Neumann KM 184

Guitarist, composer, singer and producer. Recording experience in a semi-professional mobile studio. Main gear is a Roland VS2480 but I also work with ProTools, Logic. I have been recording bands, classical, folk and theatre music for several years. I used to work as a freelance sound engineer.

The KM 184 is a small diaphragm condensor mic with cardioid pattern. I recently purchased a matched pair. I use them with A-B placement for both steelstring and classical guitar.

These microphones really sound incredible for this purpose. Excellent off-axis rejection, no coloration (either on/off axis), full, rich and tight. It's the sound I always looked for but with previous mics always seemed out of reach. R??de NT4/5, AKG C391, SE Electronics 2/3, Oktava MK012.... all decent mics but really, the Neumanns are better. So far I only used them for guitar, highly recommended.

They are way more expensive than the aforementioned mics, but you will hear the difference. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the extra money. For me, the answer is YES. I shoud have bought these mics a loooooong time ago.

They get 9 out of 10 from me.... would have been a 10 if cheaper but hey.... it's a Neumann.

I own a small, professional recording studio mainly working with singer / songwriter's and a few, ongoing voice over contracts. I came up thru the ranks from 4-track to ADAT to ROLAND VS systems to PRO TOOLS and finally arriving at APPLE LOGIC as my main DAW. I'm using pre's from Avalon, Universal Audio and A Designs, compression from UA and Avalon, EQ from Neve and ambience from Lexicon. Monitors are A/B'ed with Mackie 824's and a small set of KRK's. Mastering is done in the box with some plug-ins from Waves and UA.

Last year I picked up a stereo matched pair of Neumann's KM184 from an online dealer. I am a huge fan of Neumann's U87 and M149 microphones - they are my go-to mic's 90% of the time, they rarely get put back in their boxes as they get so much use. I had been using an AKG C-1000 as my main solo acoustic guitar mic but was never overwhelmed with the results. As I started doing more work with solo acoustic instruments, I decided to drop the coin on the KM184.

I absolutely love these mic's - they are much, much richer, fuller, focused and robust sounding than the AKG and they reveal a lot less of the room than using a large diaphragm condenser. But, they are also phenomenal room mic's ran in stereo when you just want to catch a nice raw performance. They are super sensitive - I'll usually pad the input on the pre and run it with only modest amounts of gain. When placed correctly, you shouldn't need any additional eq to capture the truth. My only complaint would be that at this price point a $10 stereo bar should be included in the box.

Anyway, you won't have any complaints with these mics. They're pro standards - you hear them everyday. I'll go 9 stars as they're fantastic mics but I don't think Neumann can ever be considered a fantastic "value" - but for those who understand that you get what you pay for, they're worth every cent.

Singer/songwriter, musician for over 20 years, recorded 2 albums with a sound engineer, now building home studio: Boss 1600 digital multitrack. Mic goes through a Universal 610 tube preamp. Using Sennheiser headphones.

Small-diaphragm condenser microphone, cardioid.

Recording acoustic guitar, wanted a good-quality microphone. Had bought a Shure SM81, which is fine, but read a lot about the KM184 and decided to get one. Plugged it in, quietest damn mic I ever heard. Using it in an ORTF config with the Shure 81.

The guitar comes through as warm and specific, without the annoying super-clarity of some of my large-diaphragm mics. It captures the presence of the acoustic guitar beautifully. I look forward to trying it out on drum overheads.

I'm surprised there wasn't a review category for this mic, as it's very well reviewed and obviously a gem for under $1000. This was my first mic over $500, and I was so knocked out I've already decided to buy a 2nd for a stereo pair. Absolutely recommended.