AKG C1000

Been makin music for 6 years, recorded many demos and rehearsals, recording to a digital roland 8-tracker, listen through v good JBL monitors.

I dont usually post reviews, but seeing the good reviews this MIC has got, I simply felt I had to.

I bought the C1000 for vocals, as AKG claim it is for. This is an AWFUL vocal mic!!! I only realised this after recently trying out other MICs. Just look through any online forums, and people who really know their stuff ALL agree. There is no worse sounding condenser MIC for my vocals that I've tried.

Whats wrong with it? Its adds a harsh metallic ring to the sound of my voice - unacceptably poor. That said it is not bad at other things, like recording acoustic guitars and sounds ok when recording my vox amp. But the fact that AKG claim it to be a vocal MIC, when it is obviously awful at this, is false marketing. I wont be buying anything of theirs again.

I have been playing drums and percussion for 7 years now. I also play guitar and keyboards/synth. I enjoy recording my music and the music of other people. I have been recording for the past year and I'm really interested in it. I have a Tascam 788 Digital Recorder.

The C1000 is a Condenser microphone. Polar patterns consist of cardioid and hypercardioid. Currently I am using the 2 AKG C1000s as drum overhead mics. The sound quality is amazing when miking the drums with only 2 C1000 mics. With them posistioned approx. 2 ft. over the cymbals and about 2 1/2 to 3 feet apart (depending on the size of the drum set) you pick up the cymbals as well as the drums in a good mix. You even get a solid response from the kick drum. With a mic on the snare and a mic on the kick drum, you could achieve a very professional sounding recording.

The only pitfall for me is the on/off switch which is embedded in the mic body, it is difficult to turn the mic on and off. AKG advertises this as a good thing because it can't be accidentally turned on or off but it is difficult when you're actually trying to.

Overall, the AKG C1000 is a great mic a works wonderfully as a drum set overhead.

20 years making music, a fair amount of recording experience using quite a number of mics, recording to Adats. Listening equip is all-tube, hand-built.

It's a pretty impressive (albeit bulky) construction. I use them as drum overheads for the only reason that they can run on batt power, and my bank of 16 preamps don't have phantom power, so the mic gets a 10 in this dept.

As for sound, I've heard this thing can get a bit harsh in the upper frequencies, and I tend to agree - it's not agressively so, like immediately noticeable distortion, but a lack of 'finess' especially in application I use them in (overheads). However, they are well built, battery powered and fairly priced. Not the last word in quality, but good nonetheless.

Recording into Cubase SX and other DAW Apps. Using ART D/IO pre and Mackie HR-824 and TOA me-265.

Get the specs from the other reviews.

We have been using a pair of these mics for recording acoustic guitar and other acoustic instruments in stereo. Music stores often run specials on these mics as a pair for about $300.00. I have a nylon string acoustic (Yamaha G20, I think, I'm a keyboard player) and it sounds very sweet through these mics with just a touch of reverb when played by someone else.

We use an X setup at about 120 degrees for rhythm guitar and a split arrangement for acoustic guitar (one on the neck, one on the body) with subtle placement to reflect the tone we're looking for.

I occasionally use the mic for vocals. On some songs, I find my voice sounds warmer than some of the large diaphram condensers we use if I use the poximity effect to boost the bass. Also, it's less sensitive and less likely to pick up unwanted ambient noise if you're in a less than perfect environment.

BOTTOM LINE: Fair value for the money. Nice solid heavy feel. I
like how they sound but opinions vary. Check them out
if you're in the market.

I've been playing for about 15 years, and started 5 years ago my amatorial recording experience. I'm recording at home using a Mackie VLZPRO mixer, a computer with a Terratec sound card, and a AKG C1000S and a Shure SM57 mic.

The C1000S is a condenser dual pattern (cardiod and hyper) mic. It acceps the standard phantom power from the mixer (or the pre-amp) and also can be powered from an internal 9V battery; I usually use this mic to record acoustic guitar, and very rarely for double bass and voices. Due to its very bright sound (I think it has a bit a sensible responce to high freqs) I usually prefer other mics for vocals (the SM57 works so fine...). I've never used the mic in live situations, but still it looks well builded and strong enough to handle uncareful handing.
Also I use the mic for panoramic takes, as it is quite sensible and not noisy - compared to the SM57!
It is an overall good mic, but still I would check the Behringer B-1 (wich has a similar price) or maybe the Shure PG-81: maybe with patience and practising I will get the best out of this mic, but I find the Shure SM57 much easyer to use - those bight highs are diffucult to handle!

Playing guitar for over 10 years. Playing music for about the same and recording for a little under a year now. Pro Tools LE Digi 002, 2 behringer preamps and Mackie HR624 Monitors.

