When it comes to choosing a microphone, singers are often looking for THE best microphone for vocals.
Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple.
The “one” microphone that is a perfect fit for everyone doesn’t exist. Instead, what is a good choice for you depends on the characteristics of your voice and what exactly you want to use the microphone for.
In order to find the microphone that best suits your voice, you have try some out. Luckily, we’ve got some criteria that will guide you.
We also have some examples of microphones for you that you can use as a starting point for your testing.
(And by the way, most music stores will gladly let you test microphones to help you with your choice.)
Here is some support for the testing process:
There are pretty much two kinds of microphones: condenser and dynamic.
Condenser microphones will pick up the nuances of your voice a lot better and give you a much finer sound. So if you’re looking for a microphone to record vocals, condensers are the way to go.
Try out the Rhode NTK, the AKG C414 XLII, or the Neumann TLM 102 or TLM 103. Or you can work your way down the price range to something like an Audio-Technica AT2035, a Rhode NT1-A, or even a budget microphone like the Behringer C-1.
When you need a mic for performing onstage, you need to consider the downside of condensers. They are very sensitive to interferences (like from speakers, amps, etc).
It can also be difficult to prevent condensers from picking up sounds from other instruments. So if it’s loud onstage or the setup makes interferences likely, you might have to look into dynamic microphones.
THE classic dynamic mic you need to try out is the Shure SM58. You might also want to try the Shure Beta 58 A, the AKG D5, or the Sennheiser E935.
If condensers work in your situation onstage, you might want to look at models like the Neumann KMS 104 and 105, the Shure Beta 87A, the Sennheiser E865S, or the AKG C5 to start your testing process.
Keep in mind that a microphone’s price isn’t always the determining factor for whether your voice sounds good with it.
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