M-Audio Sputnik

Been making music in studios for 20 years and at home for 10.

I heard about this mic and the phrase U47 kept popping up. I happen to love the U47mic for vocals (like a lot of people) so I decided to play with the Sputnik in my studio and compare it with the sound I get from a U47.

Does this mic meet all of the hype? No way. It's a decent mic at the low end of the acceptable spectrum, very similar to the Rodes that try and somewhat successfully copy the Neumann sound. But it is not a high end mic in the least.

You get what you pay for. If you're doing rock band stuff, this will probably work for you. But if you are working on softer sounds where high quality vocals are critical, this just won't do it. It's worth what I paid for it. But it is not the holy grail of vocal mics, not even close. Forget the magazine reviews that seem to think this thing is magic. I have no idea what they are talking about.

I've been working professionally as a producer/engineer for 15 years. I've got some nice mid to highend gear using logic.

M-audio Sputnik Valve condenser mic.
I've used this mic for about 6 months mainly on vocals and acoustic guitar.
Vocals recorded with it sits well in a mix, not sibilant and a really nice sound. I've used it on male and female vocals and it works well on both. Great on acoustic guitar as well.
I really like its sound a lot and for anyone looking to buy this one comes highly recommended.
Perhaps my only critisism is the shockmount, it works fine but looks cheap. I'd say get rid of the flash 'wise guy' case the mic comes with and let us have a high quality shockmount instead.

Been making music for 17 years. I run a personal studio equipped with a nice console, nice outboard, and nice mics. Currently tracking to PT HD and monitoring through Focal Monitors.

This mic is a very serious contender for a tube mic of this price. I shot it out against a Manley Black ($2700) and it held its own to my surprise. It wasn't quite as elegant or detailed but it's a suitable vocal mic for sure. It wasn't like night & day either. It seemed the M-Audio comes quite close in sound. Not overly bright or peaky anywhere. Just not as detailed as the Manley. It'll give any tube vocal $1500 mic a run for the money and it may smoke some over that price range. I tried it on drum room mic and it excelled there as well.

I've been at this music racket for 35 years. I won't go into boring detail, but I have a very nice home studio and have tried lots of equipment. Mackie Hard Disk, Mackie analog board, Vintech preamps, Distressor Compressors (I prefer hardware gear to software)

Tube Condenser, Multi-pattern. Hype something enough and people will start to belive it. First, the metal and construction is very disappointing. The threading on the base and the XLR connectors are cheap and very difficult to handle(it feels as if this will be a problem done the line) The pattern selector switch also feels as if it won't hold up.
The Sound - Very dissapointing on Male Vocals and average on acoustic guitar and mandolin. Did not try it on female vocals so I can't comment on that.
Magazines collect tens of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue from manufacturers; then, review products from these manufacturers. Have you ever read a "bad" review in one of these magazines?

I have been recording music now for 5 years on a DAW first a Korg D-1600 Now the Korg 32XD. I have been in and out of studios for thirty two years only in the last year having my own studio to work and research. I listen on Behringer truth B2031A monitors

This is a Large Diaphram, tube type Mic. The three switches are a 10db pad, high rolloff and cardciod/omni/Fig Eight pattern. Reasonably flexible overall. This Mic is an interesting concoction of Technology. The mini tube in it is probably a soviet era aircraft tube designed to survive the electromagnetic pulse of a nulear blast. This is so the plane could fly properly no matter what happened in the environment. I was impressed it had it's own power supply like my SE Gemini, double tube, sonic wonder. However, this mic fooled me. The first one from the store had a bad switch, understandable. They ordered me another one. Tried it out and it developed this odd ringing sound inside a sound type feature. On returning the second one the salesman tried it out and decided to order another one for me. On getting another one the same thing began to happen. This was vexing and making me mad. But I discovered something. This little tube needed to be pushed. The SE Gemini needed no preamp. Not so for the Sputnick. I plugged an AKG 414 in one output of the preamp and it needed maybe two and a half of that power to respond with everything I could want, BUT THE SPUTNIK COULD HANDLE MORE. I cranked that baby up to 7 to get the volume I wanted. Now this may appear to be a flaw, the 414 being so much more efficient (and it is) but, the sputnik when heated up sings it's own song. You had to push the volume to get rid of the ringing. This was something the store salesman could not tell me. My voice through the AKG 414 TLII had the broad full range sound you expect of a fully studio capable michrophone and, it sounded good. The sputnick did some tube coloring but sounded nice and as a second mic added some needed depth to the recording. With a helping of reverb a harmonica roared through this mic into the headphones with real train like power. I really appreciated the Sputnik after this. The vintage coloring might put some people off but I love it.

I've been making music for 29 years, Have been a profesional musician for 20 of them. I've also been producing records for the last 17. I've recorded in many of the best studios in the world, (and some of the worst)
currently recording in my own commercial studio with an array of classic and modern equipment. recording whith Pro tools and logic as well as bouncing on and off of tape.
I have been with hard disc recording for over 12 years and have seen it progress from a handy editing tool to the monster system that we are using today. analog tape (other than the afore mentioned bounce) has become an unnecessary pain in the arse.

this is a valve condenser mic, all the regular polar patterns.
so far I've used the mic on penny whistle, violin, vocals, percission and acoustic guitar.
This is one of the few valve mic's that I've used that works so well on a female vocal! usually I'll give them a go, but if they have a bell like quality to their voice I find it adds uwanted nasal mids. this one sounds great, clear and natural.
in all other cases it does what you would expect to a verry high level. I prefer this to my U67 and at this price that is insane! it may not be a C12 but what do you expect for ??350.
If you have a project studio in a spare room or a large facility this mic would be a great investment. you will learn a lot about placement by using a mic of this quality. please don't waste your money on a rhode or an SE, this mic is where it's at.