What's the most neutral sounding mic below 1000$?

[Roland68]

What kind of application?

Primarily vocals and live recordings.

 

[Ricardus]

soemone said the Shure ksm32 is very good

It is. It uses a different capsule than the KSM44, and it's not multi-pattern like the KSM44, but it's a good choice.

Because of the multi-pattern capabilities I still recommend the KSM44a (that's its new designation) like I did in an earlier post.

 

[just1n]

If I ever start recording I am trying Earthworks SR20 or DM20. I get that’s the SM57 is an industry standard, but looking at its frequency response, I don’t get it. Not interested in anything that automatically colors the sound. My not just add an EQ to a more neutrally captured sound?


Note: never once recorded anything, so I’m sure I don’t know what I’m talking about. I came to this completely untested conclusion when researching IR captures on my Neural DSP Quad Cortex. That’s going to be my usecase.

 

[LTig]

Primarily vocals and live recordings.

Shure SM58 is the standard, but also hated by others. Sennheiser e835/e845 for the latter.

 

[waynel]

Shure SM58 is the standard, but also hated by others. Sennheiser e835/e845 for the latter.

not a neutral mic, but very common and sound crew know how to eq it.

 

[Multicore]

I went with a pair of Line Audio CM4 as it is nearly flat both on and off axis. Not so simple to procure but unbeatable value.

 

[Cbdb2]

If I ever start recording I am trying Earthworks SR20 or DM20. I get that’s the SM57 is an industry standard, but looking at its frequency response, I don’t get it. Not interested in anything that automatically colors the sound. My not just add an EQ to a more neutrally captured sound?


Note: never once recorded anything, so I’m sure I don’t know what I’m talking about. I came to this completely untested conclusion when researching IR captures on my Neural DSP Quad Cortex. That’s going to be my usecase.

Almost every studio mic colors the sound. If they didnt studios would only be buying one model of mic, the uncolored one. EQing by mic usually sounds better than using electronics.

 

[Multicore]

Almost every studio mic colors the sound. If they didnt studios would only be buying one model of mic, the uncolored one. EQing by mic usually sounds better than using electronics.

It's not that simple. Mics generally have a different FR at different angles of incidence. Hence you generally can eq one mic to sound like another only if the off-axis sound arriving at the mic is insignificant. It's the same kind of reason why you can't easily correct a speaker's FR with eq if its DI is a mess. In both cases the room is important.

 

[Multicore]

Shure SM 57 or 58. You can run it over with your car (or bounce it off of the drummers head) and it will still work.

We all love them but op asked for "most neutral" which these are not exactly an example of.

For neutrality under 1 kilobuck DPA 2012 is probably unbeatable. But OP has form here of preferring frankly implausible opinions of randos on YouTube to our replies.

 

[LTig]

I went with a pair of Line Audio CM4 as it is nearly flat both on and off axis. Not so simple to procure but unbeatable value.

This is a small diaphragm condensor mic, not a vocal mic.

I went for the SE Electronics sE8 (matched pair for ORTF) at my local pro shop, and was so.content I bought a 2nd pair for drum overhead (each pair about € 400).

My backup/reserve are two Takstar CM63 for the incredible price of €64 at AliExpress. I used one for micing a jazz guitar amp.

 

[LTig]

We all love them but op asked for "most neutral" which these are not exactly an example of.

The answer was not for the OP but @Roland68 in posting #17.

 

[Multicore]

This is a small diaphragm condensor mic, not a vocal mic.

You should try a good SDC with voice. LDC is more conventional for that but we're at ASR where do don't have to abide by that.

You know, it's really funny how the YouTube era is spreading some really weird ideas about mics. And it's genuinely hilarious how much Julian Krause hates the SM7B. He's right but his one-man QUEST seems doomed.

The answer was not for the OP but @Roland68 in posting #17.

Oh, I see. Yes well those are ideal for that. Best track record in the business.

When choosing between them read https://service.shure.com/Service/s...-proximity-effect?language=en_US&region=en-US