AT4040 or 4050 for clean vocals?

[neptunian]

Do you guys have a preference, or just thoughts on these?

I have an SM7B and want to buy a condenser to complement it, for clean metal vocals and sometimes for acoustic guitar. $200-$500 used, ideally. It's for home recording and the room is treated.

The SM7B is great on harsh vocals, but a bit too honky, not open, and stuffy on my cleans, so was looking for something more clear, natural, open sounding.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I use the 4040 on female vocals and it is like gold. Sounds good for metal as well if you want the vox in the front.

 

[Derykus]

Never used them but I hear they are quite sterile. Rode NTK and K2 might be worth looking into.

 

[MetalSound]

4050 user here. great for vocals and acoustic guitars.

 

[Skaldir]

The AT 4050 and 4040 are imo a bit more mid heavy and hard sounding than other condensors. If you want something smoother than the SM7b its maybe not the right choice.
maybe go for the Rode NTK like the other guy said.

 

[Trevoire520]

I'd definitely go for a 4050 over a 4040, but the 4040 is still a great mic!

 

[JonWormwood]

Take some mids out

 

[heshian46]

Never tried the 4050, but I own a 4040 and love it for just about anything I use it on. Sounds great for screaming as well.

 

[neptunian]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I think I'll go multi-pattern for more mileage. Heard that figure-8 also works for vocals and gives a different EQ curve from cardioid. Will look further into the AT4050, Rode K2, and maybe the new SE2200A II.

 

[Nimvi]

Just to make your search a little harder :
have you considered the 4047 as well? To me it sounds like it's inbetween 4040 and 4050 but with something interesting about the high-mids that the other 2 don't have. It comes in a multi-pattern version too (4047 MP). Price is a bit higher than a 4050, but you may still get it for that budget second-hand.

I would describe the 4050 as the most natural/big sounding of the 3, 4040 as more upfront but a bit "smaller", and 4047 a balance between the two with slightly coloured high-mids.

I think the differences between those microphones are quite clear on this site. Please ignore that it belongs to a webshop, I'm not trying to advertise them.

 

[neptunian]

Thanks, yes I considered the 4047, but had read that the transformer output = rounder top instead of crisper, and the emphasis on upper mids sounded to me like it would be too close to the SM7B. And I heard the 4050 is better on acoustic. But the AT4047 does sound good from the clipalator link. If I ever find a place to rent mics, I'll be sure to try one. Whichever I end up getting, I'll post some A/B files here between that and the SM7B.

I noticed online mic reviews tend to be from people doing soft music like folk, country, rap, and pop. And they're usually raving about the smooth, dark, thick mics. I figure it's because they are dealing with sparse mixes where bright vocals would cut too much. But in a metal mix, wouldn't brighter mics be preferred?