Listener's Choice: The Best Mics for Your Studio

You are any history Welcome, Hi to the Pro Audio Suite. Thanks you guys, a professional and motivator. Thanks to try Booth, the best vocal booth for home or on the road voice recording and Austrian Audio Making Passion Herd. Introducing Robert Marshall from Source Elements and Someone Audio Post Chicago, Aaron Robert Robertson from Voodoo Radio Imaging Side to the video Stars, George the Tech Whittam from La and Me, Andrew Peters Voice Sober Talent and Home Studio Guy Out and welcome to another pro audio Suite Thanks to try Booth, don't forget that code t ri PAP two hundred to get two hundred dollars off your booth and Austrian Audio Making Passion Herd. We've had a bit of a passionate response to our new Facebook group, which is the Pro Audio Suite podcast group, and Robbo threw up a survey about microphones which one people would like to use and do use and don't use. Yeah, I just I kind of figured a robust discussion about microphones is always well received, so I figured i'd start one. And it's only a small sample because we've only just started the group, but some of the results sort of had me thinking a bit. So basically what I did was I did a poll, okay, and I didn't go with my favorites, so I just went with the microphones that as a freelance audio engineer, when I'm walking into other studios, I come across a lot and I stuck them up there with an option for people to put their own up there as well. So the ones I put up with the SM seven B, the NT one A, the TLM one O three at twenty twenty four one six of course, and that was about it, and then left it open for people to sort of to put their own up. And the question was which one's your best mate? So what's what's the microphone that you choose in your studio? Now, I'm got to be honest, I kind of did figure that the four one six would feature fairly heavily. It has, I mean, the seven B sort of comes in fairly close, and the t l M one I three are exactly the same in terms of response. But then some of the ones in the comments were sort of interesting as well. Well. The one I thought was interesting was someone jumped on to Bill. Now I've got to try and get his name right, Bill and sir is that right? Yeah? I think it's Bill and swa anyway, sorry Bill if I've got your name wrong. He is using the Austrian Audio OC eighteen into an SSL two. Well, someone's been listening to our podcast exactly, and is he using the four K button? Yes he does, yeah, he goes, Yes, indeed, thanks for teaching me that. So there you go. And Phil Wright's on the lut which doesn't feature fairly. Yeah, We've we mentioned it on the show, but I don't see it a lot. Yeah, what else was the other one? Seventy five R? What's that? A shargun? It's an excellent, excellent bargain shotgun. Mic. It's the one that you recommend, George, isn't it. It's so good like it's only Achilles heel is that it's not the quietest micy self noise is you know, not as good as a forty one six, But it's a damn good substitute. You know, it sounds similar. I have one, so one of these days we'll pull it out. Well comparison, I'd love to hear it. It sounds similar, it's not as quite as large it's sort of like a short shotgun. Is the polar pattern as tight as I would say? No, I would definitely say it's not as as tight at all. It's a more nowhere near sophisticated mic. It doesn't have that very complex line tube interference design, so anyway, it's a very simple mic. But it just sounds good. And they're always under two hundred US one seventy five maybe, so that one's that's that one's a great value and we've been recommending it lots of folks who want to stunt mic. Well, this is an interesting one from Jeff Berlin. Obviously the Abilia Tree four one six, but he also has a Bosch or Sound Deluxe You one nine five. I don't know that microphone. What is it? I have a Sound Deluxe You ninety nine, and it is it's basically a clone of a U sixty seven using an actual e F eighty six tube, and the sound in lux mics became Bach after that's right, Yeah, and they are. They're a pretty high end mine, which then got bought by Universal Idea. Yeah that's oh really, Yeah, Wow, that's that's too bad? Is that too bad? I don't know. I don't know, I mean it's kind of weird. Well, they bought Sphere microphones. They bought they had to buy all the one microphone company. I threw all the mics that were in the comments, I think into the survey. So it's easier to see, ye, going to make easier for people to continue voting. But did you see anything that surprised you here? Not me, nothing really, I mean it's there's certainly plenty of ones that you don't see regularly in professor studios. Not that that means jack ship, because in a professional studio you're looking for a workhoff that will do you know, a whole bunch of things. I guess, especially in post production houses as opposed to media, there's just no there's just no representation of a PZM mic here. There's no pm oh man, Yeah, turn my wall into the microphone. The m K four, the Senheiser. What's an m K four. It's like a lower end shock. No, actually no, it's it's it's their entry levels, side address, l c D, large good diaphragm, large differ consistor. It's it's like, I mean, I think in character it's somewhere very similar to a tel one O two or one O three. It's in that range. Is it kind of like the a kg perception? Yeah, but I mean it's not that cheap. It's still a four hundred dollars MIC. Yeah, so I think it's more like a two. Oh it's used. Maybe it's used two hundred dollars maybe, I mean Guitar Center's gout them. But maybe those are used. But the Sweetwater's trying to sell it for four hundred bucks. How much is an kg perception LDC. No, they're quite a bit cheaper, like two hundred rane. So yeah, the Sena's are MK four is not bad at all. There's quite a few people have those well. Speaking of Senheiser, just as an aside, Chris McCallum, who we've had on the show. He's probably one of Australia's best known location recordists, put