Cheap(ish) quality microphone recommendations

[PJSprog]

There are a ton of choices in the affordable studio mic world. Most are OK, some are really good. I've been using an Oktava Mk-319 as my large diaphragm mic for the last, jeez, 20 years maybe? Quite a good mic, in my opinion. They're a little harder to find these days, at least here in the US. Rode makes some very good budget mics as well.

The Sennheiser e609 is my favorite guitar amp mic. You can probably find a gently used one for well under $100.

I've been using the Behringer UMC404HD interface for a little while now, and it works great. For the price, it's hard to beat.

[Woltz]

So getting a 3rd Gen Scarlett at the moment is quite difficult, the 2i2 seems to be sold out everywhere I look.

I'm looking at the Solid State Logic SSL2 ($369) instead. Happy to hear any thoughts on this.

For microphone I've kind of narrowed down to a few options.

Condenser:

Rode NT-1 (flatter frequency response than the NT-1A), $339 but includes shock mount, pop filter and cable.

Audio Technica AT2020, $129

Dynamic:

Shure SM57, $179
Sennheiser e609, $119

Ribbon:

Golden Age R1 Mk II, $279

[Simon Barden]

My thoughts:

SSL2 is very good and the 4000 console path option can add a certain something extra. The MOTU M2 is also worth considering. Technically it has some better specs than the SSL, but the SSL is certainly good enough and will give great results. I’d go MOTU myself, primarily for the extra functionality and the fact that they are up there with RME in terms of long term driver support. SSL are rather an unknown quantity there.

I’d go Røde NT1 over the AT2020 any day. My only experience of an AT2020 wasn’t very good at all. I had the first main commercial version of the NT1 (grey body) and it was a great mic. The shock mount and pop shied the NT1 comes with are both top notch products, so you’d be well set up there.

I recently borrowed an e609 to compare against my Behringer B906 and whilst the e609 is fine, the Behringer is cheaper, sounds just as good on an amp and gives three sound shaping options as opposed to the fixed sound of the e609 (which is similar to the bright mode of the e906). Neither mics have anything like a flat response and both sound terrible on vocals, so an SM57 is a better choice of all-round instrument mic IMO. The e609 sounds different to an SM57 on an amp, and that’s where I start to struggle with decisions, as both sound good, just different. And the three sound options in the B906 sound different as well, but again, just different rather than one being better than the others. It all depends on context and what sits best in the track. I haven’t found a cheap 57-alike mic that sounds anything like a 57, so I’d always recommend having at least one of them in the mic locker.

The GA ribbon is a nice choice.