Audix - OM6

Singing lessons / voice exercises to strengthen voice. If you are playing 1000cap and smaller venues Buy an audix om6 or om7 ( om7 IMO). Let sound guy know what it is and let them know it requires quite a bit more gain than a 58. ( expecialy the om7) Om7 os a very directional mic, so it pickups far less of the stage noise and makes it easy to get a relatively quiet vocal on top of a mix. Great in even the tinyest of toilet venue's. I used to use them for a well-known trip hop artist that whispers into the mic while wanting the stage volume to be bowel-loosening, monitor destroyingly loud.

a sm58 was still too roomy. found audix om6: deaf to anything further away then 10cm… yet opener more condensery then the shure.

Have the Sen 835s and the Audix OM6s at my venue, I go for the Audix almost every time. Only use the 835s when I have a singer that has a darker voice, but that’s so rare that I basically never use them.

Just a piece of advice regarding mics. Try to remember that each mic has a slightly different equivalent eq curve, and if you can find a mic that enhances your vocal in the right frequencies it can help a lot. I have about 30 different handheld dynamic mics in my inventory at the moment, and when anyone asks for a mic recommendation I invite them round to my studio, and record them singing into batches of 4 mics at a time. We then listen back and see which mic is most flattering to them without EQ. Polar patterns are also important when stage noise is an issue, and I usually suggest avoiding cardioid mics unless the singer is very powerful, or has to move a lot relative to the mic. Some of the winners that usually come out of the shootout are the Audix OM series, Sennheiser 935/945 (935 is my personal fav for mid priced dynamics, but that is based on my voice), Shure SM57 Beta, and an old EV ND357. I personally hate SM58s, and whenever someone goes "but you can bang a nail in with it and it still works", I ask why they don't use a hammer for nails, and a 935 for singing like a sensible person.