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Best Brand of Microphone?


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What is the best brand of microphone in your opinion? Do you have a link to where I can buy this microphone? How much will it cost? Thanx ;)

I dunno what's the best one. But "Shure SM58" is used by very many

Yeah, that's what we used on my bands recordings and it came out pretty good

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What is the best brand of microphone in your opinion? Do you have a link to where I can buy this microphone? How much will it cost? Thanx ;)

You have to realize that there's never an upper price limit on anything?...you want the best microphone for what? singing? guitar? drums? saxomophone?...

Anyway the "best" is gonna cost you more than you dreamed it would (thousands upon thousands of dollars). Name a price range, and what you're gonna use it for (live/studio, singing etc..) and it will be a lot easier to help you out.

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there is no BEST brand. it all depends on the situation, the venue and the application. Singers sing differently just like gutiars play differently. just like there is no "the best guitar". Sure, there are brands and makes that suck. just like some guitars do.

The SM 58 and Beta 58 are both proven workhorses, easy to EQ for live applications. And both can be good for studio use.

Senneheiser, Audix and Neumann are other good brands. Many artists use these brands.

Shure also have different mikes than the 58s, there is the 87, which is more suitable for bigger venues. As it is super sensitive and can give you feedback problems on a smaller venue. Though it is brighter and perhaps has a bit more top end to some singers likings. It is often prefered by female vocalists.

I suggest you go to your local music shop and ask to borrow a few mikes. Or try them out in their shop.

Audix IMHO is good for small venue accoustic stuff. it has a warmer sound than the Shures. But it can be a bit on the dark side and is less transparent than Shure. I honestly don't have much experience with Senneheiser nor Neumann. But techs I've talked with say they are less versatile than Shure SM and Beta.

If you want a proven workhorse Shure SM58 or Beta 58 is the way to go. Beta 58 is a bit brighter in the top, and a tad more transparent.

If you want to find the right vocal mic for YOU! then you need to try them out. I'm sure there are better mics for your voice than SM or Beta 58 if you wanna spend the time and money to try them out. Also, you won't be needing all these speciality mics if you don't have a good sound guy.

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  • 2 weeks later...
there is no BEST brand. it all depends on the situation, the venue and the application. Singers sing differently just like gutiars play differently. just like there is no "the best guitar". Sure, there are brands and makes that suck. just like some guitars do.

The SM 58 and Beta 58 are both proven workhorses, easy to EQ for live applications. And both can be good for studio use.

Senneheiser, Audix and Neumann are other good brands. Many artists use these brands.

Shure also have different mikes than the 58s, there is the 87, which is more suitable for bigger venues. As it is super sensitive and can give you feedback problems on a smaller venue. Though it is brighter and perhaps has a bit more top end to some singers likings. It is often prefered by female vocalists.

I suggest you go to your local music shop and ask to borrow a few mikes. Or try them out in their shop.

Audix IMHO is good for small venue accoustic stuff. it has a warmer sound than the Shures. But it can be a bit on the dark side and is less transparent than Shure. I honestly don't have much experience with Senneheiser nor Neumann. But techs I've talked with say they are less versatile than Shure SM and Beta.

If you want a proven workhorse Shure SM58 or Beta 58 is the way to go. Beta 58 is a bit brighter in the top, and a tad more transparent.

If you want to find the right vocal mic for YOU! then you need to try them out. I'm sure there are better mics for your voice than SM or Beta 58 if you wanna spend the time and money to try them out. Also, you won't be needing all these speciality mics if you don't have a good sound guy.

Go for these Shure SM58 clones made by Kam. I've been using these with Guns 2 Roses in theatres and festivals since October and their awesome with great range also their less than £50 for a radio mic. I've got the Shure sm58 and beta's and their are all on par with each other.

Shure Clone / Kam radio mics

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Ohdistortedsmile1789

It depends on a lot of factors, I played harmonica and sang through a Shure SM57 with a cable of the wrong impedance for a long time. I was able to sound great on it, but whenever I hosted an open mic or anything like that, others had a lot of trouble. If you are just looking for a vocal mic, an SM57 or SM58 is the way to go.

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Guest Ohdistortedsmile1789
It depends on a lot of factors, I played harmonica and sang through a Shure SM57 with a cable of the wrong impedance for a long time.

What does that mean, ODS?

The microphone is a low impedance microphone, which has something to do with the output or something. The cable was high impedance. This might be the other way around. Anyway, I host Blues Jams sometimes for the Blues Society here, and that's the setup I used. When others attempted to sing through it, they didn't really cut through the mix. There was a guy around who does all that technical sound shit, or whatever you want to call it, and he found this laughable. It actually made me feel pretty cool, because I didn't really give a damn about my setup, I was able to make it sound alright. Looking back, it was a bit careless of me to come into an open mic type event with that setup. But how was I to know? It sounded fine to me.

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It depends on a lot of factors, I played harmonica and sang through a Shure SM57 with a cable of the wrong impedance for a long time.

What does that mean, ODS?

The microphone is a low impedance microphone, which has something to do with the output or something. The cable was high impedance. This might be the other way around. Anyway, I host Blues Jams sometimes for the Blues Society here, and that's the setup I used. When others attempted to sing through it, they didn't really cut through the mix. There was a guy around who does all that technical sound shit, or whatever you want to call it, and he found this laughable. It actually made me feel pretty cool, because I didn't really give a damn about my setup, I was able to make it sound alright. Looking back, it was a bit careless of me to come into an open mic type event with that setup. But how was I to know? It sounded fine to me.

From what I remember hearing, you have a really strong, powerful voice - so that doesn't really surprise me. ;)

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When I started singing I wanted to invest in a good pro-quality microphone, and most everything I read said the Shure SM58 was THE standard mic. I went to go buy one and the salesman told me Audix (who I'd never heard of) was a better microphone for the money. I went home and researched it, and liked what I read.

Audix was a fledgling Japanese company, bought by a couple of Americans interested in entering the mic business. They were unhappy with the quality coming from the Japanese plants, so they moved production to the US. The closer proximity to the manufacturing facilities helped them improve the quality through R+D and better engineering. On the other hand, Shure moved production of the SM58 to China (from the US) long ago, and the basic design has not changed in years. That's one of the reasons sound guys prefer them - it's what they're used to. They know the mics "colorings" and how to EQ it. They'll generally need to use less EQ with an Audix (the Audix OM2 is the basic Shure SM58 equivalent - both are $99 US dollars). The Audix has a higher SPL (it can take higher volume levels before distortion occurs), feedbacks a little less, and is made in the US - for the same price as an SM58.

I know this sounds like an ad but I do use an OM5 (I think I paid $160 US) with my band and love it - it's particularly good for the rock vocalist. Another huge thing with Audix is the windscreen. While looking at used 58's I noticed quite a few with dented windscreens, this won't happen with an Audix. You can whip it screen-first at the floor and it'll just bounce back at you - it's tough as nails.

I'm currently using a cheap "Pheonix mics" set for the drums (the maker claims the modules are made at the same plant in China that Shure uses) but I'd love to eventually upgrade them. Even with Shure-eared soundmen, the Audix D6 kick drum mic is growing in popularity because their higher SPL makes them best for kick use. Though there are many good brands of mics for many different uses, for singing I'd personally go with Audix or Shure, in that order.

Audix OM2 at Musician's Friend

Edited by sphere79
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