Sterling Audio ST51

I used this mic to record vocals and it initially gave a nice quality sound that was warm and clear. After a few months of using the mic, it started making a crackling and static sound that would come and go intermittently. I thought it might have been the cable so I purchased a high quality cable but the problem continued. I have had to do recordings with hopes that the static sound would not return while singing was occurring. I have had to redo vocal tracks due to the static sound manifesting during a recording and now the mic does not work at all.
It's unfortunate that a mic with such an excellent build quality that initially generated a top notch sound no longer works. Lastly, this mic was in a stable environment (home studio) and handled with care.

Here are some successful recordings that I did with the mic before it stopped working (all vocals were done using this mic). https://youtu.be/sXZAlQADiOk

I used to record my vocals with a CAD GXL(global audio) and then i tried an AT2020 but none of them gave me the quality that i wanted, then i realized it was time to buy something serious, i tried the shure sm7b, and then this baby, my precious ST51, as i am rock Vocal i did shootout with them to see which one captured better the gritty and raspy sound of harmonics overtone (singers know what im talking about) the sm7b was awesome! but, there was something at that ST51 that sounded warmer, and more detailed, maybe the fact that it is a condenser mic and the sm7b is not, but both are vocal recording mics at the end the ST51 won, and i am happier now with the sound of my voice recordings, this thing capture almost EVERYSOUND! so get a quiet and full of auralex room to do your recordings and enjoy the rich full sound of FET... this is also a great overhead for drums, my drummer used it twice to record some demos just this and a kick mic, and it sound pretty nice.


It sits so well in my mixes right after recording, not much eqing is needed(in most cases) and the clarity just stands out, so everything that is said is heard.


OVERALL OPINION

The sound is full and clear and crisp and I was very pleased with the stunning results of this mic. And the other thing is that I didn't even use a good preamp with this mic, The one that I used was the presonus Tube pre and It sounded amazing. Another thing that I found out is that is very durable, because when i first got it I was trying to put it on the shock mount and dropped it from a distance of 4' feet and that things still worked flawlessly. So if your ready to take it to the next level than this is a serious mic for you trust me on this one.