Budget mic for recording acoustic guitar / banjo

Zonular

I've got a focusrite solo and reaper and a tiny box room with some noise outside, what is decent, I'd love to keep it on the cheaper side (behringer clone) for the moment 

drofluf

This thread any help?

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/248302/budget-mic-for-recording-acoustic-work-teams-calls-etc#latest

TheMadMick

I've found the Rode M3 incredible value for money. I bought mine at just under £80.00 which given what you get in material and quality seems incredible to me. And you can power it with a 9v battery - no need for phantom power. Also very good for vocals.

I still have a couple if you are interested?

Zonular

@TheMadMick cheers for the offer, won't be buying anything to soon (January is still a long month

BillDL

On a budget?

I have found the Behringer C-3 condenser microphone is a very capable one for a small outlay:

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0504-AAF

£41.60 at Gear4Music:

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-C-3-Condenser-Microphone/GVA

Normally £40 to £50 but on sale at Andertons for £34:

https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-c-3-studio-condenser-microphone/

Note: It requires Phantom Power, but your Focusrite Solo has phantom power.

Zonular

Thanks for the recommendation!
Im debating between the behringer sl75 Vs the c3 (the c2 pair is that worth including in the debate?)

BillDL

Behringer is no stranger to making affordable but very good copies of existing quality items, so the C-2 is most likely modelled on something by AKG or Rode but built a little bit more cheaply and without the badge name.

Going back a long while, the "go to" microphone for recording acoustic guitars was the AKG C1000.  It did a good job but was versatile enough for lots of other jobs (they still make it as the C1000S many decades later), so most studios will have had a few.  The problem with mics is that "good" is subjective.  You will now see YouTube videos sitting side by side where one is captioned "AKG C1000 - probably the most hated microphone ever?" and the other "AKG C1000S - The only mic you will ever need".  It's a minefield, but I don't think you will go wrong with the ones you are currently debating.

Zonular

Cheers mate, sure is a minefield 

drofluf

Don’t overthink it; get yourself one of the recommendations from here and use it for a while and work out what you like and don’t like about it. Just because I think a particular microphone is “perfectly balanced across the sound spectrum” doesn’t mean that you won’t find it lacking in bass. 

BillDL

Agreed.  The actual placement of a microphone is probably as important, if not more so, than the actual microphone - as long as you have one that's fairly well suited to the application.