Microphone recommendation

[pppppppppp]

Hi,

In my homestudio id like to sample few percussion instruments.
Shakers as well as a Cajon.

Do you have any recommendations for suitable microphones? (willing to spend for solid quality, but no need to have top notch item, is for personal use).

Also want to record some vocals, too. Can this be done with the same (type of) microphone or better invest in a separate one? Any recommended ones?

Thanks for your advice!
Cheers

[vurt]

sm58 for the vox (shure sm58)

will probably also do a decent job of the other bits, so id try that, if it delivers job done, if not, then look for alternatives

[JCJR]

For hand perc, really any percussion, it is hard to beat a good cardioid small diaphragm condenser mic

Now omni small diaphragm mics can sound even better I love me a good omni flattest truest reproduction you can get but they are not directional and can pose problems in uses where you need directionality. But omnis are relatively insensitive to mic placement compared to directional mics. If you want more X in the Omni mic's signal, just move the Omni mic closer to X!

A large diaphragm mic there are many good ones but will color the sound, not squeaky clean flat true capture. Often folks want to color the sound nothing wrong with that. Just saying ..

There are other mics great for specialty uses but a good flat small diaphragm mic will record anything very true. You might pick other mics when the truth hurts. Some makeup before you take the photo MIGHT be better than having to do reconstructive surgery in photoshop after you take the "no makeup" picture.

Small diaphragm is also good for ac guitar or bass and will work on guitar cab and sounds great on vocals if you have a good singer. A good small diaphragm condenser can often go flat down as low as 20 Hz if you turn off the hp switch. You don't need a big mic to pick up big bass.

if you don't have a good singer then the choice of mic can't turn the sows ear into a silk purse. Unfortunately, bad singers just don't sound good.

OTOH good singers, an old friend is a heck of an r&b gospel soul singer long ago I recorded some of his demos with an old $90 EV pl9 omni dynamic (very flat response) instrument mic and it turned out fabulous.

Those EV dynamic omni announcer/reporter mics are very flat mellow good sounding on just about anything but a small diaphragm condenser would have truer high freq zing on such as perc or ac guitar.

It's nice to have a pair of EV omni dymics around, not expensive real rugged, but being omni hard to use on stage because of feedback and sometimes you need directionality in studio and sometimes you don't.

[donkey tugger]

As outlined above - small diaphragm condenser will probably best fit the bill, bearing in mind you're doing percussion and need to capture the high end well.

There's a lot of competition as there always is with mics....

https://www.gear4music.com/search/produ ... NyIjoiMiJ9

I finally settled on the Sontronics STC-1 after reading a lot of reviews and it's a very nice mic for the money £110 (plus the crazy wooden box... ) I use it mainly for acoustic guitars (have done some tambourines, mandolin and and a bit of amp mic'ing too with it) as I've got other large diaphragm mics for vocals, but the few bits of singing I've done with it have been fine as well (the recordings, not the singing...)

If you're on a limited budget the little Behringer c4 ones are surprisingly good, you can tell the difference with the Sontronics, but they will do a decent job.

[toonertik]

Oh look.. I got 2 cents here...
The room is all important and especially for perc.
I have lots of perc... 4 congas, bongos, 'nother wierdy half conga thing plus wood drums (log style) and other stuff.
In my present location, which is sparsely treated (Primeacoustic panels and hand made experimental bassy trap), I get best results from dynamic mics, an old AKG D12 and AKG 190 (I use these in preference to my Groove tubes 1" cardiod, 3/4" Rodes HyperCardiod or even older valve 1/2" condenser). The dynamics I use are cardiod... I also like omnis.. but, boy you gotta have a good room for them when recording perc (my experience). Today I would look at maybe an ev_re20 or Sennheiser MD421-II (used to use this when touring on drum kits.. well Mk1) but they are a bit pricey, and so would try to find out more about this
AKG Perception Live P4 at about 50 Euro.
Hoping you find what you're looking for.

[JCJR]

That is true, a non- or lightly-treated room wouldn't be as friendly to condensers. Dynamics almost seem to have a built-in noise gate wheras in a noisy room a condenser can hear every sound in the house and even trucks outside several streets away.

But on thangs like egg shaker, tamborine, afuche, other sparkling sources, I haven't used a dynamic that didn't sound dull or "splattery" on the highs, so small diaphragm condenser is the only that didn't "splatter" too much for my taste.

[toonertik]

Yup, you right about the sparkly sources, unfortunately some where along the line (many many years ago) i lost a bag with all my vibraslaps, Chinese cymbals, a Malaysian gong and other metallic perc so haven't had them as sources, however, YES I did use the 1/2" cardiod and another 1/2" omni (now sold) both condensers for them.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Neumann KM84 will do percussion and vocals equally well. For percussion you'll have to pull the mic way back, or severely decrease the preamp gain. I was shocked recording egg shaker recently, those transients!