"soundhaspriority"
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"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
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"soundhaspriority"
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"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
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"soundhaspriority"
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Have cheap mikes advanced much since I got my AT-31's
?

Audio Technica Pro 31?

I'd like to have some phantom electret cardiodes that
are a little better than these.

How about the AT M4K, has a blue handle, around $95
U.S. ?

Audio Technica MB 4K?

Yes, I have two of them, purchased for vocal use. How do
they work as instrument mics?

They will probably sound thin, particularly on
instruments that actually have serious bass. So, you may
be able to get away with using vocal mics on violins and
flutes, but not on tubas, pipe organs, an acoustic
bass, or bass drums. Reason why - vocal mics are usually cardioids and
therefore have what is known as "proximity effect" which
is variable bass boost/cut that varies with the distance
from the sound source to the mix. The further away the
mic, the less bass you get. Cardiod mics designed for use as MI mics
generally have
more bass - their proximity effect is tuned for use at
greater distances from the source. Many MI mics have so
much bass that they are really only generally usable in
elaborate shock mounts. Also vocal mics generally have built-in bass cut
to
reduce handling noise and sensitivity to popping. Finally, even more bass
cut may be added to improve
articulation. Some mics have a bass filter with a
switch. This broadens their range of application. Vocal mics often have
a "presence peak" in the upper
midrange. This will tend to make violins sound more
screetchy. In cheap vocal mics, this peak may be
especially big and rough. IOW it may be composed a
number of peaks in the same frequency range. Classic
example: Shure SM58.

A *classic* good cheap MI mic is the MXL 603S.

Is this electret or traditional?

I don't believe that the 603S is an electret design. It's a traditional
condensor. Not that it matters.

How much gap is there between this and a no-compromise
mic?

A few thousand dollars. ;-)

I was given the opinion by an outfit that had tested
a bunch; they came to the conclusion that the top strata
begins around $400, and there isn't much difference above
this figure.

I don't think there is any scientific law that defines a linear relationship
or even a monotonic relationship between price and sound quality with
microphones or anything else.

Picking and positioning a mic for a given application takes a lot of skill.
The right relatively inexpensive mic used with skill will almost always
sound better than the wrong expensive mic used naively.