Spending money on microphones

[Mike Stranks]

As someone who's never really earned money from his audio endeavours and previously been the sole breadwinner in a three-children family, I've never had the money, nor the desire really, to spend significant sums on kit. 'Significant' means that any spend over £200 has been the result of a very hard think and evaluation. Thus, the Rodes of this world have had more custom from me than the Neumanns!

I've always been satisfied with the results I've achieved and so have the organisations for which I've been providing material. The mics I've used have not been slouches and are reckoned to be more-than-good at their price-point.

Now, thanks to the generosity of a forum member, I've been loaned a quality mic (ie a few hundred £s) for the duration of the lockdown, as I've unexpectedly come out of retirement in order to produce programmes for those stuck at home.

Yesterday, was the first opportunity I had to really listen to this loaned mic and form some conclusions. I've often wondered about comments here about the U87 and 'it just sounds "right"'. Now I know what they mean! The mic I've been loaned isn't a Neumann, but it just sounds 'right'. My room is optimised for voice-recording so I know I'm getting a decent capture. But usually, having recorded 'flat', in post I'm then applying some gentle filtering and EQ to add some final polish.

Totally unnecessary with this mic. The voice is 'right' straight out of the capsule/electronics. I now know what you mean about a 'right mic' chaps!

Will I be buying one? Nope! For everyone's sake I hope to be able to go back into retirement asap... lockdown will be over.... Would I be saving pennies to buy one if I wasn't? Well, that's another story!

[Aural Reject]

It's a dangerous path to tread, Mike....I was always warned about it....chose to ignore it...addiction soon followed....

[CS70]

You don't know the power of the dark side of the mics!

[Hugh Robjohns]

[Aled Hughes]

What is the mic, out of interest?

[Mike Stranks]

The mic is a Blue Baby Bottle, but in a sense that's immaterial.... it just... 'works'...

... and a - possibly futile - plea to the wider assembly? Let's not get into a whole round of "Ah! Yes, but..." stuff about mics and their characteristics and attributes...

... if I can be metaphorical: my post is commenting on a set of tyres I'm using... it's not an introduction to the state of the worldwide rubber industry...

[ConcertinaChap]

You don't know the power of the dark side of the mics!

Ah, to this day I miss the dedicated Microphones subforum. A place where you could say, "My name is CC and I am a micoholic" and everyone understood ...

CC

[ManFromGlass]

I think you are lucky to have found a mic that makes you happy!
I’m very careful with my purchases and to end up with something that puts a smile on my face because it’s right is a wonderful thing.

[Sam Spoons]

The Blue Baby Bottle (SL) is not an expensive mic, is this a previous incarnation or the same as the current version?

[CS70]

You don't know the power of the dark side of the mics!

Ah, to this day I miss the dedicated Microphones subforum. A place where you could say, "My name is CC and I am a micoholic" and everyone understood ...

CC

(raising from my chair)

Of course, like an good addicted person, I have my pseudo-rational excuses... just got the two Line Audio CM4 and eager to put thru their paces recording an acoustic guitar in stereo.

[James Perrett]

I remember buying an AKG D1200 in a junk shop at the age of 18 and telling the owner "I collect microphones". Of course at the time my collection consisted of cheap dynamics and electret condenser mics salvaged from wherever I could find them. I had little idea what expensive mics cost or where this would lead.

I ended up kicking the habit 20 years later by buying the mics that everything else was compared to. I'd been hiring or borrowing them for sessions so it made sense just to buy them and be done with it.

While I still occasionally buy mics where there is a gap in my collection, I don't feel the need to buy a mic that sounds just like X when I already have X.

[Random Guitarist]

While I still occasionally buy mics where there is a gap in my collection, I don't feel the need to buy a mic that sounds just like X when I already have X.

Wise words, I spent too much time in my youth buying almost good enough budget alternatives, it would have been more cost effective to go straight to the higher end with a couple of choice purchases.

[Aural Reject]

I just keep adding to the Schoeps collection....oddly because they're not shiny

[CS70]

Now that Mike has mentioned the Baby Bottle, I remember trying the Bottle (no baby) and loving the looks, if not particularly the sound. But I do have an 87 already, and no need for a gazillion swappable capsules.

That Flea 47 on the other side...

[Sam Spoons]

Currently the Blue Baby Bottle SL is €379 the Blue Bottle €4300, quite a difference.

[Hugh Robjohns]

The Blue Baby Bottle (SL) is not an expensive mic, is this a previous incarnation or the same as the current version?

It's the original version which Mike is using, and it was £630 when I reviewed it* (with the accessories). I think most hobbiests would call that 'expensive'...

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/blue-baby-bottle

Then again, £380 for the new model isn't exactly beer money, either! Although it's not serious pro-mic territory, I grant you.

*Good grief... 18 years ago! It's a vintage collectable mic now! I bought the review model because I like the way it sounded on male voice...

[Mike Stranks]

The Blue Baby Bottle (SL) is not an expensive mic, is this a previous incarnation or the same as the current version?

Well it may not be expensive to you...

[Sam Spoons]

It's all relative, like you it's certainly more than I've ever spent on a mic...... But I'd describe it as mid range rather than expensive.

[CS70]

Now now... a Sony C800G is expensive

But word to what you said Mike: one absolutely does not need expensive microphones to get great results.

[Martin Walker]

... if I can be metaphorical: my post is commenting on a set of tyres I'm using... it's not an introduction to the state of the worldwide rubber industry...

Beautifully put Mike - I'm surprised that no-one else commented on your lovely turn of phrase

Martin

[Sam Spoons]

I gyuess we've just come to expect it

[John Willett]

You don't know the power of the dark side of the mics!

Ah, to this day I miss the dedicated Microphones subforum. A place where you could say, "My name is CC and I am a micoholic" and everyone understood ...

CC

My name is John and I'm a micoholic.

And - yes - I have always from the very start, bought the very best microphones I could afford. My thinking that, as the very beginning of the recording chain, the microphone was the most important part of the recording tools as it's the one item that converts acoustic energy into electrical energy and you have to get that right.

But I was a bit shocked to realise that if I had to buy them all again now I would have to fork out £50k or so.

[ManFromGlass]

Imagine what the next generation of micoholics will pay.