Mic Recommendations
There are so many good but inexpensive mics out now that it's impossible to cover all of them. So this will be a simple and short list just to give a few ideas.
Shure SM7b ($350) - It has been said that this is the best mic ever made at any price. There is quite an impressive list of professional recordings that have been recorded using the SM7 line, the biggest one being
Michael Jackson's Thriller which used the original SM7. And according to
this page on the Shure website the newer models are essentially
exactly the same mic (with some improvements made to the newer models for reducing noise and the addition of a larger windscreen).
Shure SM57 ($100): is an industry standard for guitar amps, snare drum and toms, and even works on vocals. It sounds pretty good and it is built like a tank so it can take a lot of abuse. It is work horse both in the studio and especially for live gigs and sounds good on a lot of different instruments.
Marshall MXL 603 ($200): small diaphram condensers that get excellent reviews. The $199 price is the price for
TWO mics, so this is a very inexpensive mic that works extremely well. These will work wonders on your acoustic guitar!
Here are a few inexpensive large diaprham condensers that get excellent reviews.
Studio Projects B1 ($100)
Marshall MXL V67G ($110)
Marshall MXL V69ME ($300) - I have this mic and it is very nice! It is a "tube mic" (it actually has a tube inside of it).
ADK Hamburg ($300)
ShinyBox ribbon mics get excellent reviews. I recently got a
Shinybox 23 ($165) but haven’t been able to try it out on a guitar amp yet (I only have a cheesy little practice amp) but I have tried it on vocals and wow is it ever nice! I can’t wait to get this mic on a nice amp.
Red5 Audio RVD1 ($155 -
according to the google currency exchange calculator) is a lesser known bass/kick drum mic, but a VERY good one. The
AKG D112 ($200) is a very popular mic for kick and bass, but I have both of these mics and I
much prefer the RVD1.... And it's cheaper too!
Red5 Audio RVK7 Drum Kit Set - ($400 -
according to the google currency exchange calculator) I have this mic set and these Red5 Audio mics are incredible. They beat out mics costing a lot more. I have used other mics like AKG, Shure, ElectroVoice,
Radio Shack... (uh, I won't go there
) for recording before and the Red5 Audio mics are by far my favorite. My sure SM57 never gets used on drums anymore.