About 10 years ago, I found that I was doing studio work most of the time and no live gigs at all, so it kind of made more sense to invest in an actual studio condenser mic. The Shure Beta 87A still worked well, but since it was more of a live gig sort of mic, I figured it was time to get a mic that was more at home in a studio setting. I was working at a commercial music production studio at the time, so when it came time for me to get a mic for my home studio, I was able to get my engineer colleague to set up a mic test to compare whichever mic I was considering, and compare it to some of the mics belonging to the studio. Another perk of working in a commercial recording studio is, you have many audio equipment supplier friends, that are only too happy to loan new studio gear to your studio to be tried out.
try out.
With professional audio gear, the rabbit hole can get incredibly deep, with no limits on the costs of gear. I'm a firm believer of the notion that you don't have spend exorbitant amounts of money to be able to produce awesome sounding recordings, and with that in mind, I I still really look toward audio equipment that punch above its price-point. In the case of my mic quest, the one that I found to punch way above its price point was the SE Electronic 2200T tube condenser mic. We did an audio test in the studio and we found that it sounded just as nice with my voice as the studio's Neumann TLM 103 which cost about 5 times the price. So since that test, the 2200T has been my main mic in my KL home studio, and it has worked tremendously well for me.
Fast forward to the present day, now that I have two studios in different cities, I need another mic for the Sydney studio. I didn't want to bring the 2200T every time I travel because being a tube mic, it comes with its own power supply, and a large shockmount with extra audio connectors, and even though it comes in a lovely travel hardcase, it is pretty hefty.
So dare I say it, I was once again in the market for a new additional condenser microphone! I can't wait to see what's out there that can be my main mic in my studio in Sydney.