Topic: Most fun SUPER cheap mic you've used

[thunderbolt]

Inspired by this thread:

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=167493.0

I nominate the Sony ECM 929LT.  Looks like a little pistol, has 0, 90 and 120 degree spread (it's a little mid-side mic) and runs on a button battery for a couple hundred hours.  Although as a little kid I made lots of cassette recordings, this mic (into a Sony D6) was my first attempt at "hi-fi." 

There's one on Ebay right now (not mine) for 8 bucks. 

[flipp]

My most fun (and useful) cheap mic has to be the little omni "T" mic that came with the MT 24/96. Not sure what it cost by itself from M-Audio but Sound Professionals also had one very similar if not identical. Not the greatest mic but when plugged into an extension cable (so the recorder wouldn't be in plain sight) it made some very listenable recordings in hostile environments. I seldom tape surreptitiously but a couple of times that mic made the only known recording.

[runonce]

One of my first true taper efforts was with the trusty Realistic Stereo Mic...

I had noticed that my girlfriend's jambox had 2 1/8 mic inputs - the perfect match for this mics dual 1/8 plugs.

My first run with this rig was a Little Women show in Carlisle in 1988...went to this show on a whim - Little Women advertised in RELIX...so I figured..."maybe they'll let me tape..."

Despite the sub-par rig...that recording became the soundtrack of my life for the next few years - probably my most circulated and heavily listened back then...

Have to up that to the archive sometime - thought Lobster had it up - but I dont see it.

[BonoBeats]

One of my first true taper efforts was with the trusty Realistic Stereo Mic...

I had noticed that my girlfriend's jambox had 2 1/8 mic inputs - the perfect match for this mics dual 1/8 plugs.

My first run with this rig was a Little Women show in Carlisle in 1988...went to this show on a whim - Little Women advertised in RELIX...so I figured..."maybe they'll let me tape..."

Despite the sub-par rig...that recording became the soundtrack of my life for the next few years - probably my most circulated and heavily listened back then...

Have to up that to the archive sometime - thought Lobster had it up - but I dont see it.

Had that same mic. Never used it for taping, but did use it for drum overheads when recording a few songs with a particularly lo-fi/garage sound. Results were pretty spot on!

[Gutbucket]

The plastic mono dynamic microphone attached to the early 70's portable mono cassette deck I had as a kid, the mic had a switch on it which turned the tape transport motor on /off.  Switching it while talking into it or recording something made the classic tape slow-down/speed-up doppler-like effect as the motor slowed to a stop or returned to speed.  But the most fun was making fantastic heavily distorted explosion noises by blowing directly into the mic and overloading the mic preamp.  Most every 'radio show' I'd make with it featured multiple gigantic explosions throughout the story line.  Recorder is long gone but still have that mic in a box somewhere.

[DigiGal]

   Mr. Microphone, link to the commercial

[mpmks]

aiwa cm30 stereo mic

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/aiwa_cm_30.html

[DSatz]

mpmks, that is exactly the microphone I was going to nominate.

[mepaca]

aiwa cm30 stereo mic

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/aiwa_cm_30.html

I used to have that mic in about 1980 or 81. I still probably have it somewhere. It didn't sound very good but I recorded some great shows with it.

[stevetoney]

47 or so years ago, Santa brought be a hand-held reel-to-reel tape recorder that had a cheap mic.  On Christmas night, my sister and I snuck into Mom and Dad's bedroom and  recorded my Dad snoring.  We thought that was the funniest thing ever.  I'm glad we didn't sneak in to record other bedroom sounds my parents made...that would have been gross.