Best bang for the buck microphone for recording music

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True, true. Listening to speakers on YouTube is kinda like trying to determine the quality of a TV by watching it on another TV. :eek:

If you do want to make decent recordings for YouTube, pick a decent mic and place it well. Even if YouTube audio isn't all that great, you might as well start out with a good recording.

Want a cheap mic? This video is informative. https://youtu.be/jgU4xOXMNR8
 
A mic with a cardioid of hyper-cardioid pattern will help reduce room tone and sound more like what you hear in the room than an omni.
But cardioid and other directional mics have other issues, like proximity effects and frequency limitations.
Omni mics have other frequency deviations depending on distance.
The list goes on and on....

There are hundreds of mic comparison tests on YouTube. Listen to those on headphones and hear how well the good old SM57 does. :) You can learn a lot form those demo videos. I find my inexpensive AT2020 to have a very natural sound.
How can you compare video's with more than one variable?

I tried mics built into the camera and mics built into the smart phone. No good. Nothing to do with cost, a lot more to do with pattern and distance from the source. Get close, use a decent mic.
The placement of the mic has orders of magnitude greater influence on sound quality than price. Cm make a difference!

True, true. Listening to speakers on YouTube is kinda like trying to determine the quality of a TV by watching it on another TV. :eek:
:cheers:





Want a good cheap mic?
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-electronic-components/WM-61A/P9925-ND/252843
They have them in directional versions to.
This particular mic has been in use, secretly I have to say, as a ceiling mounted PZM, in a very expensive recording studio, regular beating the $100000 ELAM (and others) I mentioned earlier.
 
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If you listen to the YouTube test I posted above, it will give you a good idea of why a cheap mic might not be a good idea. You could end up with hiss, overloading and other problems. A decent mic and a good sound card will go a long way.

Yes, all mics have their problems. But using a mic that is directional and flat will help you get a better recording. That's why I use the AT2020. Not as flat as the Sure SM81, that has a similar pattern, but not bad for $99. You can do flat and directional. That's my choice for neutral sounding recordings. I've used the SM81 and love it, but it's overkill for YouTube. One would hope that if you are recording speakers for demo, you are going for a natural, uncolored representation of their sound.

When I first did my YouTube speaker demos, they sounded too good. It sounded like I had dubbed in the direct recording and people thought it was fake. To make it believable, I had to speak before and after the demo, back the mics up a little for some room tone and show the mics in the shot. That helped a lot.

BTW, you know the WM-61A capsule is long gone, right? You can still find them used, but often at a price. I have a few stashed away.
 
Damn what is wrong with people now days? I am not asking if one can accurately judge the sound of a set up from a youtube vid as opposed to hearing it in person.....I am just asking your OPINION of what you think is the best bang for the buck mic that you would recommend, thats it , its that simple.
 
You mean you don't think you got enough opinions on here? LOL. :) I guess you mean the opinions offered aren't what you are looking for. I think a couple of posters suggested other forums where people exchange opinions, informed or otherwise, about mics.

Most opinions offered dont answer my question as I got more opinions about sound recordings being displayed on youtube being crap then more informative post like which mic to buy...Its like certain people are trying to discourage me from posting recorded music on youtube and or even asking a simple question..So now I have to go to another forum for opinions when I am asking for opinions on this forum? Holy ****. :confused:

It seems like unless there is a ARGUMENT starting no one wants to give there 2 cents but as soon as some DRAMA comes every dick, tom and harry want to put in there 2 cents, hence why my post is now 3 pages long....What did you contribute to my post except for drama? NOTHING. LMAO
 
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You asked about "displaying" sound. This implies that some judgement about its quality is being sought, or some proclamation about its implied quality is being made. We have pointed out that this is not really possible, for various reasons.

One of the features of this website is that we don't simply tell people what they want to hear; we also tell them what we think they ought to hear. This can be frustrating to new people but is very helpful to those wise enough to learn from it.

Anyway, Pano has given you some advice.
 
Most opinions offered dont answer my question as I got more opinions about sound recordings being displayed on youtube being crap then more informative post like which mic to buy...Its like certain people are trying to discourage me from posting recorded music on youtube and or even asking a simple question..So now I have to go to another forum for opinions when I am asking for opinions on this forum? Holy ****. :confused:

It seems like unless there is a ARGUMENT starting no one wants to give there 2 cents but as soon as some DRAMA comes every dick, tom and harry want to put in there 2 cents, hence why my post is now 3 pages long....What did you contribute to my post except for drama? NOTHING. LMAO

In what universe are you living?

I gave you a very short answer to your question, see post 2.
Witch btw was repeated by someone else, see post 4.
Then you ask for an explanation, we present you an explanation and because you don't agree with this, or think it was to technical, we are the drama queens? Right.....
 
Buy a usedSM57 or SM58. They're both "industry standard" for a reason, but most importantly, you can always sell it for within $5 of what you bought it for (if you bought it used). If you don't like it for any reason, you won't really be out anything.
For handheld voice, SM57/58 are perfect. Bass is all cut off to eliminate the rumble of hand holding. Trebles aren't electrified because voice doesn't have any. Super-cardioid pattern means if you hold it 1" from the mouth the band is not picked up. The 57 is also a great drum mike, picking up only the device in front of it, so that up to 7 channels can be recorded of the drums, each instrument on its own channel.
Other instruments have bass & treble and are NOT suitable for SM57/58.
I tried a super-cardioid pattern mike on my organ in my living room, it was a big failure from 3' away. I had to turn mixer gain up until it hissed. 1" away would only pick up one speaker, and the organ has three. The one KSM27 cardioid full range mike I had at the time was perfect. Recording is on inbojat.tumblr.org the Yellow Bird track. The hissy channel is the $2 super-cardioid voice mike. I could have used three super-cardioid mikes ones for each speaker, but my digital recording device is the line level input of a PC, with only two channels. One left, one right.
To summarize for the impatient, recomendations have been made of Shure KSM27, SM81, Audiotechnica 2020, 4050. Blue-Yeti something? Zoom recording system built in mike.
 
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I've recorded guitars and basses with SM57s and found them reasonably flat c. 50Hz to 5kHz. Usually need to EQ up the lows for bass, but otherwise acceptable. The KSM27 and SM81 are much better mics, but also significantly more expensive and less liquid on the market - harder to find used, harder to sell for a good price if you decide you don't want it.

"Bang for the buck" is relative, of course. Any XLR mic will need some sort of interface, adding to the price if you don't have one already.
 
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