The Ultimate Mic Shootout Roundup

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
You may have read that insightful quote before. For this article I’d paraphrase it this way:
Writing about music gear is like dancing about architecture.
Can you really communicate exactly what you hear using words?
There are countless sites on the Internet where you can read all you want about any piece of music gear ever made. Read forums or online reviews, and you’ll know the writer’s opinion (or dozens of writers’ opinions) about a source they heard on speakers they own in a room where they work. But what if you want to know what it truly sounds like in a room you know on speakers you are familiar with? What if you’d like to judge for yourself with your ears instead of someone else’s ears? Wouldn’t that be more informative?
That’s the reason we take the time to conduct these shootouts. You may not have access to 50 vocal mics, but we do. And we have the studio and the singers and the time to record them, allowing you to play the sound clips and hear them in your own studio or home. For us (and our customers), these sound clips are incredibly informative. Instead of collecting the gear, setting it up, and calibrating everything, you can just read the article and listen to the sound samples. So easy. And you’ll be better informed before you make your purchase. We love doing them, and from the feedback we receive, you love listening to them.
Here’s a roundup of the mic shootouts we’ve done in the past two years. And we’re just getting started. As long as there is new gear coming out that we want to hear, we’ll keep taking it into the studio and listening. And inviting you to listen with us.

Vocal Mic Shootout
We listened to 50 vocal mics on both male and female voice. You can too.

Best Mics for Recording Snare Drums
We compared seven snare drum mics in the studio.

Guitar Cabinet Mic Shootout
Hear 21 popular guitar cabinet mics with two different musical styles.

Kick Drum Mic Shootout
We audition 11 of the best kick drum mics of all time. What you hear may surprise you.

Best Small-diaphragm Condenser Mics for Acoustic Guitar
These are all great mics, but they all sound different. We tried them out on a Martin D-28 and a Gibson J-45. If you haven’t heard them before, here’s your chance.

USB Mic Shootout
Listen to 11 USB mics on singing voice with guitar, and on voice-over.

Virtual Mic Shootout
Unless you have access to all these vintage mics, you may wonder how the virtual mics compare with the vintage originals. Now you can listen and decide for yourself.

Handheld Vocal Mic Shootout
We took six vocal mics and two singers onstage to see how they compare.

How to Mic a Choir
We enlisted a choir to demonstrate six microphone pairs and different mic placements.

Manley Mic Comparison — Silver, Gold, and Ref Cardioid
Manley’s microphone offerings, side by side. Can you hear a difference?

Drum Mic Shootout with Mike Johnston
Mike Johnston demonstrates multiple miking techniques at a wide variety of price levels.

Stay tuned. We’ve got lots more shootouts in the works. If you hear some mics you like, give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700.
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