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Microphone Advice


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Not that I'm stupid or anything but I've offered to run a jam night in our village. I've got quite a lot of interest and an offer from the local to host it. All well and good you might think, however, I have no microphones! I'm think of three to start with, two for vox and one to mic up any acoustic instruments if necessary. What would the BC massive recommend to cover both those requirements?

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You can buy a three pack of the Behringer '58 style microphones for about £60 or so.. I think they're called the XM85 or such similar. I have previous on these and they're actually pretty good on a voice but save yourself some greif if you do get some and tape the switch up as musicians will meddle! Personally, I like a Beta 57A on pretty much anything but you won't get much change from £120 for one of those.

As for miking quiet instruments up in a noisy pub type environment with a small PA has any number of pitfalls - might be worh grabbing a few DI boxes to plug people in where possible. DI boxes can be had from about a tenner - I have a passive Cobra one bought from Terralec and despite being cheap it works great.

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Best you can do is to mike it up..

There's no 'magic' microphone thats immune to feedback nor is there any sound system with an infinite amount gain before instability sets in but there are a few things you can do to maximize what you do have.

If an instrument has a sound hole(s) don't put the mic in the hole as it will probably howl long before it's anywhere near loud enough. If I have to mic an acoustic guitar, I'll do my best to angle it slightly and have it placed by the end of the fret board sort of halfway between the hole and the board although this can sometimes be in the way of the player. Another technique I've seen used is an 'over the players shoulder' at a slight angle although a stand over where they're trying to play can be off putting also.

Secondly, careful use of a graphic equaliser can help stabilize system and iron out dominant and resonant frequencies. You can raise the threshold of feedback quite significantly although if you go too far, it'll be worse than when you started. You have been warned!

Lastly make sure your players and singing and palying near the mic - inexperienced musicians have a terrible habbit of moving away from them.

Hope that helps. :D

Secondly

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My budget isn't limitless obviously, but I can comfortably afford one of the two systems I've seen in the classifieds for £750. I'm thinking of the 1200w one in Watford. It's way over powered for a jam night but the desk has lots of channels for DI so I can control all the levels without needing separate amps and I can use it for my own band should we ever actually gig!

Am I right in thinking that a DI unit is essentially an instrument to XLR adapter to allow you to plug straight into the desk? Passive or active DI?

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Even Samson Q4's are good for the money if you're on a tighter budget than that! think Gear 4 Music do a three-pack for around £60 with a nice box?

Avoid ultra-cheap mics from the likes of Numark and Opera. Genuinely not worth the money.

Studiospares' own range of mics are good. I think their SM58-alike mic is £18? I use their drum mic kit and I'm in no rush to replace them at all. Well built and sound fine.

Don't forget to budget for stands and cables. A decent enough 6m cable will be at least £15-18 and decent stands will be about the same. Avoid the dirt cheap ones and you'll be fine.

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I use this DI box. Cheap and cheerful. Avoids funny hums and means you can use longer cables to the desk. Less problematic volume issues out of powerful keyboards or weedy acoustic instruments. Can be powered with phantom power out of most desks.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/art_xdirect.htm

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If you can stretch to £35-£45 per mic, then grabbing some second hand AKG D5 would be my choice. They're my go-to live vocal mic and I prefer them to my Shure Beta 58A. On a tighter budget, Thomann's own brand "T-Bone" mics are generally pretty decent for cheapies and their Beta58-a-like is just over £20.

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I'm a fan of the Prodipe TT1 about £40 really solid and great sounding similar to a Sennhieser MD421 (a £250 mic) and a telefunken M80 (again a (£250+ mic) use them live and in the studio for different tasks and prefer them to the industry standard SM58. Paul white from sound on sound is also a fan and he knows a thing or two!

heres the review

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct10/articles/prodipe-tt1.htm

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I've got three of the TT1 incoming for xmas (i'd stuck the triple pack on my Amazon wish list so i'd remember to buy it after seeing it for under fifty quid and my mum only went and bought it for me, bless her!) and looking forward to giving them a run out. If they're half as good as internet wisdom claims then they'll be great all-rounders to top up the mic box.

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[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1449573575' post='2924695']
If you can stretch to £35-£45 per mic, then grabbing some second hand AKG D5 would be my choice. They're my go-to live vocal mic and I prefer them to my Shure Beta 58A. On a tighter budget, Thomann's own brand "T-Bone" mics are generally pretty decent for cheapies and their Beta58-a-like is just over £20.
[/quote]

Beat me to it, I got a D5 after reading about the amount of fake SM58's in circulation and it's a great mic for not much money.

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