AKG C5

- What kind of microphone?
Micro singing scene

- What technology?
Cardioid condenser


OVERALL OPINION

- Did you try many other models before getting this one?
I use a small park rather modest: SM58/57, Sennheiser Evo & MD, AKG, Beyer M series, static SE electronics and tape Thomann. I had the opportunity to test other refs among classics, including condensing competitors from Shure and Sennheiser. However, not yet had the chance to test the stage microphones from Neumann equivalent.

Test condition: at home, config homestudio acoustically untreated.
Plugged into a strip Mindtprindt Trio.

- Live:
So at the base, this handheld microphone is designed for the stage. The design is excellent, robust. I find it seemingly close enough to what is produced at Sennheiser. The advantage that we can see from the outset with this is that electrostatic offers better intelligibility voice. Under conditions of repeated (sometimes a bit rude), the voice is more apparent in the mix. This limits the need to yell to be heard and that, suddenly, you feel better to sing bcp and less tiring.

- In home studio:
So we wanted to deepen its performance in a configuration more "set", just to see ...
Handling noise are minimal. When recording you can afford to move by hand without noise, which is rather nice when testing investments. It is therefore launching a small jam session acoustic guitarists, 2 singers. The microphone is placed merely overlooks piped to about 1.50m, pointing to 45 degrees downward toward the musicians. Given the distance and is a cardioid, I push the preamp with a fair dose of compression.
1st observation: it sounds live ... and surprisingly good! Natural and perfectly balanced. Any jurisdiction separately, guitar, vocals, backing. I was amazed by how nicely the nuances emerge and low need of having to adjust the EQ or placement. Unlike a large multi-purpose static, we see immediately that this C5 is calibrated to the voice (the Trio and its accounting for that matter), which allows recording voice and acoustic intruder with a record of quality and a gain Huge time: not too concerned about the treatment of the room, popping, antipop, EQ, etc. ... Ideal for beginners (with little knowledge mix) or even, why not ... even the pros very eager to box without leaving the whole arsenal.

In conclusion, I find the ratio q / p of this micro hard to beat. Given its audio qualities and especially that barely reaches the correct rate for a dynamic, it's really worth it to address. Rather than acquiring a first condenser microphone capsule with a big low-end and then lose his time tinkering in the poorly controlled, I largely recommend this mic scene. Retaining a record equivalent to the live studio is also an asset rather interesting: I think most singers sometimes disrupted by the treatment studio, where even they can no longer recognize their own voice ...