Samson C03

I have been recording music about 4 years now. I am using ProTools 8 and a 003 rack. I'm using the Pres in the 003 rack no special tube pres or anything. My monitors are samson resolv 6.5a and a samson 10 inch sub right now. I am really wanting to upgrade those though. My headphones are sennheiser HD 280 Pros which are decent. My listening environment is not that great. I'm in the process of improving that though.

This is a Condenser mic with switchable polar patterns like fig 8, cardioid and omni. I run it straight into the Pre on the rack. No compressor or anything else. I've been using this mic a lot and the more I use it the less I like it. On vocals its ok, but this mic has self noise. I used it in cardioid and in fig 8 on vocals and I tried omni on a quartet(yuk!). It sounds ok on BG vocals, but the lead really needs a better mic. The harder you sing the worse the mic performs. I'm not clipping in protools, but this mic sounds saturated and on the edge of distortion when someone really belts. The more tracks this is used on in one session the louder the mic noise gets. I did use this on acoustic guitar and thought it came out ok, but that noise was there. This mic is great for starting out, but after a while you'll be wanting something better. I'll keep this mic around and probably use this as an ambient mic for my video camera or I may find some other use for it someday. If I had to start over I would have saved up a bit more and got a Rode NT1-a as my fist mic.

I have been Recording Rock/Industrial/Metal since 1999.
I am self-taught but i think i make pretty good recordings considering.
I use an Mbox2 with Pro Tools loaded on a Vista PC and a bunch of plug-ins.
I use M-Audio BX5a's for my monitors and a Logitech 2.1 for playback after mixdown.

I got a Mbox2 bundle that included mic, monitors etc. I am new to protools and thought that everything included was supposed to be decent quality but that changed when it was time to record vocals. The included M-Audio Nova mic thru the Mbox2 was not cutting it and the gain had to be turned up so high that it was mostly room noise and fuzz. After going to my local Sam Ash the Samson C-Valve was recommended to me. I was skeptical due to its sub $100 price tag but got it anyway along with a new Rode NT-1 mic. I got home set this samson atop my mbox2 and plugged in the mic. Now i am no professional and never used a pre-amp before this but it was so easy i am still a little stunned. There are a bunch of buttons with presets for vocal recording and it took out alot of the guess work that i would have to of done. The low cut filter was welcomed because i have a deep voice and the M-Audio mic didnt not compliment that. So a few buttons pressed and that was it and now i have a bright,full,dynamic and my favorite, warm vocal tracks to work with. I hope this box lasts but if not then i would not have lost too much bank on it. Try it if you are in a similar situation as me and dont have much to spend on more equipment.

I???m professional multimedia producer with extensive involvement in video and music production. I have three of Samson C03 for more than three years as for now. I use them as vocal microphones, mostly in stereo settings. They are connected by Samson???s microphone cables from Samson???s 3 cables pack. I feed two of these with Samson C-Valve preamps and one with Samson???s MDX10 or 624 mixers.

It is STUNNING large capsule, multi pattern, real condenser pro studio mike. Do not look on the price tag, the price reflects as much as nothing. I went through whole bunch of other mikes from every significant vendor and settled with these as having the best sound. The price wasn???t a criterion I could afford up to $2000 for mikes. These exhibited astounding sound brilliance, smooth response trough the range, distortion free imaging of the finest details, amazing dynamic range and absolutely discolored sound. I say that after discovering these mikes I started to delve into other Samson???s equipment as of top quality for very modest price.
As the mike is multi patterned, you can use many variations, reflected sound, reverberation, complex stereo schemes with in mixed ambience and so on.
The mikes are VERY steady, completely silent, very massive, very absorbing. As any of big capsule mikes, these must be not bumped or tapped on the top but the performance is top notch! Because it is very neutral, you can do with the sound whatever you like. I found Samson C-Valve preamps to be incredible value as well. They upgraded the initial design and today this pre includes pick control, vocal eq, enhancer in/out ( and digital coax with converter on 96Khz !!! can you believe it? ) control and it is of the same quality as any of $1500-2500 preamp.

To say I do money with my video and sound works and I can afford much more expensive stuff as it is deductible anyway, but there???s no need. The mike is reliable, 3 years warranty backed by Samson. It???s a superb value.

I've been making music for 5 years. I've been recording at a private studio and engineers have been teaching me how to put everything together. So i have learned a lot. I am recording through an analog mixer but when i got this mic i was recording through a dinky (but great for the price) little m-audio mobilepre usb and it was crystal clear sound no hum, buzz, and picked up sounds easily and perfectly, and never faltered. (Works even better with more professional equipment). Almost all of my minor (some major) equipment is from samson (moniters, mixers, power amps, headphones). Great quality for a great price.

