Sub $500 Mic for Bass Trombone/Contrabass

[Liam15vb]

Hey everyone, I'm looking at getting a mic for multitrack recording of bass trombone and Contrabass trombone. I'm trying to keep it under $500 but the cheaper the better. What would y'all recommend? (I've been looking at the fathead and the R10 so if you have one of those is love to hear what you think)

[harrisonreed]

Save just a bit longer and get a c414 XLS. If you want recordings for anything other than just practice, "the cheaper the worser".

Ribbon mics are cool and seem to be touted as the only mic to use on brass, but for trombone I have found that large condensers with different polar patterns win 100% of the time.

[ngrinder]

LDCs like the 414 are great, but so are ribbons. Most well regarded studios put Royers, AEA/RCAs, or Coles on brass for good reason. The caveat is that they’ve got a polar pattern that pics up behind the mic as well as in front, so you’ve got to be a bit more mindful of room acoustics. Most LDCs have variable pickup patterns, so they’re a little more forgiving if you’ve got noise in your room.

AEA and Royer are offering slightly cheaper options now-I like the AEA Nuvo but am not a huge fan of the Royer r10. You can definitely get something “good enough” for $500, but if this is a major investment and you can save more money, you should do it right the first time. It will be cheaper in the long run I went with a well regarded ribbon and absolutely love it. They are popular for a reason!

Good luck!

[Fridge]

I vote for the Royer. Jerry Hey likes Royer mics for trombone. That’s what he said on a zoom meet was on. Someone asked the question.

Fridge

[WilliamLang]

i have an mxl-r77 mic for trombones that is under $300 and sounds really great.

[Mikebmiller]

I just bought one of these:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=625908


$100 and it works great. At least great enough for someone like myself who isn't trying to make any money off recordings.

[tombone21]

I just bought one of these:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=625908


$100 and it works great. At least great enough for someone like myself who isn't trying to make any money off recordings.

Would love a new thread/review of this mic, Mike!

[mbtrombone]

Not sure about this one yet, I just bought two on the recommendation of some trumpet and trombone friends in LA that use them for home recording for work.

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-aud ... ne&index=1

I plan on comparing them to my 15 year old Sterling Audio small diaphragm condenser mics, and my Studio Project large diaphragm condenser mics. I do really love my large diaphragm condensers, but also have always heard that Ribbons are the best for brass, and have to admit my favorites are the old Royer-121, but they are way out of my price range and I am always worried about blowing them up accidently with phantom power!

[mattLockyer]

My vote gose to a ribbon mic, even my cheap sub-zero chinese made one dose a really good job. It smooths out the top end and the low stuff is lovley and warm. Using a ribbon I dont have to nearly as much work with the EQ afterwards too. Its almost Magic

[bassclef]

Check out the Cascade Fathead: https://www.cascademicrophones.com/ribb ... e-fat-head

It's a ribbon which I picked one up several months ago for my first home recording setup (primarily bass trombone stuff) and I love it. You'll need a pre-amp also. I can also recommend one called a Cloudlifter.

Both of those should come in under your budget.

[Liam15vb]

Not sure about this one yet, I just bought two on the recommendation of some trumpet and trombone friends in LA that use them for home recording for work.

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-aud ... ne&index=1

I plan on comparing them to my 15 year old Sterling Audio small diaphragm condenser mics, and my Studio Project large diaphragm condenser mics. I do really love my large diaphragm condensers, but also have always heard that Ribbons are the best for brass, and have to admit my favorites are the old Royer-121, but they are way out of my price range and I am always worried about blowing them up accidently with phantom power!

Please let me know how this mic sounds.

[Kingfan]

I see MXL R144 ribbon mics for around $100. Anybody have any opinion on those?

[jeffalbert]

I like the Royers on my small (or smallish) tenor. Personally I prefer a large diaphragm condenser on bass (at least for my sound). AKG makes some mics that are essentially a 414 capsule but with fewer patterns and a different body, and they are in the less than $500 category, as aI recall. Mine are old and the model number has changed. I think C214 is the current model. There are also decent condensers by AKG and Audi-Technica and others for less than $200, but I think the next price jump up ($300-500) is worth it. I am less sure that the difference between $500 and $1000 is worth it for home stuff.

[harrisonreed]

Those 214s and 314s are not the same capsule. The two flavors of 414 are their own thing, and they want you to think that the other mics are the same hardware but they aren't. There was universal agreement in the audio engineering forum I asked about this on.

