to ArchivalAudio, if you think you are going to get any kind of consensus from members here, of any type at all, as to which mics are best for your needs, you are mistaken; every member here will have his own opinions about makers, applications, cost to benefit ratios, so much so that you will end up confused and frustrated by canvassing members here for their opinions; I'd say pick a transparent (DPA, Sennheiser, AKG) or colored sounding microphone (most everything else), active (DPA, Schoeps, Milab, Neumann, or MBHO, Sennheiser) or non-active format (everything else), and what's available in your price range, andthen narrow the list down, listen to them critically on archive.org, and they buy and start using your mics; if you do not like the sound, try other preamps, if you still do not like the sound, then replace the mics and start all over again