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I've been thinking I should get a good quality mic for recording, since the rest of my stuff is all pretty decent and my mic is rubbish.

I can only really afford one, and will use it for guitar+bass (possibly looud so nothing too fragile), upright bass and vocals. I hear things about mics increasing certain frequencies and stuff, I'd just like something that captures the sound I hear in the room. Don't know much about this stuff. Priority is probably making double bass and bass guitar sound good though, if something has to be sacrificed I don't care nearly as much about vocal quality, my singing sucks anyway.

Budget is around £100, possibly more for something good since I don't see much point in getting something I'd replace as soon as I had any money.

well... the standard mic would probably be the shure sm 57... but the Audio-Technica ATM650 is pretty awesome too. I've tried both of them and I also have the Audio Technica MB2-K.
I went with the sm57.

Shure SM57 is great for instruments and acceptable for vocals.

If your trying to capture room sound a good condenser mic would be in order, i'd look at some of the MXL line, the V67 and V63 are pretty wicked, decent full range sound and great as room mics for usually less than 100$ used. but they will need phantom power so make sure your interface can support that.

I just got one of these...http://www.mercenary.com/smmiwitatr.html
it's a shure sm57 with an upgraded transformer that doesn't roll off the highs and upper mids under load.
trust me, it's bitchin'

Just get an army of 57s and a bass drum mic.

Yes, as it has been said a shure sm-57 is one way to go, if you want to use it for vocals you'll want to buy a pop filter for since it doesn't have one. Also I'd consider the Audix f15 it a small condenser mic, sounds great on acoustic guitars, and would probably sound great on a double bass, also since it's so small it would be easy to angle it towards/into the f-hole of the bass, for vocals, it could be okay.

From a sound technician's view (since I do that too) you need a number of mics to accomplish even a basic recording since each microphone is voiced differently and made for different things. As well as doing live recordings, you'd obviously need a number of mics.

The4455 wrote:From a sound technician's view (since I do that too) you need a number of mics to accomplish even a basic recording since each microphone is voiced differently and made for different things. As well as doing live recordings, you'd obviously need a number of mics.

Yeah, I get that. From this and generally looking around I think I'll get a 57 as an all purpose mic for now, then slowly accumulate different mics as I can afford them.

monkeydancer wrote:

The4455 wrote:From a sound technician's view (since I do that too) you need a number of mics to accomplish even a basic recording since each microphone is voiced differently and made for different things. As well as doing live recordings, you'd obviously need a number of mics.

Yeah, I get that. From this and generally looking around I think I'll get a 57 as an all purpose mic for now, then slowly accumulate different mics as I can afford them.

Are you just doing studio work or live also?

Just studio, I doubt I'll ever end up doing any live sound.

I'd say shell out for a used Sennhieser or Heil if you can find one. 57s are balls on bass, especially acoustic.

I've never heard of engineers using SM57s on any bass instruments..... well there are those guys that will record everything with a 57 just to prove how awesome they are..... but they are a-holes. haha. But seriously, if bass guitar and upright are your main priority I check out some other options too. Check out the frequency response chart, and you can see that it takes a dip around 400hz, and pretty much rolls off anything under 200hz. You'd be loosing a lot of your meat & potatoes. Potatotes....

Now if you check out something like the AKG D112, you see that you'll get a low-end boost, and no roll off until around 50hz. Maybe check a Sure Beta 52 if you want to get out cheap. I also hear that a Beyerdynamic M88 is fantastic on bass, but a bit pricier.

The SM57 is definitely a good workhorse to pick up (even though I don't really like it on my guitar rig (I plan on picking up an Audix i5 when I get back into recording)). I think you might be better off making the 57 your 2nd mic purchase based on your priorities. Either way you go, I would definitely get a mic built specifically for bass instruments down the road.

Where's eatyourguitar and all his studio gear knowledge when you need him?

If bass is mainly what your using it for, but want a meaty guitar tone, and actually surpisingly good male vocal mic on the cheaps i've had FANTASTIC results with an Audix f14, it blows on drums but sounds great for bass and detuned guitars and the vocal response made me throw away my sm58, i use the f14 exclusively now live if i can.

Oh yeah, I'd also check the gearslutz forum to see what a good budget mic for bass could be. I always go there to do a little research before I make a purchase.