Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Punky921
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Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Punky921 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:06 am

Hey guys,

So I'm doing a lot of live recordings these days. I've found that my live recordings lack the kind of crispness I would get from a condenser mic in the studio, but the condensers I use in the studio tend to feed back in live situations (I'm primarily doing them in a restaurant that supports music). Right now I tend to use SM58s and Beta 58s, both by Shure. I was eyeing the Beta 87 and I was wondering if I could get quality live recordings off of that. Also, is it good for acoustic guitar as well?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

EDIT: My budget is around $300.
Last edited by Punky921 on Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

lapieuvre
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by lapieuvre » Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:47 am

kms 104/105 from Neumann.
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Punky921
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Punky921 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:55 pm

Whew. Way outside of my price range. I was hoping to avoid spending more than $300.

chapelier fou
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by chapelier fou » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:40 pm

i would wait. And buy a decent stereo pair (km 104, etc).
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Punky921
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Punky921 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:47 pm

Waiting is normally good advice, but the pay for this regular gig is very little. If I was going to spend $1400 on a pair of mics, I'd probably get some decent condensers for my studio.

chapelier fou
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by chapelier fou » Thu Jul 18, 2013 6:07 pm

So i would have a look to Octava and Rode.
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Punky921
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Punky921 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 6:52 pm

How's the Rode NT1A? I've heard great things and a stereo pair isn't expensive.

Z3NO
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Z3NO » Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:03 pm

If you can use in-ear monitors you'd get rid of the feedback issue and use your condenser... You might even find a significant improvement from your SM58.

Punky921
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Punky921 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:32 pm

Mostly I'm recording other artists, not myself and the space is small, so I can't really get them to use those. Also, most of them don't have them.

Z3NO
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Z3NO » Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:01 pm

In a live situation things can of course vary depending on the quality of the monitors and mics (slightly), but I struggle to see how shelling out $1400 on any mic will give you proportionate improvements, when clearly small space and use of wedges are the main culprits here. You could probably make some improvements by using small absorbers around the mics and screens between the instruments, probably at the cost of looking like a fool, but I doubt you'll find a mic that'll get around the problem much better than a 58 can... there's a reason why everyone's using those on stage... in the studio, it's a whole other story.

Dragonbreath
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by Dragonbreath » Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:02 pm

My friend had this one. Never really tried to put it trough the hoops though


http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... microphone

H20nly
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by H20nly » Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:10 pm


102455
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by 102455 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:42 pm

Er....if you're only recording, where's the feedback coming from?

fishmonkey
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by fishmonkey » Fri Jul 19, 2013 1:45 am

102455 wrote:Er....if you're only recording, where's the feedback coming from?
haha, exactly. use your dynamics for the PA/foldback, and your condensers for recording...

chapelier fou
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Re: Recommend me a GREAT live mic

Post by chapelier fou » Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:20 am

Maybe we should ask ?
What kind of recording do you wanna do ? A global catch of what comes from the stage ? if so i'd recommend a stereo pair, and absolutely not a nt1.
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