Best Home Studio Microphones for a good price?

Question

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be upgrading my Home Studio Software/Hardware and would like some suggestions on Microphone(s). I'm going to be upgrading from an older Mac wtih GarageBand and upgrading to a new Mac Book w/ Apple Logic Express and buying a Motu Ultra-Lite Pre-amp. Now, my Mics at the moment are an SM57 and SM58 which are decent but you can tell the difference in quality of using those compared to a good condenser mic. If I can find one good all around Mic for Acoustic Guitar / Female Vocals - some Male Vocals at times than that would be great. I've been looking at Mics like Rode - NT1a, Heil PR-40, AKGC3000B, Shure KSM27, and the Audio Technica AT3035. I have about 400-600$ to spend on a mic/mics. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

A condenser mic will give you a more detailed sound than a SM57 or 58.  Condenser mics pick up everything and that can be good and bad.  You'll hear cars going by on your street if your studio is not isolated from outside noise.  It will be a noticeable difference.

It sounds like you are on the right track mic wise - any of those you mentioned should work fine.  You might want a "pop filter" for the vocal mic though.