[bassbone]

for LDC I would add sE Electronics X1 S to the list to consider. Almost all of my recording has been for practice, but I've been happy with this. They also make a ribbon mic in this series, but I have not tried that personally.

I believe that some of the videos Ban Van Dijk has posted uses this mic if you'd like to hear some sample recordings on bass using this.

[brettmalta]

It might be pushing the $500 limit, but the Shure KSM32 is my go to. I use it in live and recording situations all the time.

Beyerdynamic M88 is also a good one to check out.

[BurckhardtS]

To record in a big space, I use a combination of a Shure Beta 57A (up close) and a KSM 141 (to record the room). I would like to get an R10 in the future but I've been pretty content with these. When doing studio-esque stuff in my apartment, I just use the 57A.

[bbocaner]

I adore the Royer R-121 and especially the active R-122 but those don't fit your sub-$500 criteria. Someone actually posted a comparison video here recently between the R-121 and a SE VR-1 which sells for $419 and it was amazing to me how similar they were. You'll need a nice clean preamp with plenty of gain, but ribbons do work wonders on trombone.

[bbocaner]

Here's the thread with the comparison video I mentioned:

https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=20063

[RolandJBarber]

Ev re20.

http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/E ... Voice/RE20

[AlexMcMahon]

I just settled on two sE T2 large diaphragm condensers that I purchased for $400/ea in ‘mint/open box’ condition. I went with these because I wanted something like the AKG 414C XLS II, but didn’t have the budget for two (or even one) of them. I rented a pair of AKGs to use as a stereo pair for our graduation band recording/livestream and really loved the sound.

The sE4400a was the most directly comparable to the features of the AKG, having multiple polar pattern switches and different high pass and attenuation switch options. The T2 is in a similar housing with the same controls, with the only difference being the capsule- which is the same titanium coated capsule as their Titan (T1) mic, and a different color finish (silver vs matte black). Both seem to retail for $500-530 at different stores online, so when I found the T2 in open box condition- I decided to give it a try. The reviews are slim for the T2, but there are many that directly compare the 4400a to the AKG 414. I will report back with experiences in a week or so.

[harrisonreed]

I just settled on two sE T2 large diaphragm condensers that I purchased for $400/ea in ‘mint/open box’ condition. I went with these because I wanted something like the AKG 414C XLS II, but didn’t have the budget for two (or even one) of them. I rented a pair of AKGs to use as a stereo pair for our graduation band recording/livestream and really loved the sound.

The sE4400a was the most directly comparable to the features of the AKG, having multiple polar pattern switches and different high pass and attenuation switch options. The T2 is in a similar housing with the same controls, with the only difference being the capsule- which is the same titanium coated capsule as their Titan (T1) mic, and a different color finish (silver vs matte black). Both seem to retail for $500-530 at different stores online, so when I found the T2 in open box condition- I decided to give it a try. The reviews are slim for the T2, but there are many that directly compare the 4400a to the AKG 414. I will report back with experiences in a week or so.

Can you put them in an omni pattern?

[AlexMcMahon]

I just settled on two sE T2 large diaphragm condensers that I purchased for $400/ea in ‘mint/open box’ condition. I went with these because I wanted something like the AKG 414C XLS II, but didn’t have the budget for two (or even one) of them. I rented a pair of AKGs to use as a stereo pair for our graduation band recording/livestream and really loved the sound.

The sE4400a was the most directly comparable to the features of the AKG, having multiple polar pattern switches and different high pass and attenuation switch options. The T2 is in a similar housing with the same controls, with the only difference being the capsule- which is the same titanium coated capsule as their Titan (T1) mic, and a different color finish (silver vs matte black). Both seem to retail for $500-530 at different stores online, so when I found the T2 in open box condition- I decided to give it a try. The reviews are slim for the T2, but there are many that directly compare the 4400a to the AKG 414. I will report back with experiences in a week or so.

Can you put them in an omni pattern?

Yes. It has Omni, Figure 8, Cardiod and SuperCardiod. That is slightly fewer than the AKG 414 that offers an ‘in between’ patter on all of those, so it is a little less full-featured but not super important to me. I plan to use these as day-to-day rehearsal recording mics, concert/student audition recordings and livestreams that will not be edited after the recording. I will leave them in Cardoid most of the time.

[Fridge]

Warm Audio makes a copy of an 87 condenser mic. Different patterns available. They had a sale on a few weeks ago. WA87 r2. Right at $500. Great mic. Did a session from home on this about two weeks ago.

Fridge