sE Electronics - WA-87jr SE

Choosing a mic is like choosing a wine. There is a price range and that drives what you would look for in a microphone. I'd say used is best use of funds. The $200-500 range on reverb has a lot of interesting choices. $500 - ADK Hamburg (pair - solid state 67 clone ) or pair Singular Audio 48 (u47 fet clone) or Neuman TLM102. sE z330a $400 - Avatone CV12, Warm Audio WA-87, Audio Techinca AT4050 and Weird Audio Little Red ( I own 2 of these myself - nice mic ) Lauten Audio LA-320 $200 - Oktava MK-319, Cad Equitek E100 ( look for American on 90s ) or CAD Conneaut Audio Device Equitek II (Early 90s) You can also look for 'modded mics' in this price range. Those should be upgraded mics with new components. Michael Joly used to do this about 10 years ago, but he stopped modding mics. There are other mic modders out there. Not a bad way to go take a $100 MXL and mod it.

Save up for a better mic. $100-115 will get you a Shure SM58 which is the classic live music mic because it’s rugged, but it’s nowhere near the quality you need for VA work. What you need is: 1. A good audio interface. For solo voice recording, the Audient ID4 (1 in, stereo out) is perfect. 2. At least one good XLR condenser microphone. In the midprice category ($150-500) I would suggest these mics: * Rode NT1 or NT2A * Aston Origin * Audio-Technica AT2020 * Warm Audio WA-87 (Neumann U87 clone) The iD4 runs around $200 used, under $300 new. The suggested mics run $200-400, you can find them for less used. Budget for these accessories: - Quality mic arm (I like the Rode PSA1) - $99 - Rycote USM universal shockmount for condenser mics - $89 - XLR mic cable - $25 - Closed-back headphones for monitoring - $99 - I like the Sony MDR7506, very comfortable. Now, you can also get relatively inexpensive bundles from dealers like Sweetwater with decent kit for a beginner. The Focusrite Scarlett Solo Studio Bundle includes a mic, interface, headphones and cable for $329, so then you just need to add in the mic arm & condenser shockmount.

Just to clarify what's going on here: * Blue Yetis are *not* recommended microphones for voice work. From experience, they have a really mixed reliability rating for the electronics (death by overheating), and they're really just designed to be plug-and-play USB mics with a built-in preamp. The capsules cannot really handle a wide range of volume, and the early versions only supported 16-bit audio, so you get digital clipping and distortion really quickly. * Be prepared to spend between $200-$500 for a quality microphone, and $200-$500 for a quality audio interface, depending on how many inputs / outputs you need. If you know what you're looking for, you can find deals on demo models and B-stock (Sweetwater is great for this). * The other half of this is your mic technique. If you're staying at the same distance from the mic and then ramping up into yelling from your normal speaking voice, yeah, it's gonna clip! You need to learn how to pull back and/or away to the side to tame volume jumps like that. Work with a teacher or coach to refine this. * A good voice director / engineer should identify lines with volume for you, so you can avoid straining your voice by jumping between levels, and get the "loud" takes done as separate lines, though some volume jumps are unavoidable. Your setup should be something like this: * A quality XLR, 48v phantom powered condenser microphone. No onboard electronics, preamps, interfaces, or USB anything. They may have switches to select polar patterns (sensitivity / which side), and to engage built-in -10db pads and low cut filters to reduce bass rumble, etc. * A "spider" shockmount for the microphone, which attaches to your mic stand or mic arm. This isolates it from vibrations that might pass through the desk. * A pop filter for the microphone, that deflects air from the mic capsule on plosives (P, B, T, etc.) to tame peaks. * A quality audio interface that provides an XLR connection and switchable 48v phantom power for your mic, has a good amount of clean gain, at least one pair of line outputs if you have studio monitors, and a good full-sized 1/4" headphone output. * Some sort of tamed space for recording - if you don't have a booth, something like a small bedroom with carpets and curtains, or a deep coat closet (with coats!) works. Plenty of DIY booth plans out there that you can make with moving blankets and PVC pipe. My recommended gear for a serious beginner: * Mics: Rode NT1 or NT2A; Aston Spirit; Warm Audio WA47 or WA87 (good clones of Neumanns); Audio-Technica AT2050. I recommend these because they're all reputable brands, the prices are reasonable but not dirt cheap, and if necessary they retain their retail value. * Interfaces: Audient iD4 (single input, perfect for VO, great quality); MOTU M2 (2-in, high quality); Focusrite Scarlett Solo (single input, very popular). * Shockmount: Sometimes there are ones of the same brand that come with the mics in a bundle, which is fine, I also recommend the Rycote USM InVision universal shock mount. * Pop Filter: The industry standard is the Stedman, a metal screen with a patented design that deflects air at an angle. But any decent one will do! But again: quality gear will help, technique will take you the rest of the way. Check the Helpful Resources sidebar section here for guides!