Condenser, two patterns: cardoid and hyper. I don't dislike the mic, it's just that people are far too enthusiastic on here so I thought I'd balance things out a little. It's a good mic. It's got too much noise in my opinion, the on-off switch is hard to get to, maybe on purpose but it is hard to get to. Great response. If I could do it again I'd save the money and get something more expensive with less noise. Noise is a FACTOR. Once things get limited and compressed, noise is a FACTOR, you might not hear it now, but when you limit and comp it sneaks out of the cracks.

I am a vocalist and have been performing and practicing for last 25 years. For the last 6 years I have delved into recording, mostly at home using a DAW and some outdoor recordings using cassettes.

C1000S is a small diaphram condenser mic with cardoid polar pattern. It accepts 48V phantom power from a mixer or it can be powered by a regular 9V battery. Not many condenser mics offer this. It has a recessed on/of switch which is very helpful to save battery life when not in use and also when it is used on stage. Also with a supplied attachment the polar pattern can be changed to a hypercardoid to lessen the feedback and to make it more directional.

This mic appears to have a tendency to enhance the higher frequency sounds. I have used it with female vocals, especially for young talents and also for recording Tabla and Khol (these are drums from India). I have also used this myself on stage with fantastic results.

I have many other mics including the ubiquitous SM57 and SM58. I prefer C1000S for its low-noise, transperent and high-gain outputs. This is a very versatile and highly usable mic for recording and also for live performances. It is vary rugged and robust and has a very low handling noise due to a very effective built-in shock-mount.

I would certainly recommend this mic to anyone who wishes to deliver clean music to the audience.

I use these things into a Mackie 1604VLZ board(hey, it's not bad and it doesn't have any 'pretender' channels), Yamaha P4500 poweramp for the mains and a QSC USA 850 for monitors and side fills. for mains i've got Yamaha S15V x four, monitors are EV Sx300s and the side fills are an ancient pair of Traynor YSC-10s. ancient, but they sound pretty good even with their original CTS KSN piezos!

mostly for live work but, some recording happens as well. in my case, board directly to an Apple eMac which runs Cubase, Soundtrack or Garageband, whichever is most appropriate.

i use a pair of Sennheiser HD457s to monitor the mix.

i am not the biggest live sound authority in existence, however i try to know what i'm dealing with at least to some degree and enjoy electronics.

While not a true condenser, kind of an electret thing, i think it's a kickass microphone. you have to be careful about how you use it for vocals, as i keep hearing complaints about how "it sucks for vox". don't be gain-happy, that's for sure. it also helps to show the performer how to use the mic properly, as a lot of the time they assume that since the mic vaguely resembles a popsicle, it should be eaten like one. it's quite easy to control the midrange with this mic and is wonderfully suited to acoustic instrument micing. bright, clear sound, no piercing, shrill highs and a wide frequency response. also excellent for overhead drum micing and general "room" micing for recording.

I have been playing guitar for over 19 years, writing music for over 15 years and recording music for over 12 years. I use a Zoom hard disk recorder for final tracking and mixing currently, and do my initial arrangements on an old 4-track recorder as a scratch pad. I do my monitoring either through my home or car stereo, as that is where it will need to sound best.

This is a condenser microphone with cardoid and adaptable hypercardoid polar patters-you can add an attachment to the internal capsule to make it hypercardoid. It also comes with a presence boost adaptor (which I generally leave on).

I chose this microphone because I liked its sound when I tried it at a local Mars store (before they went out of business). I use it primarily for recording acoustic guitar, although I may be interested in trying it for recording guitar cabinets or ambient room/environment noises later on.

The sound is tight and focused, with a good, even reproduction of what you're hearing. I aim it right at the sound hole of my Epiphone Howard Roberts (which I use as an acoustic/electric in conjunction with an AKG C411), or my Epiphone C40CE classical cutaway, with about 6", +/-1" distance between the foam windscreen on the C1000 and my strings. The angle I typically use is 45 to 60 degrees depending on what techniques I use in my playing.

The highs are surprisingly smooth and tight, the mids are rounded and the lows are full from a big-bodied guitar. It does backing vocals justice, although I recommend a wider diaphragm mike like the C3000 for lead vocals. This thing is built like a tank, and I appreciate that you can pop in a 9-volt battery to power it if you

Very new to microphones: But setup for DAW is as follows:

Microphones (AKG C1000) ---> dbx 2215 compressor limiter ---> m-audio delta 44

All recording is recorded/edited/mixed with Cubase and strangers who hear my work always compliment me on the sound. Isn't that what you want in a mic.

The ability to use 2 of these microphone in stereo is awesome and should be mentioned in reviews more often.

The AKG C1000 Condensor mic is great for what AKG says it's good for: Vocals, Strings, and un-amplified things. This includes drums, a crowded room, or even a thunderstorm. Keep the signal beautiful and the C1000 picks it up with quality you wont regret paying for.

I chose this microphone because of the price - Since I use it for song demos only, I dont feel the need to be spending $500 on a microphone to record an album that only my friends will hear - I enjoy playing live.

I would definitely recommend this microphone for those who want flat EQ response and warm clarity. It's really a good microphone.