Topic: What mic is better from this site?

[adlts]

I will order a recorder in January, but I don't understand almost nothing about mics. Could someone help me to choose one and explain which one is better?

The site I'm ordering the stuff is http://www.minidisco.com/Microphones

[powermonkey]

My advice would be to get a list of suitable mics - from that site the Sound Pro SP-CMC-8C's look pretty interesting, along with either a preamp (for quiet shows) or a battery box (for loud ones). You really should check out the Church_Audio eBay shop, too. I've got a pair of CA STC-11s that I'm really, really happy with, and a lot of folks round here use CA gear too.

Anyhoo, once you've got a couple of choices, get over to the Live Music Archive (www.archive.org) and check out a few shows recorded with the different sorts of mic. That's a pretty decent way to get an idea of different mic sounds.

Hope that helps.

[Belexes]

Chris' Ebay shop:
http://stores.ebay.ca/CHURCH-AUDIO

Soundprofessionals site:
http://www.soundprofessionals.com

[Will_S]

powermonkey has some really good advice above.

My opinion:  The Sound Professionals CMC-4U with low sensitvity mod, the Church Audio STC-11, and the Microphone Madness HLSC-1 mics are all good choices for starters.  The Microphone Madness mics *may* need modification for use at very loud shows, and does not have interchangeable capsules (i.e. you can only use a cardioid pickup pattern).  The SP mics have more capsule options than the Church mics (but between cards and omnis you are covered 95% of the time), and may be better at resisting RFI noise from cell phones etc.

IMO all three of the above are at a similar level of sound quality, but they have distinctive "flavors" and you need to decide for yourself which you like best.  Unless you have a strong preference for the flavors of the other mics, the performance per dollar of the Church mics seems the best to me (even though I own the SP mics, I bought them in 2004 which I believe predates the Church mics).

[deadheadcorey]

check out these. top mics > http://www.avantelectronics.com/CK-1.htm

[Belexes]

I'm assuming he's stealthing as the first link was from a MD web site, so the CK-1's may not be an option.

If you are on a budget, go with the Church mics. They are priced lower than the competition, but provide all the quality of the MM's and SP's. (at least from my ears)

[fmaderjr]

I second Belexes' recomendation. I think the Church Audio mics will out perform all of the mics on the Minidisco site (even the ones that cost a lot more). A tremendous bang for the buck.

The Sound Professionals CMC-4Us with low sensitvity mod perform similarly and have more options for changing the caps, but cost a good bit more and MiniDisco seems to only offer the regular sensitivity ones.

[calvinroots]

I am enjoying my STC-11's! just recently bought them and I am very happy so far...I also just figured out that the caps with holes are the cards and the omni's have no holes around them!!! so I am looking forward to taping my next show.  Yeah, I wanted to let you know I like the CA's

[rastasean]

I'm very interested in the ST-11's that everyone is talking about but where do I find them for sale?

I will be using these mics to record concerts/shows (loud ones) so I don't think I need a mic pre right now since everything will be loud. Is this a right assumption? If you do think I need a mic-pre, i hear nice nice about the 9100 is nice but what kind of inputs does the pre have? Will the st-11s be able to work with that pre?

Thanks guys,
Sean

[professorhalfbaked]

Try this thread from the Retail Space:  http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,96900.0.html

I just got a pair of these yesterday, and I must say I am pretty impressed so far.  Itching to try them out at a show!

[Belexes]

I will be using these mics to record concerts/shows (loud ones) so I don't think I need a mic pre right now since everything will be loud. Is this a right assumption? If you do think I need a mic-pre, i hear nice nice about the 9100 is nice but what kind of inputs does the pre have? Will the st-11s be able to work with that pre?

Thanks guys,
Sean

For loud shows and possibly depending on what recorder you are running them into, you can either run off the plug-in power from the recorder or a battery box. No pre needed.  The 9100 is nice for recording the non-loud shows as you can set your recorder at unity and get all the gain from the pre. Chris Church makes these custom. Mine was made with 1/8" in and 1/8" out. The ST-11's and ST-9100 make an excellent pair and do work together.

[rastasean]

For loud shows and possibly depending on what recorder you are running them into, you can either run off the plug-in power from the recorder or a battery box. No pre needed.  The 9100 is nice for recording the non-loud shows as you can set your recorder at unity and get all the gain from the pre. Chris Church makes these custom. Mine was made with 1/8" in and 1/8" out. The ST-11's and ST-9100 make an excellent pair and do work together.

For the time being it will be a sony MD recorder and eventually upgrade but I still would like a nice stealth combo and that is why I was thinking of church audio st-11s.

Actually, does anyone have any recordings with the st11s?

Instead of a battery box for really high SPL, could I just use a mic attenuator cable like this one:
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-ATEN-6

[Belexes]

The St-9100 can be used for attenuation and it's adjustable.  11 O' Clock on the dial  is unity, anything less attenuates, anything more adds gain.

[rastasean]

The St-9100 can be used for attenuation and it's adjustable.  11 O' Clock on the dial  is unity, anything less attenuates, anything more adds gain.

Oh, great. Thanks for the knowledge. Do you have any recordings using the church audio setups or do you know where I may find some? I came across some the other day, maybe from c-a himself but they were pretty lousy compressions so nothing sounded good.


Thanks again,
RS

[Belexes]

Check out this thread:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,86896.0.html

And check out  Team Church Audio.  Someone just posted a Foo Fighters with the CA cards > R-09 and that sounds great with a super-stealth set up:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,80892.270.html