OpenTube

I Ranked Every Microphone I’ve Ever Owned

Spinlight Studio

21,279 views

20 Comments

@spinlightstudios Creator 1 month ago Pinned

Legends, if you ever want to show some love to the channel, consider using the affiliate links in the description any time you need some new gear! Hope you enjoy the video!

@GodsBabyNech 1 month ago

Mxl v67 - The noise that they build into waves plugins 🤣🤣 That was a good one :)

@innercynic2784 1 month ago

Favorite mics are like favorite wines. Everyone has a different opinion. They're "to taste".

@patrickchase5614 17 hours ago (edited)

Based on what you said about the AKC C414 and OC18, you should definitely try the Austrian Audio OC818. You can think of it as the multi-pattern version of the OC18, and it's voiced basically the same, but with some added tricks like the ability to get the outputs from both cardioid capsules simultaneously. It has low-pass filtering and pad options similar to the 414. Austrian provides plugin that you can use to implement frequency-dependent polar patterns or to do pseudo-ambisonic audio from a crossed pair (which gives you 4 cardioid channels, albeit all in the same plane instead of in a tetrahedron, which means that you can only create patterns along that plane instead of at arbitrary elevations).

I sold my C414s (XLS) after the OC818 came out. The 414XLII's high end sounds almost as "shrill" as the 214's to me FWIW. The Austrian audio voicing is much smoother and not as over-hyped IMO.

I never liked the NT1A. As you say it's bright and harsh, but the newer NT1s are quite a bit better and very good value for money. I really like the NT-R (ribbon) in particular - I personally prefer the Samar and Royer ribbons, but the Rode is right up there with them.

The catch with the sE8 is that they're sort of "medium-diaphragm" mics (they're a couple mm wider than true SDCs) and as a result the high frequencies fall off more off-axis than most SDCs. I have a pair as "throwabout" SDCs, but I prefer others. Some other SDCs to try based on your stated preferences are the Josephson C42 and the Beyerdynamic 930.

I think the TLM103 is indeed an excellent mic, but nobody but Neumann could get away with selling that thing for over $1K.

@JohnnyADi 1 month ago

I knew about the Atlantis and Eden, never heard of the AEA R88A, you got yourself a new subscriber and a like my friend.

@Drfresh1402 1 month ago

No Beesznees? Bro try the Bc12a. It will rock your world.

@Opeth1483 1 month ago

Thank you Sir for your work!

@camhyde9701 1 month ago

I agree with the ratings I know about... would love the R88

@MarsC-x 1 month ago (edited)

I really love the pure tube on my vocals. I chose it even when I compared it with the atlantis

@daveassender1099 1 month ago

awesome video for buying your first set of studio mics

@alejandromoro 1 month ago

amazing review!!

@Thunderchunders 4 weeks ago (edited)

I think the key with microphones is basically the same as all gear and instruments - most pieces of gear are truly great at getting a handful of sounds. I’m not saying you can’t use it for others and get good results, of course you can. But usually if you’re after ‘THAT’ sound, the thing that made that sound on the record you like is the thing you want. There is no such thing as a truly one size fits all versatile mic/instrument (if we’re talking about getting the absolute best possible sounds). The key is having a variety.