Yeah, I had a massive issue with the wa87 r2's I have due to a cell tower within a mile of here. Tried everything from ferrite chokes to buying mogami quad pole xlrs. The mogami helped mostly, got rid of about 90% of that gsm buzz, but I finally found the solution. I still have .1% but it is so quiet and seldom that it can, every now and then, because heard briefly in silence only, and barely distinguishable above the self noise of the mic. I bought Canare quad pole wire with braided shielding, and used special Neutrik-FXX-EMC and the male counterpart connectors. You do the shielding to this metal piece that covers the other solders and the ground is soldered to the plate. Pin 1 also has a 24ohm resistor for EMI too. They are used in the field typically on boom mics for movies, worst RF spot ever. They are like $12 a piece, but i made 2 15' cables for like $50 total. I did both ends of the cable even though most recommend only 1. It fixed it. You should try it, but warm should also shield their stuff better. But I love their mics so much I had to fix it rather than call it quits. I will say though, none of their tube mics do it.

Get a WA87, way cheaper, just as good.

Warm Audio WA87 has been suiting us well

They can certainly help and also get you out of trouble. Neumann are expensive and people bash the U87ai, but rarely will anyone bash their capsules. They impact everything about a mic, but consider the "off axis" response of a microphone, i.e., the "bleed". For example, if you have to quickly place two mics on singing guitar player, good "bleed" is going to be easier to deal with than bad bleed. Because I had both mics for awhile, I compared the bleed from a U87ai to a Warm Audio WA87, in that scenario and the difference was there. I spent a lot more time getting the WA87 trying to phase align and blend with other mics in proximity. More subjectively, IME, when you get close to $1k prices and up, mics also just start to sound larger in general. Bigger sonic signatures. I'm not saying that's always important and like others, I reach for SM57s often, but generally speaking...more money = bigger and/or more refined sounds that often don't need much mixing at all IME, save for a little mid correction/high passing. So, is it necessary? No, but they sure do help. Last year I was able to get some nice mics I've wanted for a long time and the hardest habit I had to break was immediately reaching for plug-ins/eq's to start fixing tracks or trying to make them sound better and bigger.

100%. I’ve used vintage 87’s, Ai’s, replicas…all blah and boring. If I absolutely had to use one it’d be fine but for being a legendary mic worth thousands, it’s always a letdown.

Uhmmmm the beyerdynamic TG I51 is a great mic it lives on my fender along with my mxl ribbon mic (I put a new transformer in there so it wouldn’t have so much mud sounds crisp imo) those are Fs cheap also 57 can be had at estate sales 20-40$ online 60 all day. But my most favorite cheap mic is this mf’n cad E-100Sx amazing acoustic mic like made for acoustic and I have it on a Marshall cab and origin 50 I also have a wa-87 it’s alright I almost like the 47jr more but I have lots of uses for the 87 I just kinda forget about it it’s so versatile so that’s all debatable