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James... « Good condenser for the price »
Published on 08/03/11 at 06:57This is AKG's budget condenser. It comes with a shock mount, a low cut switch, and a DB decrease switch. AKG recommends it be used for vocals, guitars, and an in general instrument microphone. It's supposed to be quite versatile for studio and even live use.
OVERALL OPINION
I've owned this mic for years. It was one of my first condensers and I choose it for the value. I have used it in many situations so I will comment on each use individually.
Vocals - The 200 is a very honest mic. If you are not a good singer, it will butcher your vocals. The 200 is almost accurate to a fault. Every little breath and tick comes through over the recording. I found it does better with vocals in a full mix than a 1 or 2 instrument recording. It seems to like female vocals better for some reason. If you want a transparent vocal mic that you can go back and edit to taste in your recording environment, this is a good mic. It doesn't have any "magic vocal sauce" though. At this price you aren't getting anything amazing.
Acoustic guitar - It's okay. Not great. You are better off with an SM81 or something of that style. If you are really gifted at mixing, it's doable, but I could never get a good strum sound with this mic.
Bass drum - Amazing. Put it in the sound hole, turn the DB cut on, and listen. Awesome kick sound. I've used it live too and it works great. In fact I swear by it for kick. My drummer wears in ear monitors to hear his kit and he loves how his kick sounds with this. Won't use anything else.
Piano - If the piano is good, then I give it an A. With some pianos it's a dud. Just depends. There are better mics for this application but in a quick and dirty live environment it will do the job.
I've abused this mic over the years and it keep on kicking. I think I would buy another if only for the kick drum use. I'm not a big fan of it on anything else. For certain voices it's great. Not so much on mine. For guitar and piano it's just so so.
OVERALL OPINION
I've owned this mic for years. It was one of my first condensers and I choose it for the value. I have used it in many situations so I will comment on each use individually.
Vocals - The 200 is a very honest mic. If you are not a good singer, it will butcher your vocals. The 200 is almost accurate to a fault. Every little breath and tick comes through over the recording. I found it does better with vocals in a full mix than a 1 or 2 instrument recording. It seems to like female vocals better for some reason. If you want a transparent vocal mic that you can go back and edit to taste in your recording environment, this is a good mic. It doesn't have any "magic vocal sauce" though. At this price you aren't getting anything amazing.
Acoustic guitar - It's okay. Not great. You are better off with an SM81 or something of that style. If you are really gifted at mixing, it's doable, but I could never get a good strum sound with this mic.
Bass drum - Amazing. Put it in the sound hole, turn the DB cut on, and listen. Awesome kick sound. I've used it live too and it works great. In fact I swear by it for kick. My drummer wears in ear monitors to hear his kit and he loves how his kick sounds with this. Won't use anything else.
Piano - If the piano is good, then I give it an A. With some pianos it's a dud. Just depends. There are better mics for this application but in a quick and dirty live environment it will do the job.
I've abused this mic over the years and it keep on kicking. I think I would buy another if only for the kick drum use. I'm not a big fan of it on anything else. For certain voices it's great. Not so much on mine. For guitar and piano it's just so so.