AKG C535

pro musician, recording engineer, own and run a small recording studio and work in some larger studios and remotes regularly. mostly own best of low end and mid grade gear, with a little bit of high end stuff, also borrow and use very high end pro audio gear in other studios daily.

it's a studio standard, and one of the best deals in condensor mics you can get. it should be a $1000 mic, it's built considerably better than anything chinese, sounds far smoother and has much more flattering highs (nothing harsh here), is a true condensor mic (not that anything's wrong with electrets inherently), has incredibly quiet handling noise if you must hold it, has nice rolloff features, and simply sounds incredible. Great for any classical recording and lots of pop work.

one of the best female pop and classical vocal mics you can buy for any price.

I've been making music for about 15 years now and have a high-end digital studio, some great pre-amps (Neve, UA 610, UA 2108), and some nice mics (C414, U87, M149, etc.).

This is one of the best mics I've ever had the pleasure of using. I can't think of anything negative to say about it. It sounds great on everything, is very accurate, compact, lightweight, inexpensive and very rugged. It is fantastic in every respect. I highly recommend that you demo this mic before you buy anything else. I'm sure you'll come to the same conclusion.

I've been recording for almost 5 years. Read many books and took audio engineering class in college. I am also an amateur microphone builder. I mostly record demos for bands on location and do overdubs at home with a vs-880ex and varios pro-sumer preamps (studio projects, m-audio, etc.). I mix with cubase sx and master with izotope ozone. I mostly monitor with sony MDR-V900 (the best) headphones as I can't justify spending 1k on some reference speakers.

This is a handheld small diaphragm TRUE condenser mic (no electret capsules here!). I mostly use it for vocals, overheads and acoustics. I'll keep this simple:

This is the best mic you could ever buy! Period. If I knew then what i know now I wouldn't have wasted thousands of dollars on condensers. I would have bought two of these, for stereo applications, and maybe one multi-pattern tube mic. That's it, aside for various dynamic mics for high SPL sources.

My favorite aspect of this mic is the sound. Straight out of the box it sounds smooth and pro like without being hyped (like some brighter cheaper handheld condensers). And it doesn't sound hollow, tunneled or too mid range-ish like most handhelds. Its the most versatile mic i've every used. I've heard people use this for flamenco guitar, female singers, screaming heavy metal vocals and, my favorite, drum overheads. I've got the BEST drum overhead sound with these mics. Also, if you record screamers who can't seem to pull it off unless the mic is in their hand then this is the mic for you! Put Phil Anselmo to shame :)

Which brings me to my second favorite thing about this mic. Its hand held and quite with no handling noise! You could be jumping all around, and aslong as you have a good cable, wouldn't be able to tell.

And finally, i love the filtering features. There are 4 combonations of filter/attenuation settings and the switch is recessed so it won't accidently get flipped by clumsy hands.

I would recommend this mic to everybody. I don't see anybody buying this without being able to use it for vocals, acoustics, drums... whatever. If this mic got stolen i'd buy another immediately. In fact, one did get stolen and I was miserable to I found another one.

I have been playing music and recording for 35 years. I originally bought a 535 when looking for a better sounding mike, it was suggested to me as it had a bass rolloff switch. I had originally seen a roll off switch on a Sunnheiser mike a number of years ago and had tried the mike. I loved it, but at the time it was a $500 mike so it was out of my price range. I got the c535 severl years ago when I needed a vocal mike I could get right on and get clarity and flat bass response. I record to PC and also use the mike live.

Its a condenser mike with a four position switch for normal, normal with a slight bass rolloff, attenuated and attenuated with a more severe rolloff. I use the mike for vocals and acoustic instruments live and in my home studio. I find it to be a very good mike for most things in that I can adjust the response. I don't like the proximity effect in most mikes for my voice and this was the primary reason I bought the mike. I sing a lot of high backup parts and the proximity effect makes some parts muddy if I have to get on the mike for volume. I don't usually use it for miking up amps as I prefer a dynamic for that. Records my voice and my Martin perfectly. Mandolin, Dobro and piano also record well. I heve used it for rock and acoustic performances and find that the mike always provides a detailed and very clean response. I have not been able to overload one to date, but I use dynamics for close miking loud amps. I have been very pleased with the mike and in fact now own three of them. I spent a great deal of time reading up on mike types prior to buying and the mike has lived up to everything that was said about them. The only down side is they do not fit in a standard mike clip well. One is supplied but if you don't have one with you, it's gaff tape time.