up a post about his Senheiser. He says, I have an interesting occurrence with a ten year old Sennheiser MKH eighty sixty shotgun MIC. One day it stopped working without warning and only issued a static frequency. I've taken it to Sendhaive as a service and they've discovered that they are unable to open the mic as the special screws holding the electronics inside the barrel are completely seized. They say they can see no sign of corrosion, but are unable to open the mics, sort of shoring it open. What has surprised me is they have offered to take possession of this mic and offer me a brand new one for an exchange of seven hundred dollars. These MIC's now retail for well over twenty three hundred, so I'm very happy with the outcome. Yeah, so this is now the second new exchange I've had since the original purchases. There was a recall in the very early serial numbers, so it was replaced then as well. I can't really fault their response and commitment to their brand. So hey, that's did you did you see my response on that? What's yours? What did you say on? But they're charging him I was the original repur They're basically saying they'll do the repair for seven hundred dollars, So they're basically giving him a brand new mic for seven hundred dollars. Yeah, as the repair as the repair, I guess yeah, I'd say yes. I became with a one year warranty right at least or whatever the new warranty is. I guess yeah, it's a bit of a bummer though, But yeah, I had a similar thing. Actually had a similar thing happened with my forty one six. It was an old one and it was playing up percented into Sandheiser and they kind of said, look, we can fix it, but it's putty going to cost you know, almost the same price as a probably about a half half the cost of a new one. And then they yeah, but then they sort of said, look, you can fix it, but we can't guarantee it because it is old and there's components. Could let go and then did me a cracking deal on a new forty one six. So nice, as long as the mic wasn't cracking, that's a good deal. Yeah, exactly, Well the first one was the second one, wasn't it. He making sixty is a step up from the forty one six in terms of yeah, it's like yeah, yeah, better's signal response. Maybe yeah, they're eighty. The eight thousand series is sort of there. That's their new flagship line, you know, small diaphragm mikes. And did Chris mention it in the episode when we had him on I can't. I feel like he did. I feel like it. I think he too much. Yeah, but see Chris doesn't have a microphone locker. He has a microphone walking wardrobe. Yes, exactly, that's right. Yeah, he's the Melda Marcos of microphones. Yeah. I think has makes a side address version in that eight thousand series. It's multi pattern and it's like four thousand dollars. But it's supposed to be really excellent. You know. Is it the eight hundred, Yeah it is. It's a really odd little mic. It's very small, and let's see if I can share. No, it's a multi pattern, it's not. It's not the little it's really small. I mean I saw it at ANAB I was like, oh my god, that thing's tiny. I'm looking at the MKGE eight hundred twin. This is a new model of microphone they just launched. This is a different animal completely from what you're describing. This one's thirty two hundred and it is their variable pattern mic where you just simply it's that MK eight mkh eight hundred twin. Yeah, this is it right here. I have it on screen. I think maybe there it goes there it is? Who look at that's sexy baby, quite spendy. This picture doesn't show well you see how small it is because the you know, you can see the XL or barrel, the tail. It's small. It almost looks like a micro, the original one. It is like it is like the old KM eighty six, the Noyman K eighty six, which is a side address a multi patterned small diaphragm mic. Wow, people go kind of got it's quite a spending mic thirty two, which is to what's its two symmetrical push pooh, it's a dual diaphragm, is it? Is it dual? Is it dual output? Too? Like? Could we use it with our Yeah? So the way it works is you simply pot up and down the other capsule and that's how you gone. So it's it's it's like, but do you have a separate output of the other capsules so we can run it into our new software right that you and I have purchased. Right, Yeah, it is. It is quite a quite a quite a spending mic. You know, it's so funny. I have video of me interviewing the Seneiser rep at NAB on YouTube and someone's like, hey, isn't that Jillian Krause standing right behind him. It was behind you. It was like I missed an opportunity to chat with him. Oh I saw it when I saw your video. I saw him in the background. He was having a look at the mics as well. Is that Julian Krass, I'm like a gun it is. There are so many YouTubers at any b of course, you know what. I saw a couple who are always like intransit, you know. But how I love to have said hello to Julian and thanked him for his unbelievable commitment to very very consistent and dry videos about their faces. He's like the the equivalent of the Sahara Desert for YouTubers. It is so freaking dry. Yeah, but it's useful and big. You know where the polar opposite really are exactly In fact, on that note, if you do want to vote for one of these microphones, will tell us what you have a go to your Facebook and or the Facebook as so people call it and look for the pro audio s Week podcast group and you will find the thread down there. So we're not the page the group. Yeah, you can even pin that. I think maybe it be a week to pin it. Well, I will I'll pin it to the top of our can do it right now pin page. Oh you can do that. There you go, pin, there you go. Yes done oout Pinned Funz, the Pro Audio Suite and Austrian audio recorded using Source Connect, edited by Andrew Peters and mixed by Voodoo Radio. Imaging from George Don't forget to subscribe to the show and joining the conversation on our Facebook group to leave a comment, suggest a topic, or just say it. Drop us a note at our website.