Hi Everyone

i`m over here in the UK

i need some advice on which microphone to buy for recording vocals at home..
i only have a Shure Beta 58 at the moment, was thinking of buying a condenser with the mouth guard thing on it, any recommendations for a make and model of mic?
i only have a budget of £150 - £200 MAXIMUM
i do have a friend who works for Sennheiser, so may be able to get something from him slightly cheaper..


i`m very new to recording, got myself a decent PC and Cakewalk Sonar Software...
i`m looking to record my vocals along to different styles of Music, i sing anything from 80`s, 90`s Rock (Journey, Foreigner) to Soulful RNB, Stevie Wonder etc

Yeah, there is a Sennheisser in your budget... like a 930 or something? I'm personally fond of the Beyer M-88, the Beyer M-69 is cool, too. You might look into one of the low budget chinese condensers... I don't know what is cheap over there, here a Studio Projects C-1 would be an inexpensive option. For a few bucks more, the Neumann 105 ain't too bad. AT makes several mics in the 40nn series that are similarly priced. The long and short of it is that there are quite a few mics out there.

My own recomendation would be for you to use what you have, and for you to save a little more to get a much better mic. What happens is that as you get more experience, you'll want better quality. In the case of microphones, it is easy to wait a while, save a few bucks and buy a better one, and then have a great mic that you will use for the rest of your life.

For your budget the only thing that is worth the money is the Studio Projects stuff. The B1 and C1 are excellent mics. Your budget does not afford anything other than that which Bill has mentioned.

Hi

there are several mics you want to try out:

AKG C1000S - around £86 +VAT; good allrounder (including vocals)

SE Electonics SE 2200a - £189 inc. VAT; good vocal mic

Rode NT2-A - £219 inc. VAT; for the extra £30 this sounds better than the SE 2200a - before you say anything I know your maximum budget is £200!

As with everything in life choice depends on your preferred sound, instrumentation around the vocals, acoustic treatment of room, room size to name a few factors.

200 pounds is about $300. Pretty much everything I mentioned can be had, or had used, for $300 with perhaps the exception of the Neumann.

That's what he said.

Don't bother with the AKG C1000, a horrible sounding mic, AKG should be ashamed to put their name on it.

+1. POS.