help needed purchasing a vocal micophone..

joelplagues

Member
Jan 11, 2009
633
0
16
Brisbane, Australia
www.myspace.com
atm I am currently looking to purchase a microphone for vocals.

one option is to either buy an sm58 or a rode nt1-a.
as you can tell I'm not to sure wether it could be a waste of time and money buying the nt1-a

I am wondering on what your thoughts are?
I dont need anything overly expensive but I am looking for a top quality mic that sounds good with metal growling/screaming.

cheers

Joel
 
Most people here will recommend you an SM7 for a good reason, for screams/growls it won't pick up as much room information and therefore won't be as obvious after you've smashed it with compression/limiting not to mention the cost to quality ratio. Condensers are excellent as well for heavy/loud vocals in a fairly dead room or vocal booth but if you don't have access to a room like that it will always be your limitation. Using a dynamic microphone such as the SM7 also makes tracking vocals while using monitors for playback much more manageable.

If your looking for a cheaper option than an SM7 an SM57 or SM58 will get you in the ballpark and the electronics wizards around here like JBroll can even point you in the direction of some mods to get you even closer. But IMO if your looking for an ultimate scream/growl mic you can't go wrong with the SM7.
 
I used to own an NT1-A and I didn't like it all all. Very very bright. But I like dark mics in general... Currently I'm on an SM7 high. I LOVE this thing. But I'd prefer an SM57 or 58 over a cheap condenser any day. Also, the studio I'm at now has a couple of KSM27s and they're a lot better than I was expecting. Haven't heard them on growls yet...
 
KSM27s are ok. They definately have their place and suprised me and Moonlapse when we used them afew times. If you go looking at dynamis mics, I would also suggest testing a Senneiser e935. A very detailed mic and slightly brighter than the 57/58's.
 
If your looking for a cheaper option than an SM7 an SM57 or SM58 will get you in the ballpark and the electronics wizards around here like JBroll can even point you in the direction of some mods to get you even closer. But IMO if your looking for an ultimate scream/growl mic you can't go wrong with the SM7.

Wow, I would be keen to know of some good 57/58 mods I could do to get closer to that of a SM7B if anyone wants to share!!