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Vocal mics

The main vocal mic I use is a Manley Reference C (the cardiod-only version of Manley Reference). It's a bright tube mic, perfect for modern pop. The tube gives the recording a kind of compression / saturation that's really pleasing. It's too bright for some vocalists - you have to match the mic to the voice. I have never tried recording instruments with it - have other mics for that and I imagine it would be too bright.
 
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kgdrum said:
I have saved myself a boatload of money the last couple of years deciding not to spend money on more microphones when I realized how horrible my voice has become after years of smoking and various forms of neglect towards my vocal cords. No microphone is going to fix that 😱
My voice is shot.
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You will be in high demand for the Joe Cocker Tribute tour (and maybe Rod Stewart, as well)
 
I've had my Audio-Technica AT4033a for decades, which I've used to record vocals and acoustic guitar.

Recently, I bought a Shure MV7+ USB condenser for my YouTube videos. It only gets its full podcasting feature set if you record through their app, but it has an XLR connection and I plan to experiment with it.

EDIT: If you use the software it is the best-sounding mic I have found for reducing noise. This is why it is used by everybody from a little pisher like me to Joe Rogan and Kara Swisher. But I have had very serious problems with singing on ir, as it has a "sound test" feature. It's very Goldilocks--that's too loud, that's too soft, that's just right, you're good to go. I've trusted it and ended up recording a lot of videos deep in the red. I've learned to not use it. It has an automatic setting that is fine for podcasting, but for singing it is a risk.
 
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I've also had my Audio Technica 4033 now for 33 years and it's been a great mic. I also did a barter a few years back with Eve Ana Manley when I still had my commercial print facility. I printed her catalogs and got some of her great equipment in return - Vox Box, Gold Ref Mic and some other goodies. The Gold Ref into the Vox Box is a dream for a lot of uses. They are mostly all I use with the exception of sm57s and sm58s at times

M.GoldRef.webp AT4033b.webp AT4033.webp
 
Bought my AKG C414 XLS in 2012 and I know it and love it. The XLII is actually the favorite for voice because of the 2KHz hump, and the XLS is flatter for instruments, but I went for the XLS for my acoustic guitar AND I prefer it for vocals as well because it doesn’t take much to boost that presence. I use it with a Warm Audio WA12 MKII preamp and it’s just great.
 
The 414 has been one of my favorites for decades (probably first exposed to it in the mid-80s)
In the beginning, the 414 threw five patterns (iirc) -- how many does the latest incarnation provide?
 
Double Helix said:
The 414 has been one of my favorites for decades (probably first exposed to it in the mid-80s)
In the beginning, the 414 threw five patterns (iirc) -- how many does the latest incarnation provide?
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My version does 9 now, it hits the spots in-between each pattern.
 
I can probably easily come off as a shill for Austrian Audio, but I promise I'm not, I'm just a big fan of their work... :) Their OC818, which is kind of an evolved c414 (Austrian Audio are all ex-AKG, they bought the AKG facility in Vienna and make things there like they used to), is a marvelous mic in that CK12 lineage that has theoretically infinite polar patterns. You can create your own pattern in their app and send it to the mic via bluetooth if you want to – or tweak the polar pattern in post by recording both sides of the capsule simultaneously(!).

I've never done either of those things, the stock patterns on the mic work just fine for me, but I know there are some engineers who record live concerts who get a lot of use out of those capabilities.
 
High praise, indeed -- here is the company Web site:

Austrian Audio - Austrian Audio

High end microphones, headphones and professional audio tools for the modern sound engineer, producer, musician, recordist and content creator. Made in Austria. Again.
austrian.audio austrian.audio

edit to add, check out AA's The Composer, the creme de la creme of ultra-high end headphones

and the Wikipedia page:
en.wikipedia.org

Austrian Audio - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
I'm clearly a bit of a mic nerd... 😬 and I've been fascinated by the history of the great European studio mics in general. For decades it was a friendly contest between Neumann (Germany) and AKG (Austria), and those two companies pushed each other to improve constantly with their contrasting designs and technologies.

Neumann is now owned by Sennheiser but Sennheiser has done a great job allowing Neumann to retain autonomy and a very high quality standard. AKG, meanwhile, is now owned by Samsung, who care more about quarterly profits than long-term quality, so they've cut a lot of corners in recent years, sadly, and moved all production out of Vienna. Austrian Audio is the result of some of the veteran AKG engineers being understandably disturbed by that, leaving AKG, and starting their own outfit in the old AKG facility... so they're carrying the honorable lineage of that technology more than the actual original company is and doing a great job of it.

In my studio I usually have one Neumann mic and one Austrian Audio mic set up at all times, much respect to both!
 
proggermusic said:
I'm clearly a bit of a mic nerd... 😬 and I've been fascinated by the history of the great European studio mics in general. For decades it was a friendly contest between Neumann (Germany) and AKG (Austria), and those two companies pushed each other to improve constantly with their contrasting designs and technologies.

Neumann is now owned by Sennheiser but Sennheiser has done a great job allowing Neumann to retain autonomy and a very high quality standard. AKG, meanwhile, is now owned by Samsung, who care more about quarterly profits than long-term quality, so they've cut a lot of corners in recent years, sadly, and moved all production out of Vienna. Austrian Audio is the result of some of the veteran AKG engineers being understandably disturbed by that, leaving AKG, and starting their own outfit in the old AKG facility... so they're carrying the honorable lineage of that technology more than the actual original company is and doing a great job of it.

In my studio I usually have one Neumann mic and one Austrian Audio mic set up at all times, much respect to both!
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I was reading recent reviews on the C414's failing, usually with the pattern switch, etc. I've really not seen that before, but now knowing what you said that makes sense. I'm glad I got mine 13 years ago... to me I could build a fence with it and it's keep working. That's a shame that the AKG slide has begun. And equally glad Neumann is still being allowed to go on, business as usual. I definitely got a stellar KM 184 in the mic-buying lottery. ;)
 
Oh great, Samsung bought HARMAN in 2016 for $8 billion! What rock was I living under? As per wikipedia, Harman owned AKG, AMX, Arcam, Bang & Olufsen, Becker, BSS Audio, Crown, dbx, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, and Soundcraft. Now it's all being diluted by Samsung. Just great. Glad I have RME, Neumann, StudioLogic and MusioTech (custom CC fader maker) in my home studio.
 
I had a C214 and didn’t care for it--kinda wooly sounding, so I sold it.

I’ve heard good things about Austrian Audio OC 818 Mics. I guess they really shine as a pair recording in stereo.

And continuously variable polar patterns is way cool🤓

OC818 - Austrian Audio

The OC818 condenser microphone by Austrian Audio provides multi-pattern capability, dual outputs, and uncolored sound, making it the perfect choice for professional recording engineers.
austrian.audio austrian.audio
 
Louie said:
I’ve heard good things about Austrian Audio OC 818 Mics. I guess they really shine as a pair recording in stereo.

And continuously variable polar patterns is way cool🤓

OC818 - Austrian Audio

The OC818 condenser microphone by Austrian Audio provides multi-pattern capability, dual outputs, and uncolored sound, making it the perfect choice for professional recording engineers.
austrian.audio austrian.audio
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That thing looks amazing. Why have I not heard of it before? I must live under a rock, lol.
 
proggermusic said:
FYI, Austrian Audio do crazy sales on stereo sets periodically... I got my pair of 818s for $1400, which is $200 more than a single. I still have one unused, brand new, in the box, since I generally never need to stereo-mic... I should really sell it!
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I’d be happy to take it off your hands for $300,lol
 
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