Behringer B2 Pro

Amatuer muso home recording for 6 years

I like th b2 pro I f you want to hear a recording of a fender acoustic guitar go to this page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba9p8F2Qjjg This piece was recorded int cubase and I used a yamaha software compressor on the mix down . The b2 pro is a good mic . I am thinking about getting a T 47 or a T1 valve mic (Behringer ) Just to get some valve warmth .

I have been playing music for 35 years with over twenty years in the studio on and off and 15 years in my own home studio (DAW).

The Behringer B-2 PRO has already been described in detail by others so that I won't get into technical jargon here. The B-2 PRO is an Asian manufactured mic and as such may not quite perform as a German manufactured unit and the quality control may also vary. Despite the mixed reviews, and some hesitation, I purchased one to test. I found it extremely neutral in sound, and coupled with the selectable cardioid, omnidirectional or figure eight pickup patterns, I got the sound(s) I wanted. Having said this, you cannot expect a mic that costs the tenth of the price of a Neumann or AKG to sound like one. A $2,000 mic is not 10 times better than a Behringer B-2 PRO. There are minute differences, many of which are debatable and a matter of opinion. Also, since we have enetered into the age of DAW, one can manipulate the signal to make it sound different - for better or for worse. For my purposes, this mic does an excellent job, and I'll buy another one.

Behringer bashing has become popular and although there may be cause to do so in some cases, in most cases, people are just mouthing off. Uohhh, I have 20 mics... and you? Who cares!

I have tested other Behringer products that suck in my opinion and others that really impresed me. But as with most audio equipment: 'Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder'.

Because the mic only cost me AU $225, and the quality is excellent for home studio recording and semi-professional situations (if not professional), I will give it a 10.

Have been making music for some time. My setup involves windows based DAW with Ableton Live6 and Magix samplitude, Mackie Onyx1220 with firewire, monitoring through yamaha msp3 monitors and sony mdr-7509 headphones.

This is a large diafragm condencer mic. I got it to use on vocal and acoustic guitar. This is a cheap, noisy mic. After trying a couple of Behringer items i realized it's not worth trying to save a few dollars. Got Rode nt1a and much happier now. Behringer's quality control sucks, i went through a couple of b2 pro mics and they all sounded different. Rode nt1a cost just a few dollars more, but is a much safer choice.

A lot of years recording music and about 10 years with DAWs.
I use Samson Rubicon R5a + R10s and others equipments (I tipically preffer ribbon tweeter)

An indication for Moose (previous review).
The mic you have tested is not the B-2 PRO, but the B-2.
Let's check AudioProz.com:
"The Behringer B2 Pro is significantly better and different than a B1 or even an older B2 (non pro designation). It has a Behringer custom made dual diaphragm capsule which meets a specification truly honest to the manuals spec. A Behringer product engineer personally confirmed this. Indeed this mic has the smoothest omni pattern with no ???holes??? in the pick up response no matter how the mic is positioned. It is also one of the widest bandwidth elements I???ve seen yet. The ability for it to hear the lowest notes on a grand piano or cello as well as the clarity on a twelve string guitar is remarkable and confirmed with test measurements 30Hz to 20Khz response."

B2 PRO IS A CHEAP MIC BUT WITH GOOD SOUND .i HAVE BEEN RECORDING IN MY RECORDING STUDIO SINCE LAST 4 YEARS WITH THIS LOW COST MIC.
I AM SATISFIED 6O%.BUT THESE DAYS THE LARDE DIAFROM IS NOT GIVING GOOD SOUNG I THINK IT IS JUST BECOUSE OF MOITURE CATCGED BY ITS KIT. ANY WAY WITH THE CAMPARSION WITH MONEY QUALITY IS SATISFACTORY.....GOOD CONDENSER MIC


BIGBOSS STUDIO
INDIA

B2 PRO IS A CHEAP MIC BUT WITH GOOD SOUND .i HAVE BEEN RECORDING IN MY RECORDING STUDIO SINCE LAST 4 YEARS WITH THIS LOW COST MIC.
I AM SATISFIED 6O%.BUT THESE DAYS THE LARDE DIAFROM IS NOT GIVING GOOD SOUNG I THINK IT IS JUST BECOUSE OF MOITURE CATCGED BY ITS KIT. ANY WAY WITH THE CAMPARSION WITH MONEY QUALITY IS SATISFACTORY.....GOOD CONDENSER MIC


BIGBOSS STUDIO
INDIA

Many fruitless years of home recording on multiple DAW.

