$180

Here is my situation. I am completely new with this kind of equipment, especially microphones and appropriate software for sound editing. Since I have improved my vocal skills I would really like to buy some quality mike to record myself. What microphone prices and brands are suitable for me?

There's no harm in dropping the $60 on a new Shure vocal microphone. It's been an industry standard for years and years. The SM series. The Beta series (a little more expensive at around $100).

And they're built like tanks. I own several of their microphones including an SM57 and an SM58 (the vocal mic). I'd highly recommend the SM58 for ANYONE getting started into vocals.

Another brand you'd want to consider putting it up against in comparison is Sennheiser, who, lately, has been putting out some awesome products.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Feel free to look around and check out some of the reviews of Shure and Sennheiser equipment on the site, too!

Peace,
J

You know, I'd be interested in hearing others' opinions on this, but when recording I always found that a good condenser mic would give me a lot better results for recording vocals. With the phantom power on these units, they are extremely sensitive and have a really flat frequency response, and you really can "sing" without straining. For live performance, I have to agree with Shack on the SM series from Shure.

Another use for condenser mics that a lot of folks lean towards is miking for acoustic guitars. Because of the nuances of tones, not only musical, but fingers sliding over the strings for instance, they are superior for picking up these types of things.

A couple brands I would look into are Rode (NT-1 about $230), Shure (KSM27 about $199), and Electro-Voice. EV has some B-stock models on Musiciand's Friend right now for $50-$75.. a steal if you ask me. Of course you can spend a whole lot more too. Around the $1k mark you'll see some offerings from AKG, Audio-Technica, Neumann, Blue Bottle and others.

Thanks guys! I figured by now, that I do need to drop up to 100 bucks for this pleasure. I just asked to see whether mike can be bought cheaper than that.

Chris
I will just through in my two cents only to give another view. I just went through the process of choosing a new microphone. Condenser mic is definitely my choice over dynamic. What I found out though is the small diaphragm condenser mic is the better choice for vocals. They are better at picking up the changes in frequency. I picked up an Oktava MC012 for 85.00 on line. You will also need a pop screen to avoid distortion.

Thanks Opti. I may need to pick up another mic soon, so I'll check out the condensers with small diaphragms. I've always preferred them, but never really educated myself a lot on the different varieties. As long as it's under a hundred bucks, it's below my wife's purchase radar.. haha

It depends on how good a quality you want to achieve. Spending less than a hundred bucks is not going to get you a top quality mike but it might be a good beginning. One tip, avoid the Behringer B1. It's a condenser mike running only around $90 bucks but I've heard of too many people having problems. They die for no apparent reason half of the time.

I just bought an Octava MC012. I paid $95 for mine but I love it. Great quality of sound and appears to be very well made. I was using dynamic mike before for recording but for me this is a much better choice.