The Ultimate Home Studio Vocal Mic Shootout

[@LautenAudio]

Thanks for including us!

[@BetterMixes]

Yeah, no problem at all! I love my Lauten mics ❤️

[@LautenAudio]

@@BetterMixes 🥰

[@AquaticAudio]

The LA320 seems like a perfect compromise between price and quality, at least for this type of application. I'm a little shocked how low I'd rank the SM7b since that's been my go-to for so long. I guess for a more aggressive vocal my preference would probably be different, but this was pretty eye-opening. I guess I need to get myself a Lauten haha

[@BetterMixes]

I love the LA320! It really is great bang for the buck. And yeah, I wasn't expecting to love the sm7b, but I also wasn't expecting it to be almost offensive 😆 It definitely works better in rock music where all that midrange helps it to cut through the mix (whereas something like the LA320 would probably need a little midrange EQ boost in that context). But even for rock music, I've been finding that I've personally still been preferring the sound of condensers.

[@JoshuaKrell]

Lauten is great man! I have their Atlantis, I traded my tlm103 in for that and have never looked back. So much more versatile.

[@bill_simpkins]

The KSM is my second favorite but it's probably also the most flexible and reliable time-tested tool in this lot. It will still be useful as a mic locker grows. Shure is also going to be around for a long long time to support their products.

[@BetterMixes]

That's a good point! And being a Shure mic, it could probably survive a nuclear blast (so it would definitely survive the bumps and bruises it might come across in the studio). Which one was your favorite sound-wise?

[@fairhazel]

basically if you can sing, you can make an sm58 sound good enough for it not to matter that much

[@BetterMixes]

To an extent, absolutely! I think Julia could sing into a potato and I could make it work 😆 That being said, having the right mic for the singer/song can make it a lot easier to get where you're trying to go and will ultimately get you a better result. Most importantly though, having the right mic can often times make the singer perform better. I know in this case, Julia was pretty uninspired singing into the dynamic mics. She still gave a pretty solid performance, but I think over the course of an entire song, her performance likely would have suffered. Of course, there are times when a 58 totally is THE mic for the song! So I'm not hating on it at all!

[@stevekudlacek]

Great work! Very informative! Thanks so much!!!

[@BetterMixes]

Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@TheSafetysheep]

That ksm32 impressed me a lot!

[@BetterMixes]

It's definitely an underrated mic!

[@itsnoddykhan]

Lauten clarion or Tf29 for warmth and clear high end. please help

[@BetterMixes]

I have limited experience with the Telefunken (and it's been a while), but the Clarion has been one of my main go-to vocal mics for probably about a decade at this point, so in general, I'm a big fan of it. I really like the midrange, finding that it sits really nicely into dense tracks. It's got a tiny little dip around 2 or 3k that keeps vocals from getting nasally sounding, but then it's got a lift in the top end that makes it sound more forward and modern. Like I said, I can't go too in-depth on the Telefunken as it's been a long time, and I never got a chance to compare it directly with the Lauten. There's no one perfect mic for every voice, but I 100% believe that you would never regret buying the Lauten.

[@itsnoddykhan]

@ How’s the low end bro, my main consideration is the low end as my vocal sounds thin on many mics after processing (hiphop/pop) like manley reference , tlm103, rode nt1 I like the u87 but it gets nasally and its way out my budget. So i thought clarion is quite similar to it with a smoother top end

[@BetterMixes]

@@itsnoddykhan I find the low end to be pretty tight and controlled. Kinda neutral in the amount, like it doesn't have an evaluated low end, but it's not lacking in it either. I've used mine on kick drum quite a bit, so the low end is definitely there. (the LA-320 by contrast, has a lot more low end, but it's not as controlled). It's definitely thicker sounding than the Manley or tlm103. Compared to an 87, that dip around 2-3k is around where the 87 is exaggerated, causing that nasal sound on some singers. So since that's a problem for you on the 87, I think you'll like that area on the Clarion.

[@itsnoddykhan]

@ thank you 🙏

[@BetterMixes]

@@itsnoddykhan No problem!

