Last thing I need is the Microphone

[TheBaron]

I'm just a hobbyist so I have much less experience with various mics than most of these guys do but I have an MXL V69 and love it.

Prior to that I used either an sm58 or sm57. They did ok. I felt the 57 was a little more transparent and the 58 colored the sound at the mid range...which was good for some voices and bad for others.

A big thing to keep in mind is that a condensor mic (like the V69) makes it much easier to get a vocal track without drastic highs and lows. It also has much less sibilance than the recorded tracks of a 58 and 57. Once again this is in my amateur experience but I tried a lot of techniques when recording with the 57 and 58's. I got decent tracks but often had little parts here and there that spiked in the songs and I couldn't completely alleviate them. The condensor, without me even having any expertise, helped greatly in getting a good solid vocal track without problem parts. You can stand a little further back from condensors without a "proximity effect" and get a really nice smooth recording. Also, you don't have to sing directly into them so you can get your pops and 's' to shoot past the mic.

I'm not sure if a really cheap condensor would provide better results than a 57 or 58 but it's worth considering. If you ever play live you'll definitely have a use for a 58 vocals or a 57 for vocals/kick drum/snare drumguitar cab, whatever. If it's your last purchase for you studio, you might want to save a little longer and get a solid condensor mic. I think I got my V69 for $230 including shipping (and that comes with mogami cables). There are several good mics to choose from at that price point. I know it's a lot for a hobby but it's cheaper than going through a few $100 mics looking for a solution and being disapointed.

If you test mics at the store, make sure to try som 's' and 'p's to see which mics handle them well.

[robo6675]

Shure SM7. I have the original but I hear SM7a and b's are just as good

[TheLEM]

my first couple of years i found the Oktava mk-219 to be a great mic and you can get them used all day for under $150...its a large diaphram condensor and sounds great for the price....but tell Santa you want a Rode NT1A for Christmas or whatever you celebrate..

[Nick Morzov]

get an m149