Best Recording Microphones

I could recommend a few recording microphones which I think are the best out there and be done with it, but that would make for a very short post. If you wish to just get to the meat of the bun, you can scroll down to the last portion of this post and skip most of what I would be saying in the next paragraph or so. I will be talking about the different types of microphones, and what you should be looking for to be sure you are picking the best microphone for your recording. I might also talk a bit about the microphone's role in a recording studio and maybe a bit about getting the best sound out of your recording microphones too.

The word "best" is subjective. What's best for me does not necessarily mean that it's the best microphone out of the many recording microphones out there. You may find microphones with bad reviews and wonder why in the hell they got those bad reviews when you own one and you sound your best on it. That is simply because there are as many types of voices as there are different manufactures of microphones. Voices can be in the same range, but that's the best anyone can come up with when classifying voices. And there are different timbres as there are ranges, nasal, raspy, etc. But this post is not a voice lesson post, so I'll leave it at that, I’m pretty sure you get what I mean. But the idea is that it's not very common for two people to have the same voice.

And of course, they would sound different even on the same microphone, not even if it is considered by many as "one of the best recording microphones" there is.

So again, the word best is subjective. Any microphone can be the best microphone there is depending on the voice behind the microphone.

Okay, I just wanted that be said at the beginning of the post so you don't go sending me e-mails later  calling me names for recommending the "best recording microphone" and you sound like crap on it. Recording microphones can only be as good as the voice or the instrument it is recording.

With that being said, there are two commonly used microphones for recording. Dynamic microphones and condenser microphones. Which one of them is the best recording microphone depends on what you are recording.

What is a dynamic recording microphone? And what is a condenser recording microphone? What is the difference?

Dynamic microphones are the ones you usually see during live performances. That is actually what they are best suited for. But that does not mean they can't be used for recording in the studio. There simply are recording scenarios that only a dynamic recording microphone can handle. They can handle loud sounds pretty well unlike condenser microphones, which are uber-sensitive. They can be used to record drums, cymbals or loud distorted output from a guitar amp. So for loud sounds, you can say dynamic microphones are the best recording microphones, there is.

But what if you are recording vocals? You want to record yourself singing? If you're into heavy metal, and you scream more than you sing, then go with dynamic microphones for your recording.

Condenser microphones, on the other hand, are the ones you see almost exclusively in the recording studio but that doesn’t mean recording studios use condenser microphones exclusively for recording. Dynamic microphones are also used in the recording studio. It is just that condenser microphones are generally more expensive than dynamic ones and not that cheap to be used at home. (Though they are getting cheaper nowadays).

Condenser microphones are very sensitive, which makes them the best recording microphones for voice recording or stringed instrument recording. They have louder output, and you can play with the positioning to get the best sounds from, let's say, an acoustic guitar. I tried recording my guitar playing on a condenser microphone and a dynamic microphone and really, there is no contest between the two. Condenser microphone came out on top as the best recording microphone for recording acoustic guitar sounds. With the dynamic microphone, I had to position the microphone at a certain angle against the guitar hole to get the best sound out of it but still, it was lame compared to the sound I got from the condenser microphones.

There are different types of condenser microphones, and each are suited for different types of recording scenario. There is the 'pencil type' condenser microphone (also called small diaphragm microphones) which is best for stringed instrument because they can handle the fast sounds coming from the vibrations of the instrument. And the large diaphragm microphone which is most commonly used for recording vocals of singers or used as an overhead for a choir (again, you can experiment on the different positions to get the sound you like) but that is generally what they are used for and sometimes can be used as an overhead for drums in combination with dynamic microphones.

These different recording scenarios are what I was referring to when I said earlier that there is no one best recording microphone. There ARE best recording microphones, and it depends on how you will use them and what it is that you are recording.

Now you didn't read all of that and then go away without me actually telling you what I think the best recording microphones are. So here they are and I mean it. This is just a rundown of the best recording microphones, in my opinion. I'll post extensive reviews on them separately at a later time. Here goes.

For dynamic microphones, no matter what it is you're going to use it for you can't go wrong with the Shure SM57 and Shure SM58. It is said that Lenny Kravitz uses the SM58 for everything from vocals, guitars to drums, but the SM58, on the other hand, can take some nasty screaming without distorting.

For condenser recording microphones, I'll list 3 of them. One small diaphragm and 2 large diaphragm condenser recording microphones. They are the Rode NT3 condenser microphones. It's best for recording acoustic guitars and can be used in combination with the Shure SM57. For a large diaphragm condenser recording microphones, I would have to say that the Behringer C1 and the Audio Technica AT2020 are the best there is for quality and price ratio.

So there. Watch out for detailed reviews on these great recording microphones which I will be posting at a later time. Thanks for reading and check out the site from time to time for more articles, news and reviews.