Looking to buy a mic for vocals.

[Veilofmaya13]

My band is doing a home studio EP and we have all the instrumentals down so now all we have left is to record vocals. We were going to buy a semi-legit mic before we start. I don't know how to categorize our band without pissing someone off, because if I call us metal, elitists would jump on that, and it would be inaccurate to call us metalcore/deathcore. We follow close to the metalcore/deathcore area, but aren't just chug chug chug. ANYWAYS... the point is that we have harsh vocals. None of our tracks have clean singing. What would be a good microphone under a lower budget for our style of music? The budget is about 200, but I might be able to negotiate with the rest of the band if I have a specific mic that is good, yet a bit out of the price range.

tl;dr What's a good mic for harsh "metalcore" vocals under a semi-low budget?

 

[theo]

Shure sm57 seems like the place to start

 

[niffnoff]

Sm57
PG58

Those would be my suggestion...

 

[JamesM]

The Shure SM7b is handed down from the Gods and a used one can be had for ~$250.

 

[Metalhead77479]

SM7b. This whole album. But it'll work great for more aggressive vocals too. I remember hearing about Devin Townsend using this too.

 

[Chris Finster]

+1 sm7b

 

[Bigsby]

i gotta go with the sm7b as well

 

[Chris Finster]

Yeah dude sm7b for sure...

"because...how else are you gonna sound like James Hetfield?"

GEMEH FEW GIMMEH FIIEE

 

[theo]

GIMME DABAJABAZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

 

[SSK0909]

The thing about Shure Sm7B though, is that it requires a pretty decent preamp to sound good.

A 57 or 58 is a lot less picky with which preamp it runs through.
But most dynamic mic's will work well with "non-clean" vocals.

The talent of the singer matters a lot more than the quality of the mic. Heck, Freddy Mercury used the predecessor for the SM58 for most of his live and studio work

 

[KingAenarion]

An SM58 is what Bono STILL uses in the Stuio as far as I'm aware.

Great for growls as it can handle a high spl well and has a nice presence boost which makes it surprisingly easy to mix.

But if you can afford it the SM7b kills!

 

[xeonblade]

SM7B or SM58 if u can't afford SM7B.

 

[fassaction]

The Shure SM7b is handed down from the Gods and a used one can be had for ~$250.

came here to drop some knowledge, but you beat me to it.

SM7b is the god of harsh vocal mics.

 

[Khesahn]

The sm7b is a great mic for sure! I've used it a lot, but it all comes down to the vocalist.
What i've experienced is that it comes down to the vocalists power. If he/she is a beast that could blow an old mans hair piece of, dynamic mics like the sm7b can capture the crispiness of the vocalist, but i've had a good amount of vocalists that actually is not much louder than normal speaking voice. For those I found that a condenser mic is much more suited, simply cause they have not been able to be loud enough for a dynamic mic to capture the crisps which really makes "harsh" vocals stand out.

What I'm trying to get a cross here, is that you really should try out both dynamic and condenser mics. Both to see what sounds best for your vocalist and what is less straining on his/her voice!

For 200 bucks worth of condensor, the SE electronics x1 or AKG perception 220 are both good choices IMHO.

Good luck!

 

[BillNephew]

It's hard to not have a usable result from an SM57 with a pop filter 6 inches away from the mic.

 

[KingAenarion]

The sm7b is a great mic for sure! I've used it a lot, but it all comes down to the vocalist.
What i've experienced is that it comes down to the vocalists power. If he/she is a beast that could blow an old mans hair piece of, dynamic mics like the sm7b can capture the crispiness of the vocalist, but i've had a good amount of vocalists that actually is not much louder than normal speaking voice. For those I found that a condenser mic is much more suited, simply cause they have not been able to be loud enough for a dynamic mic to capture the crisps which really makes "harsh" vocals stand out.

What I'm trying to get a cross here, is that you really should try out both dynamic and condenser mics. Both to see what sounds best for your vocalist and what is less straining on his/her voice!

For 200 bucks worth of condensor, the SE electronics x1 or AKG perception 220 are both good choices IMHO.

Good luck!

True that a capacitor mic should be something you have on hand.

Both of te mics you suggested are cheap mics. The X1 is slightly less poor, but both add a slight amount of unwanted noise.

In many cases you'll see positive reviews of these mics, but they tend to be from people who either know shit all about what they're talking about, or have what I like to call the "behringer syndrome". They WANT it to sound as good as a $3000 Neumann so they have a sever case of confirmation bias.


Just something to ponder.

The SE mics are great though. The X1 isn't quite as good as the next model up though (2200A) which is far clearer and has quite a bit less noise.

A good dynamic like the SM7b or SM58 is going to be better than an equivalently priced condenser in that price bracket (brand new SM7b excepted)