Must have mics

El Borrachito

El Borrachito

Premier Staff
Here's the mics I can't live without. I've gotten so fed up with under-equipped studios that I usually bring my own collection of utility mics with me.

Kick (inside) - 421 or ATM25
Kick (outside) - fet47 or AT 4047 or MXL Cube
Snare (top) - Unidyne III SM57 (can't live without it)
Snare (bottom) - 452EB or whatever
Toms - 421 or ATM25
Hat - 452EB
OH - KM84 or AT 4050/4047
Room - 452EB (omni), 4050

Ac gtr - KM84 or 452 (with CK3 capsule), B&K 4011, or AT 4051
Gtr cab - 57, AKG D220, Beyer 160

Electric Bass - 421, ATM25 or MXL Cube (+ DI always!)
Ac Bass - U47 or AT 4047

Piano - 414s (something magic about 414s on piano)

Vocals - Try everything, every singer is different.
Any nice large condenser is fair game. SM7 is good on screamers. M149 is almost always good, 4047 is great for under $500.
 
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I don't have nearly as much experience, but my future must haves are an SM7, a pair of Coles 4031s, an AT4050 and a pair of Mojave MA100 SDCs.
 
Mark Wein said:
How about a "budget" or good home studio version?
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Super cheap drum mics:

Kick (inside) - ATM25 $150
Kick (outside) - MXL Cube $100
Snare (top) - 57 $100
Snare (bottom) - 57 $100
Hat - AT Pro 37 $150
Toms - ATM 25 $150 x2 (or 3 or 10 if your Joe Rock Star)
OH - AT 4040 $250 x2
Room - MXL V67N $120 x2

With this you could do a drum kit quite nicely and you would have a decent pair of every sort of mic you would need to do anything else.
The next thing to get would be a nicer big condenser for vocals and acoustic instruments. A 4047MP would be great for this.
They don't make ATM 25s any more, but they can be had on ebay for $100-150. The current model, the ATM250 isn't as good.
The MXL stuff is good for the $$$, just stay away from anything silver.
 
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Kerouac said:
I don't have nearly as much experience, but my future must haves are an SM7, a pair of Coles 4031s, an AT4050 and a pair of Mojave MA100 SDCs.
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The 4050s are useful on just about anything. Like 414s, but better and half the price.
The Coles are really cool. Fantastic on brass and sometimes drums, but for the $$$ they are far less utilitarian. Ribbons are tricky sometimes when isolation is an issue.
 
El Borrachito said:
The 4050s are useful on just about anything. Like 414s, but better and half the price.
The Coles are really cool. Fantastic on brass and sometimes drums, but for the $$$ they are far less utilitarian. Ribbons are tricky sometimes when isolation is an issue.
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Neko Case uses the 4050 on her vocals, which is what turned me onto them. The Coles has just blown me away every time I've used one... female vocals, acoustic guitar, piano... and the aforementioned drums.
 
El Borrachito said:
The 4050s are useful on just about anything. Like 414s, but better and half the price.
The Coles are really cool. Fantastic on brass and sometimes drums, but for the $$$ they are far less utilitarian. Ribbons are tricky sometimes when isolation is an issue.
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So we are recommending AT4050s for a budget guitar cab mic?
 
reverend1 said:
So we are recommending AT4050s for a budget guitar cab mic?
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I don't think so...it's a $499 mic, but still a great value for the money if you needed one great mic. The AT4040 is virtually the same mic except that it does not have switchable polar patterns and it's about $299. Really for a guitar cab even without the "budget" stipulation a regular sm57 or Beta 57 would be good for a lot of things and the Sennheiser e609 is around the same price point and works nice, too.
 
Regular 57 > beta 57 for gtr cabs.
609s are OK too. Better for cleaner stuff.
Nowhere near as cool as the old 409s, which are worth a bundle now.
 
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