MXL 770 Condenser Microphone, Cardiod - Black

This is one of the most versatile mics I own. It's a given that it works well in a home studio as well as having a very good price-to-performance ratio, Read some of the other reviews for that. For me this is perfect for a drum kit overhead because the frequency range picks up toms, snare drum and cymbals with a great deal of clarity. It will also pick up the bass drum as an overhead, which makes it ideal for acoustic jazz or other acoustic genres. For louder music this overhead and a kick drum mic may be all you need. It also works well close micing smaller amps like my Roland KC-110 3-Channel 30-Watt Stereo Mixing Keyboard Amplifier , which has incredible tone, but does not project in larger and louder ensembles. In the case of the instrument micing I mentioned this works practically out of the box. The shock mount is steady and attenuates vibrations and ambient noise, and all you really need to do is plug it into any mixer that can provide phantom power. For vocals, especially when the singer has a sultry voice (think Julie London), this mic also excels. Actually, it matters not what the vocal range is, this mic will do an excellent job, but truly excels in the lower ranges. For vocal work I recommend running this mic through a PreSonus Tubepre Single-Channel Vacuum Tube Mic Pre , which will warm it up a little more and give you a lot more control over gain. It will also provide phantom power if your PA does not provide it. Read over the other reviews, which provide more specific and in-depth information about this mic. Like most of the others who own this mic I am very pleased with it and would be hard pressed to find a better one at three times the price.

I'll keep this review simple for my fellow musician/singers out there. Do not buy anything just because it has a trendy name or costs a lot - that doesn't always mean it's worth the money. I read the other reviews & thought since I can't afford a mic that cost 2,000 dollars but I still want a really good quality mic for what little money I do have to invest on gear, maybe I should give the MXL 770 mic a try. I bought 2 - one for recording instruments & one for vocals, if your p.c. or mac and/or interface needs fantom powered mics these have that. Like a good pair of shoes or a Porsche sports car it takes a while to gently break them in but once you do they fit like a glove or perform like an atomic clock - same thing goes for these mics. Be gentle, don't abuse them - in about a few sessions of practice you'll notice how freaking incredibly awesome they record. They're a lot like really good quality studio monitors, give them a few days to warm up & once they do you'll be like holy crap this is some great gear. After using these mics for a home studio recording I can honestly & personally tell you they are dang near perfect for what you need & for the price you'll regret buying anything else - trust these reviews like I did, these are outstanding microphones. They come in a great heavy duty protective case with handle, a shock guard that keeps the mic stable (plus looks cool as hell) the mics are heavy solid & look impressive, they look like mics that no one can afford, & they pick up the exact frequency range you need for them to with zero hiss or humming. Note they are not dynamic mics for live gigs, these are for recording only & in my opinion I got double my moneys worth.

I have been using a Zoom H4N audio recorder for years and finally decided it was time for me to add a real mic to make the most of it. I'm not technically a professional recording engineer or musician but I do a lot of recording and audio editing. I sing in a local ensemble and produce very high quality YouTube videos for them as well. A large part of making professional YouTube videos is having good equipment. In addition, I sing and play the guitar and sometimes have need to record practice files for myself for memorization, record things for an audition or just record for fun! So far this mic has exceeded the expectations I had for it for the price! This is a really great mic that comes with a nice little accessories bundle including the shock mount, a nice hard case for both and some great resources and manuals to learn how to use it and get the most out of it. I found those to be very helpful and easy to read! At the end of the day though, the sound quality is really, really good, especially for what you pay! I'm really glad I took a chance on this. It will make you sound great if you're well prepared but don't think it's going to do you any studio magic favors. If you don't know your music or sing/play flat, that's exactly what this will record, haha! No, it does not come with software to edit what you record. I didn't expect it to but some people seem to be wondering about that. Here's how I use it and what I bought to go with it: - Audio 2000 3ft mic cable from H&F technologies - Samson MK 10 mic boom stand - Zoom H4N audio recorder (which I already had) If you're using a Zoom H4N here's what you need to do to connect it: - Plug your mic cable into input 1 and press input 1 (both 1 and 2 will light up but that's ok) - Provide phantom power to the mic by entering the menu options, scrolling to and selecting "Input" and then scrolling to and selecting "Phantom Power". This mic takes 48 so select that when asked if you want 24 or 48. - Enable both left and right channels (you have to do this if you want to hear what you record in both the left and right ears of a pair of headphones) by going back to the menu options and selecting "Input" and scroll to and select "Mono Mix" and turn it on. Ready to record and enjoy! I just record to an SD card on my Zoom H4N and pop that into my PC. I do the actual editing using Adobe Audition software which I like a lot. I hope this helps someone else who is looking for a solid mic to get good vocal, guitar, piano or ukulele (those are just the instruments I play) recordings on a budget or someone who is trying to connect a condenser mic to a Zoom H4N recorder! For the record I did NOT get this mic for free or at a discount. I paid full price for it.

