Why a $ 1000 microphone isn’t 10x better than a $ 100 mic

Many people wonder why a microphone that costs thousands of dollars is supposed to be so much better than a microphone that costs hundreds.

Can you really justify the extra expense?

The answer is NO; you can’t.

When it comes to microphones, there’s a point of diminishing returns.

The $1000 mic might be a little better, but is it 10 times better? Probably not.

Why Should I Spend More On My Microphone?

The reason to spend more than 10 times on a microphone will not make your recordings sound better. The problem with a microphone that costs $1000 isn’t the build quality or how it sounds.

The problem is the room you are recording in and how you are recording your audio.

If we look at how to mic a guitar amp and why a $100 microphone will beat the one that is 10 times more expensive.

When you are micing up a guitar amp, the key is to have the correct technic when you are placing your microphone. If you are placing the microphone at the wrong angle, you will not be able to get a proper recording of your guitar.

To start with, the gear in mind will take you a bit, but the problem lies in the recording of the audio, and if you don’t get the recording right, you won’t be able to fix it in the mix.

Having the mindset to fix things in the mix is an old and worn-out expression.

You won’t fix your bad-sounding audio in the mix if you haven’t recorded it correctly.

When you aim your microphone straight to the speaker’s cone, you will get one sound of the guitar.

If you angle your microphone 45 degrees to the middle of the speaker cone, you will get a more bass-driven sound, and that is something that you cant fix when you are mixing your tracks.

Because if a guitar is heavy in the high mids, you can fix much of that problem using a propper micing technique.

The more expensive microphone won’t magically fix those issues.

What About The Mic That Costs $100?

If we look at the classic Sure SM7, that is a workhorse for micing up a guitar amp. It will always make your guitar recordings sound so much better when you are micing up a guitar amp.

And that mich works wonders on vocals too, and the best with the whole microphone is that it cost below the $100 mark. And that is something that will both make your recordings sound a lot better, and you can use the extra $900 on other gear instead.

A Neumann U87 is a classic microphone that many home studio owners just want to buy and a must-have since all the pros are using that microphone, and if they are doing it, you have to do it.

Since you will get better sounding audio if the gear is more expensive. But that is far away from the truth.

Because the audio will match the room, you are recording in, and the only thing the Neumann U87 will do is amplify the problems in your room since the microphone is at a higher build quality than the Sure sm7.

We imagine that the more expensive gear is better than, the cheaper. And that isn’t true.

Because you won’t get the results, you are after when you have more expensive gear.

The only result you will get is a disappointment when you still get the same issues in the low end and a muddy mix.

How Much Difference Will It Makes?

Non, you will not make better-sounding recordings if you buy a more expensive microphone.

Maybe it feels disappointing that the gear doesn’t matter when you want to record in your home studio.

But it is better to buy acoustic treatment instead of buying expensive gear.

A $1000 microphone won’t make the difference you feel it would.

The $900 you save on a cheaper microphone will do wonders on acoustic treatment instead.

That will make your audio tracks and the mix sound more balanced when you start at that end.

Because a bad-sounding room won’t make your expensive microphone sound better.

It is the total opposite.

It will amplify every problem you have in your room, and the cheaper microphone will do what you are after,

The Key Takeaway:

Don’t buy an expensive microphone if you don’t have other things in place in your studio room.

Because it won’t make any difference.

The cost of gear is something that won’t reflect the end results of your audio tracks. And it will disappoint you in the end.

It is so easy to look at every new and shiny object that is out there and believe that it will make the difference when it comes to the audio track’s actual recording.

And maybe it is hard to swallow that you will not get that professional-sounding recording just by buying more expensive gear.

If it was so easy, everyone would be a professional mixer.

And when we start at the right end of our recording process, everything will sound the way we want it to sound.

To learn the basics of recording and mixing is the way to start.

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