Bought in 2003. I have the early version with only 2 patterns, cardioid and omni. Has low cut and -10db pad switch. Decent mic for room sounds and general sound reinforcement. Okay for certain drums, but keep it away from cymbals. Better than expected on guitar cabs, but doesn't beat out a classic dynamic. Okay for select vocals, but has a very harsh high end. Expect a lot of emphasized (and unpleasant) silibance with mismatched compressors. Has good proximity effect and otherwise mostly neutral. Came with quality spider mount and case.

Overall not a terrible entry level condensor for the money. Unfortunate that they decided to hype the high frequencies. I suspect they did this to try to mask it from sounding dull.

You WILL outgrow this mic and you WILL end up buying something more expensive. That's how it goes with the mic buisness.

Been recording for over 20 years. Used lots of mics but nothing over 1000.00 . Thought I would try this cause of the price and reviews. I record into a DAW.

I'm now using this on my main vocals! This is better then my CAD 300 and Audio TEchnica mics! Hands down! Very smooth and rich. I even use it as my main mic for micing guitar cabinets over my sm57.

I have been making music for over 30 years - first as a player (Brass) then composer/arranger/Musical director. I've always had an interest in recording and within the last couple of years I've worked as a production assistant for a new location recording company in the North west of England. I wanted to set up a fall back plan for the company I work for by creating a modest recording facility on a tight budget parallel to the expensive gear they use. I record to a DAW (sonar 6) via a firewire mixer. My work is primarily UK Brass Bands, choirs and acoustic ensembles.

The B2 pro is a condenser mic with multipattern pick up. I wanted to experiment with MS technique so Figure of 8 capability was a must. I bought 4 of these (and 4 B5s, too) to give me more flexibility. I have read with interest criticisms about the sound: 3 of my mics were "perfect" - they did exactly what it said on the box, but the fourth had a completely different sound which was very coloured and intense. I suspect that the rogue mic had an internal problem and a dodgy switch. It was exchanged by return by the European supplier. The replacement was "perfect". I don't have expensive test equipment, but I do have a good pair of ears and know when my recording is approaching the quality of the live performance. So far the mics have given me a clean, clear sound with plenty of detail. They're ideal for my MS technique and don't appear to overload with a relatively loud Brass Band. Even in less than perfect situations I get something useful out of them. They're placed on a rack in front of the ensemble like a stereo pair (but three as I'm recording surround usually - something akin to ambisonics). We're not talking reference recording here, but very satisfying. The balance between sound quality/price was the main consideration, and after reading reviews here I took the plunge! The European company offered a package of the mic and its accessories, and popshield and 6m cable for the price shown. (Important when bying more than one as all the extras are multiplied, too.)

I'm mainly a guitar player and a semi-professional producer who lately has started to perform as a singer too. I have approx. 7 years of recording experience and around 20 years of overall experience as a musician and guitar player. I'm recording through a SPL Gold Mike into a Marian MARC8 PCI-Soundcard. Before checking out the B2pro I have had recording sessions with an AKG C4000, a C1000, a Rode NT1000 and a Shure SM58. I'm listening through a Tannoy Reveal nearfield system.

