h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm in a band and we need to get a new mic. It will be used for lead vocals only. Gigging, and in the studio.

We want to spend about £80 GBP. Can anyone give us any advice on what to look for in a vocal mic?

Lee.

A Shure SM-58 or SM-57 is a decent microphone. For approximately $100 you can pick up a brand new one; these are considered to be the "meat and potatoes" of studio mics. If you are looking for a specific range or frequency response, you will typically pay more for something of better quality.

I have found that the Shure SM-57 Beta is pretty much a good "all around" mic that doesn't hurt the budget too much.

As far as "What to look for in a mic", you are looking for Dollars Spent vs. Frequency response. You want the "truest" (flat at 0 dB) frequency response at the frequencies you'll be recording at. The human voice is typically a range of 1kHz to 3kHz. All microphone manufacturer's will gladly publish a "polar response pattern" and dB response chart that will show how their given microphones perform.

Thanks for that. took your advice, and by chance I discovered the mic at the comedy club I work at is an SM-58! So I get custody of it averyday but tuesday! Bonus!