[@Nikogigineishvili]

i think all mic's are great for her vocal, especially condencers and except shure dynamics :D but dont get me wrong, you can mix perfect songs with this great voice with sm58 as well, my favourite is lauten audio la-320

[@BetterMixes]

Yeah, working with a great voice certainly helps! And yeah, I felt pretty much the same way; if someone sent this to me to mix, I would have been happy with any of the mics besides the dynamics, and even those I could get to work with some extra processing. The LA-320 is an exceptional mic though!

[@itsnoddykhan]

Im really confused between lauten la320 and tf 39 i want thick warm vocals is it worthy to spend extra on the telefunkun or should i go for a tlm 49/ clarion

[@austinattack]

we STAN cooper. have you ever talked about what YOUR favorite mic is?

[@BetterMixes]

Cooper says "woof". And my problem is that I love them all 😆 (well...most of them). I'm planning on making reviews of a bunch of these so that I can go into what I think they excel at and where they might not be so great.

[@drewwilliams2411]

1. Clarion 2. V11 3. LA320 4. 4400 5. VR1 They all sounded great and were very usable. The Clarion is tight in the low mids and smooth and open in the upper frequencies.

[@BetterMixes]

Totally agree that they were pretty much all at least usable. And yeah, the Clarion has been one of my favorite vocal mics for probably a decade now!

[@jalapainyo]

Got to go with the Clarion on her

[@BetterMixes]

One of my all time favorites!

[@jalapainyo]

@@BetterMixes You get what you pay for I suppose. Ever tried Mojave 300 or 301FET?

[@BetterMixes]

@@jalapainyo Not yet! I've been wanting to try out some stuff from Mojave. I'm hoping to get one for a video review later this year!

[@jalapainyo]

@@BetterMixes Rock on! I'll watch for it.

[@tiggerplaysguitar]

1st observation is that they all sounded fine: whatever your budget, just get on with your recording, and don't wait until you can afford "that" mic you've been dreaming about. My own preferences, for what it's worth, is that I really liked the sE condensers, but I've been using sE mics for a long time so maybe my ears have tuned in to them. I also really liked the Samar ribbon, and preferred that to the sE. And then of course there is Ol' Reliable, the SM58. The ones I least liked are the Warblers. Would be happy to use them, just my least favourite of the batch.

[@BetterMixes]

Absolutely! With some processing, I think any of these would be usable. And yeah, no matter your setup, someone has almost certainly made awesome sounding music with something worse! And yeah, I was surprised by how much I liked the Samar! The singer really enjoyed singing into that one, so that's what we ended up using for the actual song. I own a handful of sE mics as well and am always quite impressed by them.

[@mirkomarkovic3438]

Jz v11 is the best for her voice. Seems that most people listen for the obvious (frequency response) and not what matters in a mix-sibilance, transient response&depth.

[@BetterMixes]

I've been quite happy with the JZ! I got it right before doing this shootout, but yeah, I think it sounds lovely for this style of music and gave me a sound I didn't previously have in my mic locker.

[@jamescassidy4045]

Hey dude! Nice job! Would you be down to compare the Samar, and the Voodoo on some guitar, and maybe some other stuff one day if you get the time? I'm really curious how it, and the voodoo would compare on crunchy/distorted guitars though. No pressure though. How do you feel the two compare freq response wise? Also, was the take Re-mic'd through a monitor/speaker with each mic?

[@BetterMixes]

That's a great idea for a video! I was going to just do a review of the Samar, but a comparison would probably be more helpful. But until then...I find the Samar to be smoother and more neutral while the sE is a little tighter in the low end and has a more pronounced midrange. On distorted guitars, I've used both successfully and often go back and forth on which I like better. The Samar usually needs the low end tamed (assuming we're talking about a big sounding amp, I've used it a bunch on cranked up tiny amps like a Fender Champ which naturally sounds quite small and thin). The extra midrange on the sE can also be nice if you're using it as the only mic on the amp as it has a little bit of that 57 thing (certainly not to the extent of a 57, but just a little bit of that push). And no, for this video, these were all separate takes.

