Audix OM6

I've been playing guitar and piano for 17 years and have a lot of live and studio sound experience. I'm the lead sound engineer for a mid-sized church (seats 500) with a very nice PA.

For recording at home, I use Cakewalk for MIDI and audio. I have Yorkville near-field monitors and Sony headphones.

We recently got 4 OM6 mics for vocals at our church. We previously used a mix of SM58's and Beta 58's. The OM6 has a very natural, warm sound that works well on a variety of singers. It sounds more "rich" or "full" than a 58. One thing I don't like about 58's is the harsh sibilant "s" sounds it has on certain voices.

The OM6 hase a good "open" sound quality that requires little EQ to fit into a live mix. It may not have enough "cut" for hard rock or metal vocals because it has a fairly flat sounding response. The Beta 58's and 87 have more high end presence.

My only complaint with the OM6 (and other Audix mics) is the handling noise. You get a lot of rumble when putting the mic in a mic clip or removing it from the clip. There doesn't seem to very good physical isolation in the mic housing. This is a minor annoyance considering the great sound you get on vocals.

This is a dynamic, hyper-cardioid mic. It has a fairly wide polar pattern in spite of the hyper-cardioid designation. I researched several mics from all the main brands including AKG, Sennheiser, Shure, etc.

I would definitely recommend the OM6 and almost any mic from Audix (especially their drum mics).

20 years as a performing musician. 18 years recording to all kinds of formats.

The OM6 is a dynamic cardioid mic. Using it on lead male vocals. Used an SM58 for the first 10 years of my performing career, then moved over to the Audix OM5 for a couple years and for the last 6 or so have used an OM6 almost exlcusively. Sounds much more robust than a 58. Very condenser-like. It's warm, but also delivers nice clear highs. Im a tenor/baritone and the big difference with the OM6 is that it seems to have a very flat frequencey response which eliminates the honkiness you can get with some voices (like mine) through an SM58 due to that little upper-mid EQ boost Shure gives the SM58. The OM5 also has a slight presence boost too and for that reason I like the OM6 over the OM5 on my voice, although I liked the OM5 much better than the SM58. Feedback rejection is excellent, but you do want to stay very close to the mic during performance.

I've probably performed about a thousand shows with my OM6 and just recently sent it in for a thorough going over. In the meantime I'll go back to my spare ol' 58 that I still carry to every gig just in case. But I have ordered a Beta 87 and it will be interesting to see what kind of job that mic does vs the OM6. While the OM6 has been very reliable, I have gone through a couple grilles. Not from them getting dented, but from the paint on them coming off in my mouth. It's very annoying, but if you're a consistent "mic eater" like I am, the paint on the grille starts to come off in your mouth.

Overall a great live performance mic that can be purchased very reasonably, and I recommend it without hesitation to any vocalist who wants the to sound better than the average guy/gal who shows up with their SM58. Not to knock the 58, it's a great mic and an undisputed classic which I will always carry, but I'm almost certain you WILL sound better, bigger, and richer through an OM6.