It is a multi-pattern condenser microphone, in which it is capable of switching to different pickup patterns (Super Cardioid, Omni and Figure 8.) I'm using it on a samson studio boom mic stand (upside down of course), and the samson pop filter with the shock mount. I was considering a couple of different MXL mics. I chose this one because too many people had MXL, and the C03 had phantom power and way more capabilities. (And reviews like this one) My favorite aspects of it is that it looks great, sounds beautiful and is convieniently packed in a carry case inside the box.:) The only thing where it falls short is that it is phantom powered so if u dont have a phantom capabale mixer or console etc., u cannot use it and have to buy the separate samson(or other) phantom power supply which power two mics not one so ure kinda paying extra. I would definitely recommend this to everyone not just people on tight budgets all users.

I've been playing music for 17 years or so, and making music for the last 10 years of my life. Only in the last two years have I started putting together a legitimate recording studio in my home and producing low budget albums for myself and local musicians. I currenty use a Mac-based DAW with Cubase, Reason, and even GarageBand (don't scoff, some of their VSTi's sound pretty sweet). Lots of Sure SM 58s, a few Sennheiser condenser mics, The Samson C-03 listed here, and an Audio Technica drum mic set round out my microphones. Using cheap but relaible Behringer mixers, and an Audiophile PCI I/O card.

This is an Affordable condenser mic with 3 switchable polar patters. I keep it on a mic stand with the Samson SP-01 shock mount, powered by one of my Behringer mixers. I use the mic to record local acoustic mucisians, and as one of several mics used to record rehersals of my band. The C-03 has a real crisp clean sound when recording acoustic instruments (Guitar, Banjo, and Fiddle in my case). I switch the polarity to omni-directional for acoustic "jamboriees" and the sound is still clean, but a little Olde Timey sounding. I think it's the best vocal mic I have (for recording, not live) with really good frequency response. Be sure to use a pop filter though, as this mic is sensitive enough to pick up subtle lip smacks, breath pops, and whetever else.
For the price, it's hard to beat the features (3 polar patterns, roll-off, etc.) For anyone recording on a budget who wants to take their sound to "the next level" and doesn't have a large diaphram conderser mic yet; this is a great place to start. The switchable polar patterns are what sealed the deal for me. It just gives you much more flexability, and room for experimentation. Sure, the mic lacks the warmth you might get from a Blue or (cough, cough) Nuemann mic, but at 4 to 10 times less the cost of those big boys it's hard to go wrong with the C-03 for the price.

I've been playing and listening music for about 15 years and started recording my music 10 yrs ago.started out with tascam 244 and been diving deeper into this art ever since...
these days I'm using 2Ghz cpu with cubase sx,tascam 238 casette8-track and yamaha minidisc 4track.
For monitorin i use behringer truths(sigh) and I get good sounds with this mic

Most days this mic is hanging from our rehearsal room ceiling in omni pattern and is fed to our cpu via cheap tubepre and the sounds we get with this mic is good enough for our purpose(mainly recording rehersals) and we've been talking about putting some material out in mp3 format to our netsite...
It's cheap but it does its job so I would recommend this to ev'rybody who doesn't have lots of money to burn...
I also bought Neumann secondhand,it certainly isn't that but good enough for us.Try it out.I've been pleased...

I'vw been writing and recoding music almost 20 years. Currently I have a very modest DAW built around Cakewalk, a variety of plugins, and a handful of mics.

This model is a condenser with 3 polar patterns (figue 8, cardiod, and omni), switchable 10db cut, and switable bass roll-off. As with almost all condensers requires phantom power, I'm using a PreSonus TubePre for that. I was searching for a condenser to do some acoustic recording and frankly, price was my main concern. In a band I used to be in we did a session using a Samson bass drum mic and we were happy with the results. Got it on e-Bay and before it arrived I was worried it would sound as cheap as it costed. Once I did some test recording my fears subsided. Selectable polar patterns are nice and allow you to learn some great tricks. For example, take advantage of a room with great reflections using the figure 8 pattern. You can really cut the "boomyness" of close micing using the bass cut. The mic can be a little crisp, almost brittle, but you can control that greatly with the use of a little EQ. For the money, I feel this is a great option. There is nothing else in this price range that compares to this mic's options. Sound is very subjective but I feel anyone looking to expand their available tones on a budget will be satisfied.