Quote:
Originally Posted by Duffster  Arrived in California from Brasil and couldn't wait to go buy a noce condenser mic to smuggle home to my studio. Borrowed my moms car a took myself to Guitat Center and rushed into take a peak at the mics. After the sales person helped me look at a blue bottle, AKG C12, Soundlux.... etc. he takes me to the MXL mic cabinet.
GC: Dude: I see you have high end taste sir, but these microphones really perform on a international level.
Me: What do you mean by international?
GC: They are becoming an international standard for pro recordings... lots of the discs you here on the radio are recorded with these. The sound they get is just more simple and easy to work with.
Me: Really!! Tell me..... isn't that $99.00 condenser just a hunk of shit?(as I am saying this the pro audio manager has walked up behind me)
Manager: Sir, If you were an experienced or pro audio engineer like myself or my coleague you would know that mics are like crayons.... they come in many different colors, and give different textures to the audio palet.
Me: So your telling me that this mic is the shit brown crayola color.
Manager: Sir, we don't take audio as a joke, and when you become a pro audio engineer you will realise why.
in disbelief at this point
Me: I guess you learned that lesson when you took it as a joke and ended working in the pro audio department in GC selling audio crayons to real engineers.
Manager: Sir, would you please leave the store..... thank you.
Phoned sweetwater when I got home and bought my mic online. |
well cutting the crap of "I am pro and work at GC", he does have a point. Spending more money doesn't necessarily make a condensor better. Cheap ones do have their uses.
While this isn't as drastic as dynamic mics (i5 anyone), I have heard some decent MXLs at around 300 bucks that I could put to use somewhere... even if it was live as drum overhead.
There aren't that many factors that make a mic universally great in an objective way. The biggest influence on sound is, in fact, the frequency range it outputs. And this is, by all means, totally subjective and might work better for one instrument and recording than another and this doesn't have much to do with price.
So maybe this particular MXL was actually a good mic for, let's say, hi-hat. It is absolutely possible that this particular mic, by accident, outputs the perfect sound to make the hihat fit in your mix.
Of course this is hypothetical, but it is very well possible.