BehringerC-3 Studio Condenser Microphones, Gold

I recently bought a Behringer C-3 microphone ostensibly on the basis of the reviews at Amazon. I have not been disappointed and my band mates have also been very impressed. I bought it to try out as an affordable single mic solution with a small PA to re-inforce vocals in our acoustic string band. The first time out we found it re-inforced our whole sound, with very little in the way of feedback problems. We plugged it through a mic pre-amp/Phantom power unit (M-Audio 2 channel Audio-Buddy) and used a shock mount. We have also tried the mount included with the mic, which was fine and ideal for emergencies (who forgot the shock mount!). The sound reproduction with this set up is excellent - warm and realistic, which is just what we wanted, though a decent pre-amp is required. Another reason for buying this product is the pattern and filter switching, which were not available on a more expensive recording mic that we have tried. Here, the C-3 offers a good degree of flexibility, depending on the details of the situation we find ourselves in.The Behringer C-3 is well built and well presented, being complete with a bespoke mount and hard plastic foam lined case. It represents excellent value. The product came with an instruction manual in any language but English, so there's an opportunity to brush up on your Spanish or French. The English version is available here:[...]

I am only just getting into making music recordings using my voice and electro-acoustic guitar. I am using this mic with a M-Audio Fast Track. This mic has worked out well and produces a nice enough sound. Remember that this Mic requires that you have Phantom Power, which my M-Audio supplies, otherwise you will not hear much as the volume will be too low.I have tested the different settings on the mic and found that although not perfect, the 3 settings (cardioid, omnidirectional or figure eight pickup patterns) work reasonably well. Using the cardioid setting is particularly useful to me as it help block out much of the hiss generated from my PC fan.For the price, I think this is as good a mic as you are going to get. I have seen in forums that you would have to spend more to improve on it, but I have also seen that people argue that if you understand how to set up your environment optimally, you may find spending more on a mic to be pointless as the amount of improvement to the sound is not worth the extra. Once I had tweaked all my settings and recorded from the correct distances etc, I had a surprisingly clear recording.So I would recommend this to others who are just getting into making recordings of whatever nature as a good affordable starting point. I for sure do not feel the need to get anything else and I think that will be the case for a while.

The audio-colour, as you might expect, is almost identical to that of the Behringer C-1 Studio Condenser Microphone which I also have and which I use for speech. The C-3 is a little more expensive, doubtless due to the extra element. This gives figure-8 (untried) and omni (experimented with) capture fields. The omni will pick up my machine noise at the same gain setting I use for cardioid (which effectively eliminates my machine's earprint) but the microphone's positioning would be different for such a use anyway, so I'd imagine it would be fine for real. Either will sit very nicely in a Samson SP01 Shock Mount.I'm not convinced it is ideal for an instrument (such as an enthusiastically played tenor recorder) however, since you'd tend to wander out of its field whilst playing (though obviously less so if sitting down with a guitar or something). I find - with my quiet voice - it needs pretty much all of the input gain on the mixer. But that's OK since it's close to noiseless and very clear sounding. You can go wild and really pop your peas and bees - this will show up in your mix and you might want to invest in a deplosivating desensitisation device (or pop screen). Or you could let a compressor take the strain. But if you speak normally, about a couple of inches away (with the aforementioned gain cranked up) you'll likely be able to do without either. A singer with a real voice, singing from the diaphragm, will get by with much less gain (though probably similar compression) with a consequent increase in the room-to-play-in department, gainwise.Note that the stock picture isn't showing the two extra (low and 10dB cut) switches on the 'front' (the side you'd speak into on cardioid) above and to either side of the red 48V phantom light. The cardi-omni-eight switch is on the 'back' (the other half in figure-eight mode).By the way - the PO in the title of this review stands, of course, for 'please order'. For the price I don't see how you can go wrong, assuming it arrives in QC condition.

This is a very good microphone. t is a condenser Microphone so also requires a Phantom power supply.or a few extra pounds it provides 3 different capture settings rather than the 1 of the C-1.In each mode the capture is excellent compared to a dynamic microphone. Many people compare this microphone to much more expensive microphones and rubbish it. I would agree, but price per performance is excellent. Comparing this microphone with others in its class it wins hands down.. It was good enough that I bought another for my home sound studio.I largely do voice recording with this mic, and for this task it performs amazingly well. In use it is well worth using a pop filter, and this really does improve its response.This microphone is designed to work on a stand only and a shock absorbing microphone stand does make the difference.If you want a fantastic microphone with a name then you have to pay the price. If you want a very good microphone at a budget price then this is the one to get started with.