I used the mic for male vocals and acoustic guitars. As i had two of them, i also experimented with a M/S configuration. I bought the pair due to the impressingly good reviews i have found here and due to some nicely-sounding listening samples i found on the i-net. I did not expect a high budget sound such as the sound of a Neumann, Soundelux or a better AKG but i thought the behringer would give me some neutral and transparent audio material to work on. I thought that together with the valve coloration of the SPL and some minor EQ tweaking i would get some pleasant audio from the nicely looking B2. Overall, i must say that the mic did dissappoint me. It doesn't sound neutral at all but instead is very much harshening the sound, i would even say "metalizing" it. I guess this is due to an over-emphasis of high mids. Together with the build-in 12kHz high shelving EQ, the mic gives a very "trebly" performance. That doesn't mean it's lacking basses but it simply overstresses some higher frequencies which in the end sounds very unmusical in my ears. I can imagine that in some cases this behaviour may give dull sounding signals a better edge and can make them sound more lively. Maybe the B2pro would work good with unexperienced singers, cheap snares or a muddy guitar cab, but i would never suggest to use this mic together with pro singers who have a good amount of harmonics in their voice. The same goes for the acoustic guitar.

I give the mic a 3 because of it's many features (10dB pad, 3 directions, low cut) and because of the nice case and the shock mount that come along with it. But i can't understand the extacy towards the B2 which others have expressed here. Ten seconds check-out with a good singer and you know what you've got. I have really tried everything: varying mic-to-mouth distance, padding the signal, changing the preamp, EQ'ing... it all didn't help and couldn't remove the harshness of the mic.

Have been a professional musician for over 30 years, and a producer/engineer and studio owner for over twenty. I have a background in performance (Berklee) and audio engineering (UI-SAE), and although I won't claim to be more of an expert on such matters than anyone else who has put their time in the field, I think my opinion is worthy of a listen. I have a digital audio system which is too lengthy to list, but basically centers around a dual processor P4EE 3.2GHz system with 4 GB RAM, over 4 TB of storage, and a long list of I/O equipment. I have at last count over 130 mics in house ranging from the $100-ish variety to a recently purchased Telefunken Ela M 270V, as well as the usual assortment of Neuman U-87's & a pair of U47M's from RCA studios in Manhattan that Frank himself crooned through. The list is extensive, but the point made. I monitor primarily through a tried & true set of Urei Point Source 12", powered by a pair of HH Scott monoblock reference amps, because I still like the way they sound after 10 hours on the ears. I also rely on a small pair of Alesis Monitor 1's - say what you want, the proof is in the mix.

This is a take on the classic dual diaphram condenser, regurgitated countless times by many manufacturers. There are two things I have been impressed with using this mic - vocals & acoustic instruments. The transparency on these two fronts, is NEARLY unparalleled. NEARLY means not as good as the U47M, but not far behind. It also means not as good as the U87, but not far behind either. To be able to say this about a $150 mic is absolutely unheard of. Will I quit buying vintage Neumans & Tele's - no. Will I use this in place of those - in certain applications, yes, others, no. Will I regret buying 12 of these to add to my collection of studio mics - not on your life. The comment made by a previuos reviewer about ISO 9000 is in fact to the point here. The days of closely guarded recipies for special designs and production techniques are virtaully a thing of the past. Everything has been done, and leaked, and copied, by people around the world. This is in large part why so many big production facilities have shut down, and others just barely hanging on. There is no discernable difference between properly recorded and produced material from a $250,000 facility to a $5,000,0000 (barring recording in a mobile home). You can sit around with dual trace oscilloscopes all day and hunt for random phase inversions and less-than-perfect eq curves - but in the world of 128k mp3's (arguably the bread & butter of the recording industry nowadays)- It just doesn't matter the way it did when I was first learning about such things. I still shoot for the sonic-stars, as it were, by trying to make every recording much better than it has to be, but that does not mean that this mic does not have a place in that endeavor. I like it a lot - I bought a lot of them, and I recommend them often to my freinds in the industry, who have also begun buying them. For what it's worth - this mike should have Neuman shaking in their boots - unless they are prepared to address this type of mic now - my guess is in 5 years, there will be an offering for say, $500 that IS better than a U87. We'll see I suppose. To anyone considering this mic, the only thing I suggest is - buy them in pairs.