wanted some LIVE use microphone suggestions

A friend of mine is looking to purchase a pair of drum overhead mics & also a pair of mics for his baby grand piano.

I'm just after some suggestions. These are specifically for LIVE use.

The budget isn't great so Neumanns or Coles ribbons are off limits.

What I'm after is good sounding for reasonable price. Type of music mainly jazz, fusion, jump jive, some classical.

On a budget Beyer MCE530 are ok, AKG451B, used Gefell MV672+M70 or M94. A lot of people seem to like the Rode NT5. But I have no personal expierience with them.

If they fancied the dynamic route, the Beyer M201 could work quite well. I'd consider feedback rejection.

my first choice in the best bang for the buck arena is as follows:

at4041 - these are truly great.

or

pro37r - very affordable and can do just about anything really well.

I've been using AKG451s on over heads with great success.
Also the Audix ADX51, or something like that.

If you have a little bid of money, you can get the DPA 4061 stereo kit for around $1k. They are amazing little creatures. Sound great on Piano, but you can just about use it anywhere.

Other than that, I've used AT 4033, AKG 451s, Senn 421s and the Audix SCX25 also sounds very good.

take care
Gil

MMmmm interesting ideas. Thanks guys.

Roddy I like the M201's I have one but it's out on loan at the moment. I like them because they're quite smooth sounding & the cottage loaf (BBC term for hypercardiod) pattern would be useful. Are you suggesting it for the overheads, or the piano, or both applications ?? What about the pattern for the Grand piano ? Would it be too tight to get good coverage ?

I have about 5 C451's myself with a bunch of different capsules. I have used them for overheads in the past, mainly recording, but with mixed results. I don't have the pads, & if the drummer is a heavy hitter then they overload & sounds really splashy. This is why I now prefer to use the Coles 4038's in the studio for OH, but I wouldn't use them live.

I also like the D224, & thought about them for overheads, but trying to find them in good condition is not so easy now.

In reality I think my friend will possibly find the cost of C451's more than he wants to spend.

Does anyone have any experiences of the SE1a or the Rode NT5 ???

The Oktava MK-012 (make sure you buy from a real importer of the original Russian ones!) is a pretty nice SDC for not a lot of money. I've used them on piano, drums, etc.

[quote author="Scodiddly"]The Oktava MK-012 (make sure you buy from a real importer of the original Russian ones!) is a pretty nice SDC for not a lot of money. I've used them on piano, drums, etc.[/quote]

i second the oktava's - they're great.... be careful of the cheap chinese knock offs...

[quote author="Lo-Fi"][quote author="Scodiddly"]The Oktava MK-012 (make sure you buy from a real importer of the original Russian ones!) is a pretty nice SDC for not a lot of money. I've used them on piano, drums, etc.[/quote]

i second the oktava's - they're great.... be careful of the cheap chinese knock offs...[/quote]

How does one tell the difference ??

[quote author="Rob Flinn"]
Roddy I like the M201's I have one but it's out on loan at the moment. I like them because they're quite smooth sounding & the cottage loaf (BBC term for hypercardiod) pattern would be useful. Are you suggesting it for the overheads, or the piano, or both applications ?? What about the pattern for the Grand piano ? Would it be too tight to get good coverage ?[/quote]

They should be ok for live overheads. I always thought they sounded quite similar to condensers. I haven't used them on piano, but in theory they should work well, although I see your point about te tightness of the pattern. That said, the tightness of the pattern can help in some situations if feedback is an issue. You did say it was a baby-grand. I used a pair a while back for live clarsach harp which were great as the detail was all there without too much feedback issues.

I might check out the MK012, especially if recording is a plan - have a look on Google to see pictures showing the difference between real ones and fakes.

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/

[quote author="Rob Flinn"]Does anyone have any experiences of the SE1a [/quote]
I had a pair of SE3's. They were decent, but very bright. They used the same medium diaphragm capsule found in some other cheaper mics (search the forum for some pictures and comments I made previously). Ultimately, they didn't work as well as my other OH mics (C451 and 414's), so I wound up selling them.

Regarding the MK012's, I sold mine sometime in 2002. Pucho's signature about doorstops and hammers come to mind. I guess they weren't bad for the $99 I paid, but I never understood the lovefest surrounding them.

-Chris

Consider trying omni's for live use. Since I always have a pair around I have used them pretty successfully live especially on more acoustic styles of music. By bring mics in closer you can minimize bleed and they have a very natural sound.

Now on to the more blatant self promotion:
http://avensonaudio.com/sto2.php

I third the idea of MK012s, if you follow a couple of rules:

1. Never get them from Gutter Center. Get them from www.oktava.com.

2. Get the hypercardioid capsules. They're a little flatter on top, and they have a tighter pattern. You can now get the mic body with a hyper, without having to buy a 3-capsule set.

Oh, it's also a good idea to get some kind of shock mounts.

Oh again, the reason it's hard to find AKG D224s is that they broke if you sneezed at them. Not something I'd use in a live situation, even a well-controlled one.

Peace,
Paul