CAD C-195

The C-195 cardiod condenser mic has been in my microphone collection for about a year. It hasn't seen much use when I first purchased it as a cost alternative for a Sure Beta 58. I have a small but well equipped home studio used primarily to record demos of our band's music. My studio is comprised of two M-Audio 4-10's on a Pentium 4 server (Think Huge computer) I initially purchased it to use for live lead vocals. I happened upon it's versatility in the studio by accident.

I became frustrated with some of the mics I had been using in my budget home studio and decided that I would try this mic on some acoustic tracks in the studio. I was amazed at the quietness of this cardiod condenser mic, and its ability to clearly and accuratly pick up the guitar with minimal EQ, and not the room. As a further test, I brought it into the control room and recorded some scratch vocal tracks amongst the ambient white noise generated by my recording gear. I got perfectly quiet tracks and ended up using most of the "scratch" tracks in our latest production! I have not used this mic live yet, but I'm sure that with a little tweaking on the compressor/Limiter, It would perform awesome. This is a great value. I have been using Cad Dynamic vocal mics live for a number of years and recommend it as an excellent sounding cost alternative to many costly mic's such as a Shure Beta 58.

I've been making music for 40 years, mainly as a bass player and audio tech. My audio experience mainly revolves around live sound. I specialize in sound reinforcement and location recording for small to medium-sized groups, mainly amateur and low-end pros.

I have had various rigs over the years, starting with a Ferrograph reel to reel (!!!), progressing to various Tascam recorders, minidisc, and currently a Yamaha AW16G desktop DAW and Pentium 4 PC with an E-mu sound card.

Although I used to be a budding audiophile (KEF speakers, Quad tube stereo), I've moved most of my equipment investment over into instruments and PA gear in recent years. I am currently without a really good set of recording monitors. I get by at the moment by bouncing between multiple listening systems: a pair of mid-priced PA bins and a pair of inexpensive Jensen home speakers fed by an older Tascam integrated amp, a set of Logitech sat/sub computer speakers, a Sony boombox and my beloved AKG K-240 headphones.

The C-195 is a hand-held cardioid condenser vocal mic. It's a shameless copy of the Shure Beta 88.

The reason I bought the mic, was that I was in a local dealer when the distributor brought one by for a store evaluation. He had the store rep pull out a real Beta 88, and we compared them back to back. Any sonic difference between the two mics was virtually indistinguishable.

Just like the $400 Shure, it had vanishingly low handling noise, an extremely tight cardioid pattern, and an extremely warm and smooth sound. Unlike the Shure, it was selling for about the same price as an SM-58. When they went on sale for 70 bucks the following summer, I snatched up a pair, and they've become one of my favourite vocal mics. A bunch of people I work with have bought them after trying mine...

I use this mic as an upgrade from SM-58's, mainly for live vocals. Like the previous reviewer, I like the way it sounds with female vocals, but I've also found it an excellent match for tenor male vocals. It manages to be both a lot smoother than the SM-58, while still conveying a lot more air and detail.

In fact, it's good enough in this regard to function as a pinch-hitter for "real" recoding mics in other applications, sounding almost as good as my much more expensive Audio Technica pencil mics on flute, piano and acoustic guitar.

I basically use it anywhere I wouldn't care to take my expensive recording mics.

The previous reviewer noted the strong proximity effect, but failed to mention a few other characteristics:
- The extremely even tonal response off-axis
- The extra "reach" over an SM58- it sounds much
more present when recording sources at a distance.

For these reasons, I find it an excellent choice for grouping multiple vocalists around a single mic, and for fidgety types who don't attack the mic consistently, can't stand still in front of a stand-mounted recording mic, or simply cannot be coached to stand close enough to the microphone.

Live and some studio sound, 10+ years experience. Mostly doing live mixing for acoustic music these days.

The CAD C195 is an electret condensor vocal mic, designed for live use. The housing and pop screen are both very heavy duty, the heaviest pop screen I've ever seen. Requires phantom power.

I've been trying out some different vocal mics for female voices, which is where the classic Shure SM-58 tends to fall short. Overall I wanted a flatter response (no presence peak) and a wider frequency range.

So far I've used the C195 for 2-3 shows and with several professional artists. The C195 sounds *great* on female singers, especially the quieter ones. Very natural sound, really captures higher-pitched voices well. Not 100% smooth when the performer moves around, it has a lot of proximity effect when you get really close.

Not that great on male voices, especially deeper/quieter ones. The proximity effect tends to cause problems with the male voices, although it is usable. The tonal difference when moving closer/farther is more noticable with deep voices.

Overall a great value, though. For $80 you get a solidly built mic with a great sound for at least female vocalists. I'm keeping one in my mic box.