[@jamescassidy4045]

@ Hey! That’s awesome dude! I agree, I love using just a ribbon by itself on a smaller amps like that. I only have a 4038 right now though, but that’s one thing it’s def great for. Yeah, that’s cool the voodoo has a bit of that extension in the higher end. Oh, really, damn dude, that’s crazy hah. Those were some perfectly matched takes. I didn’t think you’d honestly mic a take off a speaker, but I’m pretty amazed how exact they are unless you melo’d them 😂

[@BetterMixes]

Oh I love 4038s! Especially on drums. And yeah, Julia crushed it on this session! She was trying her best to perform each take as similarly as possible, and she definitely succeeded at that!

[@huberttorzewski]

Clarion was the best sounding on her vocal with KSM32 close second. I think JZ V67 would be fire on her vocals too, V11 is too dark and has too little upper mids/too much upper bass

[@BetterMixes]

I've been wanting to try the V67! I'm hoping to get a few of their mics here at some point for a shootout/review.

[@huberttorzewski]

@BetterMixes V67 is great for vocals and overheads while V12 is great for acoustic and electric guitar (for micing guitar cabs) from my experience. I have them both and really like them

[@BetterMixes]

Very cool! I'm excited to try them at some point!

[@2xProducedit]

Still can’t decide on the la-320 or avantone cv-12 , watchin your videos

[@BetterMixes]

A bonus of the 320 is the low-pass filter. It allows you to tailor the sound a bit to the voice/song. I find this to be really helpful at times! There's obviously never one "best" mic for every voice, but I think the 320 is a fantastic choice for that brighter, polished kind of sound. I recommend it to friends all the time. I don't think you can go wrong with it!

[@2xProducedit]

@ bet

[@alexkubik1442]

Clarion wins to me. All the low mid control but still open on top. Then, I order KSM32>SE4400>JZ>Samar... That Samar was a bit of a shocker to me.

[@BetterMixes]

The Clarion really is a fantastic mic! It's been my go-to for probably a decade at this point! And yeah, the Samar was surprisingly cool! We actually ended up using that one for the actual song as the singer really liked singing into it.

[@alexkubik1442]

@@BetterMixes The Samar... I wondered. I couldn't really pick out WHY I liked it better than the VR1 which I am a fan of... Wasn't listening in too critical of an environment, but I couldn't put my finger on it. But if the singer really liked it, it might simply be that it responded well to the vocal and made for a better take. I actually found it on par with the JZ. I tend to like the darker mic, but that one was really buttery. I was shocked at how much I didn't like the SM7B in the comparison.

[@BetterMixes]

I've generally found the Samar to be more neutral than the the VR1, which can of course sometimes be a good thing and sometimes not so good! But in this case, when we were listening back to the mics in the control room, we thought that with the Samar, if you closed your eyes, it felt like we were listening to her singing in the room as opposed to listening to a recording, which we liked for this particular song. Other songs I've done with Julia, we wanted a mic that had more character and more of 'a sound'. And yeah, I had just gotten the JZ when we did this shootout, but it did pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would do. I wanted a darker/smoother condenser as I've had a handful of singers in recently who seem to gravitate towards a darker sound, and the JZ delivers on that front!

[@ChiefsFanfromSCAL]

@bettermixes i like v13 and v11... Clarion for different reasons. If you had to buy one, which one would you choose?

[@BetterMixes]

Ooo, tough call! I like all three of those mics for different reasons. The Clarion has been my go-to for rock vocals for over a decade now. I just recently bought the V11 as I've been doing more singer-songwriter stuff, and some of those artists have liked the sound of darker mics, so the V11 has been perfect for that. And then the V13 is maybe the most versatile of the bunch? Like I feel like you can use the V13 in almost any situation and can easily tailor it to fit the singer/song.

[@ChiefsFanfromSCAL]

@@BetterMixes glad to hear that since I just got a V13... I upgraded it to get the cinemag transformer. Thanks for what you do! Your excellent at it.

[@OKNOOOOOOO]

Sphere mics.

[@BetterMixes]

I'd love to try their mic! I tried the Slate modelling mic and thought it was...ok, but I'd be curious to see if the Sphere is more to my liking!