AKG C900M

Been making music for 45 years and doin' sound for 30... Although I've done numerous audio jobs (studio, live recording, audio for broadcast...), my primary love is for live sound. I love big events but my true love is in night-clubs n' bars... 2 Christmas' ago my keyboard player (who works at Sam Ash) bought me an AKG C900 that they were "blowing out" for 25 bucks each!!!

He bought me the mic to use for my vocals and I immediately tried it out and I instantly discovered why it was on sale so far below it's original price of 275.00! This was the worst condenser, vocal mic I had ever heard!!! I remember saying, "this thing sounds like a kick mic or something"... WELL, low-and-behold, I tried it out as a kick mic on my next sound show and I almost crapped my pants. Everything it did'nt have as a vocal mic, it had as a bass-drum mic!!! Huge bottom, nice clicky highs and unbelievable output and head-room! I've used it ever since. Incidentally, it's incredible on an upright bass or a bass amp!!! I just called and thank him again for the great kick mic!

I'm a semi-professional vocalist with some background in DAW-homerecording. Most of my experience I gathered on live stages with some cover bands and projects. My knowledge in state-of-the-art microphone technology and sound is refreshed annually at the Musikmesse Frankfurt, Germany.

Personally I prefer to sing Pop, Ballads, Soft Rock and especially Country. As the market in Germany doesn't really demand this kind of music I also do a lot of Rock on stage.

My preferred testing environment for musical equipment is my studio where I'm able to judge a sound exactly by monitoring it live or after recording it through my Yamaha HS80M monitors.

I've been making music for nearly five years now, semi-professionally for more than two years.

The AKG C900 M is a great condenser microphone for stage use and is absolutely unbeatable in its price class.
It's perfectly suited if you don't stress your voice and want it to be clearly audible. So it works perfectly with any non-hard genre like Pop, Country, Folk, Ethnic or Choir. However - like most condenser microphones - I really wouldn't use it for rock vocals. For this genre it's neither designed nor has an appropriate timbre. For soft and medium genres and clean vocals it's my second favourite; a KMS 104 exceeds the sound of the C900M, but at three times its cost.

Besides vocals this microphone is also great for acoustic guitars, live and in a studio.

As I heard the microphone the first time I had the opportunity to compare it against all other AKG microphones on the market at that time. I also tried the high-end live flagship C5900 M and recently the new mid-budget C5. Both microphones sounded good, but not as unique as the C900 M, which was clearly the best for my voice.
It's always hard to describe the sound of a microphone; it's the same problem as describing the taste of a wine. Nevertheless I will try to :)
I immediately noticed that it pushes your voice right to front. Usually this is linked to a kind of importunity, but not in this case. It's totally subtle. The thing I like most about its sound is it's frequency response; very rich and non-humming low-end combined with a brilliant and high-resolution high-end. With this microphone as the beginning of a premium signal chain and PA you'll get studio sound on stage!

Unfortunately you'll hardly find a perfect product. This microphone is not an exception. The "Soft Touch" finishing of the C900 M looks fine and also feels very good in your hands. However, the smallest scratch on the surface will make the finish peel off. Then it looks not that nice anymore??? Even trapping it in a microphone clip will cause damage to the finish!

But overall this is a really great microphone. Buy one as long as they're still in the stores. The whole Emotion-line has recently been discontinued by AKG. While some C900 M are still available, finding a TM 40 wireless module will be very hard.