This isn't going to be your 5000 words in-detail review, just adding to the average of the mike and statistics. I'm not sure if the negative reviews labeling the case as flimsy are based on some older version, and if the ones complaining about noise and low levels are from reviewers who aren't used to working with non plug'n'play mikes or defective items, but I can't say I have any of those issues. TL;DR: You're probably looking at buying this because you heard that it's the only mic under 100$ you can get that comes with a shock mount and a case that sounds better than it costs. It's true. It comes with a serviceable shock mount, a good case, and the mike alone is excellent and easily comparable to 100$ ones without those accessories. Do expect to have to set up your environment to make it sound great: Welcome to the world of audio, where 200$ of padding your room and 70$ of gear and 2 hours of setting up positioning will yield immensely better results than spending 500$ on gear and sitting it on a wooden surface. Long version: For the price this is an outstanding deal, that's why people buy it, and it's true. Expect to have to have to set up your gear and find sweet spots and all, but that would hold true for mikes three times the price. Don't coil your cables, don't use unbalanced if you're 10 metres from the interface, or balanced if you have a 1m cable run in a non noisy environment. With a decent 2m unbalanced Swamp cable and a UR22 mkII the levels are perfectly fine, middle of the pack for more expensive equivalent models. I wonder if people complaining it's quiet are running it through an overly weak interface and using long balanced cables that can't push through. The pattern is pretty fat on the sides, so hang and angle the mic right if you don't want it to pick up a nearby window and you're doing podcasting, but the pick up is amazing; it's clean, has excellent range, and won't clip easy. It's a cardioid pattern, not a 22 degrees shotgun, you can basically record two people standing almost on its sides, expect the noise and ambient to also reflect that and operate it accordingly. The case is as good as it gets for a price range including a mic and shock mount (which is actually OK and perfectly serviceable but nothing more than that) costing what you'd often pay for just those accessories. The mike itself is of a really good build, easily comparable with middle-of-pack 120-150$ products and certainly on the top end of its price range. All in all it deserves its (good) reputation.

Speechless as-in, blown away by the value. I bought a Snowball USB once, and determined that USB mics are not the way. This XLR unit, paired with an absolutely ecstatic Behringer computer interface priced just under $40, is nothing short of exemplary. (Of course, the Behringer uses USB to connect to my rig, but having actual XLR to hook up the mic makes all the difference in the world. No static, no hiss, no USB power hum. Just my voice and the CPU fans I need to have quieted.) For the money, or even without considering the money at all... for any practical purpose related to computer-based recording, this thing simply makes the cut in every way imaginable. I could see myself using it to record instructional V/O's for corporations, or even the hottest selling audiobooks. It isn't even flimsy. I feel like Conan O'Brien or somebody with this thing sitting on my desk. It's perfect. I chose this over Audio-Technica's 2020/2035 units because of price; AT mics are no doubt probably better for actual music production, or maybe V/O for someone whose a pro, but for starting out, and possibly for good, this MXL 770 takes the cake and should be considered a staple contender. Also comes in red or purple, but black is simply the best. Comes in a plastic case with a stand adapter screw thing, the suspension, and a spare elastic band set in case your suspension wears out.

Great little microphone - even comes with a case and provided shock mount. The shock mount was not easy to attach to this mic (I think I broke several nails and felt lots of pain trying to move the mount further down the mic so that it would not cover the diaphragm) and there were no instructions on how to best attach the mic to the shock mount. It's probably easier to just leave the mic in the shock mount rather than putting it up in the case when finished. Otherwise, the microphone works awesomely in Windows 7. I'm using this with a Shure X2U, which requires the Shure to be set to 5 volume in Windows and the gain to be turned two from the very top (as in, if the top is a 10, then the mic works best with a 8 gain on the Shure). The MXL has its own adjustable gain on the back, but I found that heavily distorted my voice so I left it as zero. Having done recordings with Audacity with this mic using the Software Playback functionality (and used my PBX's echo test functionality as well), I found the sound produced from this mic when speaking in front of it to be asolutely perfectly clear (the Shure's correct settings helped immensely). Using this for video game Let's Plays, when playing back my videos I can clearly be heard and with no background noise pickup either (which I was worried about with most mics being very bad about background noise). I am very satisfied with this purchase, and I highly recommend this mic.

After working in radio for almost 30 years, I found myself needing to set up a broadcast-quality studio at home. After reading reviews for the MXL 770 and a Monoprice mic that is the same model rebranded, I ordered it. I was blown away by what a good microphone this is. It's not just a good condenser mic for the price; it's a good mic, period. It compares very favorably to the RE20 mics I've used for most of my career. I'm recording in a spare room that doesn't have great acoustics (although many professional studios I've worked in weren't any better), and I don't have any issues at all with reverb or picking up stray sounds. I think some people who have had those issues may have been speaking into the end; the pickup pattern requires you to speak into one side of the mic. I made the same mistake when I first set it up, and after reading the manual, I made sure I was speaking into the mic with it facing up (down is fine, too), and with the logo toward me. When used correctly, the MXL 770 doesn't pick up anything from behind (my computer and mixer are in front of a window, and that's not a problem), and it has a nice range. I have always tended to work the mic up close, and I also had to adjust my technique to stay 4-6 inches from it. Between proper positioning and adding a windscreen (for my money, much more functional than a pop filter), the MXL 770 produces sound every bit as good as I've gotten with mics that were five or six times the price. Whether you're podcasting or setting up a home recording studio, this an excellent and very versatile choice.

Purchased the item a few days ago, and received it today, a day ahead of schedule actually! I was excited to open the box and play with my new toy. The box was in good condition, but once I opened it up, and picked up my new microphone, there was something very wrong... There was a rattling any time it moved. Under closer inspection, this seemed to be caused by what looked like a loose screw inside the cage that houses the condensor mic itself. Update: Free replacement, and free shipping. New product on its way. Changing the review to a neutral 3 stars until then. Update 2: I got my replacement in the mail, and this one had no issues. I've been using it for maybe a month now, and I have to say, I really enjoy it. I originally got it as a higher quality microphone for videogaming and video recordings. Under first impression, my friends online could notice the difference in quality from my skullcandy headset. I hooked it up to a phantom power supply, then directly into my motherboard. It picks up my voice well from a decent distance, but not the sound from my speakers or mechanical keyboard after very little adjustment. I highly recommend it. Pros: - Excellent price point - Very clear sound - Very sleek aesthetics - Very handy, and tough case Cons: - Shock mount isn't great