B.MicrophoneA Complete Guide
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Microphones for recording music

Different instruments, different microphones. There’s no “best music mic” — there’s a best mic for each source. Here are the proven picks for each.

Different sources, different mics

There is no “best music mic”

Recording music is the use case where every kind of microphone earns its place. Vocals want a condenser. Guitar amps want a dynamic or a ribbon. Drum overheads want small-diaphragm condensers or ribbons. Kick drums want a specialized kick mic. Acoustic guitars want one or two small-diaphragm condensers. Pianos want a stereo pair.

A starting kit for a project studio

A note on rooms

You can’t buy your way out of a bad room

The single biggest factor in recorded music quality is the room. A $99 mic in a great-sounding room beats a $3,000 mic in a bedroom. Before spending big on a Neumann, spend money on bass traps, broadband absorption, and diffusion. The room is the instrument every microphone hears.