Tone Monster
Well-known member
Audix I5 is better than a 57
japetus
Moderator
Truth
V
VonBonfire
Well-known member
SM57, SM7. I probably try and grab a couple different Warm Audio offerings, esp WA44 and WA47, maybe a WA87 and that's just basing off the three WA84's we have here that have been really good so I'd buy WA gear without hesitation. Same for some of the now defunct Blue mics. We have a Rode NTK that gets slagged hard by some online but it's actually been a great mic if you let it warm up fully and you can do tube swaps in it pretty easily. The K2 is more well thought of and also a mic that will give good results to a lot of different sources . Any of those big boys means buying a very beefy mic stand to hold them and that can be expensive right there. The big daddy Atlas stand is over 500 bucks now but some of the less pricey ones are still 200-300.
I'm interested but I'd definitely question "better" because I've heard that too many times about the latest "great for guitar cabs' mics and tbh even some of the pricey mics weren't "better" than a 57, just different. To me they are like a guitar pickup. It might be better for a certain guitar or rig but not necessarily better across the board in every situation.
RaceU4her
Well-known member
I have a ton of mics, asking which one is better is no different than asking what amp, speaker or pickup is better, it totally depends what you’re going for.
Nashville Riff Co
Well-known member
Thanks man, I’ve literally copied your write up word for word to hold on to for when I start dabbling down this rabbit hole haha
RaceU4her
Well-known member
I’ve done a few mic comparisons if you search with some of the more popular ones, maybe I’ll do another one
V
VonBonfire
Well-known member
You are welcome. Follow your ears. There are a ton of great mics out there to try right now. The Sennheiser 421 RaceU4her mentioned is a famous mic that I have not had the fortune to try. Same with the Beyer M160 guys here talk about all the time. If you listen to some of the vocal mic shootouts on youtube you will get an idea of how well a basic 57 can hold it's own against much more expensive mics. And many of the same mics that have been mentioned are also very nice vocal, drum overhead, acoustic guitar, percussion etc etc mics.
I was doing an ultimate hipster gig in Austin and the soundman had a cheap Samson CO2 condenser mic for vocals. I kind of sighed inside and put my Beta 58 away and humored him. I think he detected my skepticism and he reassured me. Turned out he was right the mic was really nice sounding for a $70 dollar budget mic. A bit different flavor than the Beta, but still a great mic.
glpg80
Well-known member
For metal I actually prefer the predecessor to the SM57, the 535D. Way lesser known and rarely spoken about but it just sounds better IMO.
I also have a Royer 121 and plan to get a TLM102 and a 421.
I also have a Royer 121 and plan to get a TLM102 and a 421.
RaceU4her
Well-known member
Like greenbacks, I can’t stand the 421, but guys make both sound great. I have a pair of 102’s I mainly use for overheads, but I just tried my old $35 iSK pearls and I like them more for that. Ola uses the 102 in his vids and seem to be accurate to the room which make sense being a condenser, I gotta experiment with them more on guitars
Greazygeo
Well-known member
Different, not better imo.
I didn’t like the 421 either, actually Sennheiser for guitar mics in general. Same opinion on the I5, not better just different.