It's Christmas time, what should I get? Microphone?

[Hvislysettaross]

I am thinking about getting a new microphone. I rap and do some rock singing. What would be a good mic to upgrade to? I currently have a SHURE SM58 microphone, is this good??
Also any VSTis you can recommend? I only have "Addictive Drums" and the Cubase ones.

[split]

It's Xmas so why don't you treat yourself to one of these:- One Of These
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Split V4.5.2 The Devil is in the detail

[Darkstar]

[herrtommy]

The 58 is good.

But like you said, maybe get some more music-creating thingsbefore buying a new mic. I am not bewandered in that area, as I for the most part record acousticly every instrument, but I'm sure if you say what you want, people can come up with qualified answers and tips
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Mac Pro (8-core Xenon, 8GB RAM) OSX 10.6.4
Steinberg MR816x
M-Audio Profire 2626
Cubase 5.5.2
T-Racks3 DeLuxe

[Southae]

Hi, Folks!

As not everyone can afford Split's suggestion for an $11,000 USD Telefunken U47 (curiously, an earlier Telefunken M50 was the Decca-London choice for their now infamous "Decca Tree" stereo microphone technique for orchestral recordings. Apparently, their engineers didn't pay much attention to Alan Blumlein's seminal stereo recording and reproduction UK patent: "GB394325A, Improvements in and relating to Sound-Transmission, Sound-Recording and Sound-Reproducing Systems, 1931-12-14").

However, I do agree with Darkstar! The Shure SM58 dynamic microphone is a rugged, durable, and excellent microphone for vocals. It's bass "boominess" is caused by it's directional, cardioid pickup pattern when closer to the mic that a foot or two (true for just about all cardioid pattern microphones). But as Darkstar pointed out, this is easily corrected with a bit of high pass EQ, by attenuating everything below about 180Hz with a 6 to 12 dB rolloff (Unless you have a really deep baritone!).

Any microphone is a musical instrument. There are specific mics which "sound better" for specific applications, and one has to have had enough experience with a number of them to decide which mic to select for the job at hand. It's like the difference between a Stradivarius and Guarneri violin; they both sound different, but in the hands of the right virtuosos, both can sound wonderful!

If you're looking to upgrade, it really depends on what you plan to do with the gear. For vocals, you won't notice much of a difference between the SM58 and most other mics of any kind (except maybe ribbons, but that's often a specific choice for the more mellow, lifelike sound they produce). However, if you're looking for a mic that will provide pickup for more than just vocals, condensers are more versatile and prevalent, and will give you more high frequency "presence", but this may also lead to needing more EQ, pop filtering, possibly a new mic preamp with Phantom Powering, and quieter production space as they are more sensitive to extraneous sounds. Most of the newer condensers are just about as rugged as the dynamic mics, but are a bit more costly as they must incorporate electronics to provide an acceptable signal output. For vocals, many folks prefer the larger diaphragm condensers. These days, there are condensers out there from less than $50 USD to, as noted on the former reference to the U47 eBay site, over $10,000 USD, and each model has a distinctive sound caused by the design and capsule geometries.

Generally, the more expensive the microphone, the more rigorous the testing to maintain consistency from unit to unit, so two mics of the same model will sound almost identical for stereo (or other, multi-channel recording). Ribbons, as mentioned, are a bit more exotic, and may require more preamplification, but they are also becoming more popular as more robust designs are starting to appear. There real plus is the lifelike, natural sound they're capable of; not everyone's cup of tea, but for certain applications, they are very hard to eclipse for the very natural sound they produce.

Finally, if you're looking to spend some hard earned cash on gear, you might take stock of what you want to do in the near future, and plan to procure the appropriate equipment to fulfill that objective. Having a new mic might not fill the bill, but perhaps a new MIDI interface, sound card, or software VST, might be more useful right now, than upgrading a microphone.

Think about things a bit, and then come on back here with further queries. I'm sure there will be lots of folks willing to assist you in selecting just what you need to grow your skills in music and music production.
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Just my 2 bits, 0 and 1!

AES

Dual 3.0GHz Xeons on ASUS PC-DL Deluxe
2GB RAM, ATI 9800, Windows XP Pro
ECHO/LAYLA 24/96 "Soundcard"
Schoeps, DPA, Royer, Sony, and AKG Microphones
Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro
Over 4TB of Growing Storage! [GAD!]
And AWAAAYYYY We GO!

[Darkstar]