John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

I'd like to spend approximately $10K on a collection of mics, pres, and compressors.

The absolute most important thing I do in my studio is vocals, so I need at least 1 good vocal mic, and a pair of choir mics with pres and compressors to match.

In addition to that I'd like a small collection of mics that would work best to record everything from acoustic guitar, to trumpets, to drums.

I have a cheap mic collection now that consists of a Rode NT2a, AT 4033, Audix D6, 3 x Sen e604, Sen e906, and a collection of handheld dynamic mics.

I prefer quality over quantity, and I'd prefer to spend less on the instrument mics and have great vocal mics.

Your suggestions please :

Just starting out myself, so this is not a pro's opinion by any means, it is just what I have found out so far.

Vocals, the old stand by Shure SM58 are inexpensive and have been a proven standby for decades. I have used a CAD e100 that is nice, does a variety of jobs nice actually. Good on acoustic guitars too. SM57's on instruments is another good old standby that is not very pricey. You can't go wrong with a set of Nuemann KM series small diaphram mics for XY micing. I have a set of KM 184. Beautiful sounding for string instruments too. I don't know anything about ribbon mics, except that Royer is the standard.