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Ask HN: What Mic would you recommend for a music setup?

3 points by lfciv ↗ HN
I used to have a cheap Yeti mic that was great for starting out, but I'm now looking to upgrade to something a bit nicer.

This is mostly for recording from my room – songs that I write or covers. I'm probably not looking to spend much more than $300 (under that would be great). I'm not looking to get a bunch of mics, so ideally it would be a fairly versatile one. Thanks!

10 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 28.9 ms ] thread
ofalkaed
I would go with an RE320 for that money and your situation, they do well in the small uncontrolled room and have a great sound. But then again the RE20/320 are probably my favorite mics so I am biased.

Edit: Regarding pattern, cardioid tends to be most versatile as an only mic for the bedroom musician in my experience, you can get them back far enough to do things like pick up voice and guitar at the same time without much issue while still being able to effectively use mic position to mix the two sources. And it is narrow enough that you can stick stick it up close to a source and not deal with unwanted pickup on those days you have a lot of ambient noise.

Edit2: Somewhat retract my comment on cardioid, I can make as good of a case for hyper/super cardioid and in some uses they could be better.

lfciv
Awesome thanks for the detailed response – this is really helpful. Curious if my budget went up to $400 would your recommendation change? A friend of mine had also mentioned the SM7B
ofalkaed
For $400 I would go with an RE320 and get some good accessories to go with it. SM7B is great as well, I just prefer the RE320's sound but I would be perfectly content with either as an only mic.
News-Dog
What do you want to record? ( Vocal(|s), Instrument(|s) )?

>mostly for recording from my room

  'Room Acoustics' 'Sound Proofing and Acoustic Treatment' 'Reverberation Time (RT)'
I assume you require a USB Mic?
lfciv
I'm currently thinking I probably won't do a USB mic and I'll get a USB interface – probably the Focusrite Scarlett

Mostly recording vocals as my main instrument is my keyboard which I usually hook up directly to my computer via usb midi

News-Dog
Single Vocal?

Have you looked at the 'Room Acoustic Colorization'

What level of Quality are you aspiring too; Broadcast, Professional, Home

News-Dog
Do you have a (Professional) Pro Sound sales/hire store in your locale?

Are you able to demo/hire mic's?

Accessories you may require; Mic stand, Mic clip, Mic lead, Pop-guard/windscreen/windshield

lfciv
I have a mic stand & pop guard but probably need the lead & clip

I could go to Guitar Center or Sam Ash near me

ofalkaed
For primarily vocal work the Rode Podmic may be a nice and cheap alternative to the RE320 and other big studio dynamics, they look quite nice. They will not make a good general purpose mic since the high frequency response is not great but it should work well for most voices. The Podmic has really gotten my attention lately and I am probably going to order one soon for recording vocals and acoustic guitar, seems well suited for that.