrussian wrote:
Audix D4 is is great kick mic (and tom). Better yet, a Beyer M88 is really special on kick and one million other things.

I agree about the M88 on kick. Very good luck with that. A cheap alternative is the AT25.

You know, I've yet to find something that the AT25 sounds good with. Probably just me, but I always find it to be such a lacklustre-sounding mic.

But it's cheap!

I like the TLM103. I think it is very versatile. But as others have suggested, you can get 2 ATxxxxs for the price...and your recordings will probably not know the difference.

That said, if you are recording guitar, drums and vocals....(just to make things more difficult),
drop the two Bricks and the TLM (~$1800) and get the FMR RNP (2channel), one of the cheaper ATs AND a ROYER 121.
This would work great on guitar and drums...

OR get the Sytek 4channel pre and the two ATs and be able to cover alot of ground well.

$.02

Kind regards,
spoon

I second the Sytek instead of the Brick. It was the first outbaord pre I bought and i use it all the time. And you get 4 channels instead of two.

Have you used any of these mics or outboard gear you're thinking of getting?

I started off buying some of that Samson type stuff and soon realized why it was so cheap...now it hardly gets used.

If you're really looking for a good Rodes mic try the NTV, it's great tube mic, love it on vocals, room, some distorted guitars, overhead....

What about renting some of the stuff (or even "better" stuff) and then seeing if you like it and works for you?

One last thing, there is a reason why some of these things are "standards" or "must haves" for studios. There was a great post on the TapeOp board about basic mics you'd probably expect any studio to have that most engineers are familiar with and are proven to be good and versatile..wish the board was up..

To make a long list short the break down was something like this...

pair of multi-pattern LDCs
pair of small diaphram condensors akg451, KM84, Josephonson e22 etc Or (oktava MC012 these are a lot more versatile than you'd think)
3-4 dynamic mics ala Sm57, AudixI5, 412s, Sm58, M201
a Kick drum mic or some other versatile dynamic mic ie. re-20, M88, SM7, 421

what else am i missing?

Then you start adding your more character mics..tube, ribbon etc...

The point is you have enough mics for a drum kit, vocals, bass and guitar and just about any stereo micing stuation with the LDCs and SDCs more than likely some of these will turn out to be good vocal mics.

I know you asked about helping you pick at least one good vocal mic but then next time you record you want to be able to cover you bases.

damn, this turned out to be a lot more than i thought I was going to say.

Good luck, it can drive you nuts....

Eddie