Behringer B-5

I have used the B5 to record mainly guitar tracks and some drums but not that much because I don’t have a full drum set up at home. I have used the B5 for over a year now and I must say it is a very good accurate mic. I really don’t have any complaints or anything bad to say about it. Even the price is a good point to purchase this if its your first instrument mic. Even if its not your first mic you will still love the way that it sounds on your guitar. I havent really used it on anything except guitar and hats and snares so I really cant comment on how it would sound with some brass instruments or some of the more bright and stronger instruments. One thing to take note on with the B5 by Behringer is that you will need to be in a treated studio room in order to get the best sound quality possible. Yes, you can use it hat home but keep in mind that if you have other things going on around you like the tv on or window open and outside noises coming in, the B5 will pick those sounds up and you will hear them very clear during playback. Now you can eq some of them out but you know that when you start eq ing you start to lose some of the natural quality of the instrument that you where recording in the first place. So to avoid any of that just make sure its quiet around you or as close to silent as possible.


OVERALL OPINION

You can purchase this mic brand new at a very cheap price. And for how good it is , it could be one of the best options for you. I know that it was the best price and quality option for me. I have used a ton different mics and condensor mics and this one stands out without a doubt. I just don’t record unless I can have complete silence. I really hate picking up background noises and because the houses are so close together here you can easily hear stuff going on out side when recording. So I try to limit the external sounds as much as possible.

The Behringer B5 is a condesor mic that I was skeptical about from the start. But after using it on a few instruments and recording in to my laptop pro tools 9 it really proved to be a very nice mic. Actually for the price it might be on of the best ones in the its price range. Behringer hasn’t really stood out to me in the mic department. I havent used a whole lot of mics from them. But this is one of my favorite ones out of the few that I have used.


OVERALL OPINION

The mic is very cheap, when I say cheap I mean as in the price of the mic and not the quality. The quality of the mice is great, it wont go out on your and will provide great recording quality for your instruments. I havent used it for vocals yet, not too sure if you are suppose to use it for vocals, but I normal like to try mics out with all types of instrumentals an d vocals just to text how it sounds with different types of wav forms.
You can get this mic in almost any music store around and it will be really cheap, so cheap you wont want to get it because you will be thinking that it wont work for you and it will sound bad. But let me tell you it will sound great and bring a good quality recording to your set up. Take it with you wherever you go. Its very light and if something does happen to it, no need to worry because its not expensive. Plus Behringer themselves will give you a warranty outside of the store warranty. So you are covered either way! Purchase this mic and make it your on the go road mic for quick recordings and demo songs!

*Microphones are very subjective. Some microphones that work for some brilliantly may be disastrous on others. It is therefore important to understand the context in which this review is written and take it with a grain of salt, like all reviews on microphones should be treated.*

I have rather limited experience using stick condensers, as I usually work in vocals. I've been told they work well on choirs, but that's not exactly easy to test out.

The Behringer B-5 is a small diaphragm stick condenser that clearly in existence to undercut the higher end stick condensers. And undercut it does. All things considered, it's a quite effective microphone.

The Behringer B-5 includes a low frequency roll off filter and a 10 dB pad, although this bizarre trend that cheap microphones share in putting the roll off and pad on the same switch is beginning to get on my nerves, as both cannot be engaged at once. This is a rather annoying trend that needs to end as soon as possible.

Overall, in the little time I had to use it, I found that it was surprisingly pleasant, although, as I expected, once I started stacking recordings done with the Behringer B-5 together, they began to progressively get harsher and harsher.

And considering its target market, I feel compelled to tell you that these microphones do not plug into a computer directly, and require phantom power to operate. They need to be plugged into an interface with audio to digital converters which is plugged into your computer. It may seem obvious, but many newbies are not aware of this need and become needlessly frustrated.

OVERALL OPINION

The Behringer B-5 small diaphragm condenser is surprisingly nice, and I could see someone using it to mic a few things in a mix. However, as I suspected, it is very important to not use this microphone dominantly in a mix, because the frequency buildup will become very, very apparent and harsh.

However, for the price, and even against my general distaste in Behringer as a company for most things, I can actually recommend this microphone, although I would tell you with all my heart to save up for something better.

This behringer B-5 microphone is a condenser microphone. I have used it whilst recording instruments such as an acoustic guitar, a mandolin and a banjo.
You can also use it for recording hi hats on a drum kit and maybe sometimes a snare drum but I would not recommend that.
It uses phantom power 48v like most condenser or maybe even all condenser microphones use.
Do not use this live as the condenser will pick up a lot of unwanted sound, dynamic mics are what you should look for if you were looking to play live.
Connection is an xlr which is standard for most microphones since it is balanced.


OVERALL OPINION

The first thing I like is how little expense it was to the studio, it is very cheap for the quality it is.
I do not like the fact that the quality of sound is not the best, but you do get what you pay for in terms of mics so it is understandable to me I guess.
I have a range of condenser mics around the studio and I do like to get these out from time to time especially for people learning about mic techniques and such things. These are great to learn with as they are very easily positioned so you can learn all the different mic placement setups that you will find in a recording studio.
Since these mics are thin they are great from the X and Y mic position and also the near coincident position as these make the mics go rather close together.