AKG C414 XLS

if there is absolutely no way you can try mics, an AKG c414 XLS or Austrian Audio OC18 or OC818 (same mic OC18 is cardioid only and 818 is multipattern) - personally i prefer the austrian audio - they are all AKG engineers that left akg when harman closed the R&D in vienna. But a 414 is also very versatile and sounds good on almost anything.

an all-purpose, multi-patterned condenser is a must for me. my akg c414 is my workhorse. you can do some pretty cool things with 2 bidirectional capable mics too. if you’re gonna be recording drums, you’ll obviously need a full set of mics for that including a decent pair of small diaphragm condensers and a low frequency dynamic mic for kick.

I pretty much exclusively go direct line in for keyboards and mics, just find good levels before recording to get it sounding good at the source,, don’t know what else i’d really do?. So anyways, as I’ve been trying to record with the C414 and it seems to only bring out the worst qualities in my voice. It’s been a struggle to find the right levels off the bat, either it’s too quiet or it picks up too much, and of course I’ve tried all kinds of different variations with the bass cut filter and the preattenuation pad. The absolute BIGGEST problem I’ve been having is the mic picking up all this rasp and throaty qualities and I’m dying to cut that out in some way (especially the raspiness), whether it be mic placement, setting levels differently or any kind of plugins (I record with Cubase).

Incredible microphone, but it’s expensive, figure-eight and may not be a good fit for every voice, as the high end is a fair bit subdued. Another good all-round vocal mic preferred by many rappers is the AKG C414. The XLS version is ultra-linear, whereas the XLII has a lift in the highs. It is a bit expensive (£599 on Thomann right now), but there tends to be a lot of them on the used market, and they work great on lots of sources, and are multi-pattern (switchable between figure-eight, omni, cardioid, sub-cardioid and supercardioid).