Topic: Does price matter as much when taping certain genres?

[dizzy_geek]

This might be a dumb question but...

Taping a metal show at a venue of 500 or so people. The music is extremely loud & fast with intense bass & mostly shouting vocals with your occasional guitar solo.

Would a decent pair of quality $500+ mics make a noticeable difference over approx. $200 SP, CS, CA, etc. cards?

I'm wondering if investing in expensive mics is worth it when taping in these kind of environments.

I understand the difference in mics would definitely show even at rock concerts, but with metal I'm thinking cost/quality isn't as important.

Any suggestions & opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[phanophish]

The bottom line is there is a difference between the mics.  I suspect that even if you ask any of the guys making the small mini condensers they would tell you that there is a difference.  The tricky part is determining if that is a 300 dollar difference?  It becomes very subjective.  I've heard some great tapes pulled with the mini condensers in both open and stealth taping situations, but in a normal open taping show, I typically prefer the recordings made with higher quality mics when I A/B them 90+% of the time.  It is not a slight on the lower cost mics as they pulled a good tape in the same space, but usually the sound on a better quality mic is a little better.  The reason the Church (and other similar) mics are so popular is they offer a lot for the $$ and are very compact if that is important to you.  If they were truly the BEST sounding mics no one would run anything else.  Even mics that run $2000+ a pair don't have traits that everyone agrees on.  Any mic imparts a bit of color to the sound and some people prefer one brand over another.  For me I invested in more expensive mics and have been very happy with them. Keep your eyes on the yard sale, there are some great low cost mics that can be found there (Studio Projects C4s come to mind) that should be in the $200 range.

[rhinowing]

Depends

Obviously it would be easier to tell the difference between a pair of cheapo caps and schoeps if you were recording a chamber ensemble or something like that. Just because the difference is harder to hear doesn't mean it isn't there....

[jlykos]

I tape a lot of metal shows.  I can most definitely tell the difference between my open taping setup and my stealth microphones.  My open rig cost many times the price of my stealth one.  To me, the extra quality is worth the added cost.  Others may have different opinions.