AKG Pro Audio C214 Studio Grade Professional Large Diaphragm, Single Capsule, Vocal and Instrument Condenser Microphone with Rugged Aluminum Carrying Case. XLR Connector. Gray with Gold

I’ve had this microphone for a while, and I cannot say that this was the best microphone I have ever invested in. I recommend this for any vocalist that wants to do covers.

Excellent Mic. I own many mics and they all have their own characteristics. The standout characteristic of this microphone is it's very low self-noise. At 50dB gain, in my "quiet" room, on a very quiet Liquid Channel preamp, I register ~ -110dBFS across the spectrum. This is sensational for my recordings of quiet sound effects and acoustic guitar. Particularly with an acoustic guitar, paired with a small diaphragm condenser mic, the sound is just beautiful. Quiet picking or a strum sustaining never gets caught up in the noise floor. I can crank the track all the way up in post and never hear more than room noise. Vocals are great on this mic, both speaking and singing. I do adjust EQ a bit in post to boost some of the high end, but it works out fine. It handles loud and quiet segments beautifully without distortion or large swings in volume. Some of my mics require much more adjustment of the singers distance during recording than this mic. And since the noise floor is so low, I can compress my tracks much better. It is expensive but it is a tough-built, all around mic with exceptional audio quality. Think of the price as relating to a lifetime of use, especially if you plan to make money recording with it. It will work so well for you, put up with abuse, and resell for a good price.

If your looking for a professional high quality MIC to add to your collection or looking for your first professional MIC, this is it. Many are asking the question on what MIC do i buy, what pre-amp do i get etc.... I use this MIC with a PRO MPA II pre-amp made by ART. It sounds awesome. Its clear, clean and crisp. The MPA II has a low noise floor and works very well with this MIC. Any frequencies you don't like, you can cut them out during the mix phase. I do plan to buy another MIC pre because i want to have versatility in my studio but i assure you, this MIC is a smart buy that wont disappoint you. UPDATE!!! As i stated above, there is a low noise floor with the setup i have. After doing some recording, it dawned on me that i was using low quality MIC and patch cables from the pre-amp to the sound card. I purchased two Hosa pro series balanced TRS patch cables and a 15 ft MOGAMI gold analog reference cable. Doing so has given me virtually no noise at all in the recording. Cable quality matters, especially if you are a mix engineer and the details are important. I'm not endorsing these brands, merely sharing the results I've obtained with these purchases and this setup.

It was a struggle to determine just how much to spend on a mic for our start-up podcast. Everyone says start small, you can always upgrade. Well, my friends, I don't want to always be upgrading. You spend more, in the long run, that way. There are other places to save money, but your voice IS the podcast. I read reviews for weeks, you know what I found out, people that write these reviews get a commission if you buy the mic from there link. Which made my skeptical mind think, just how unbiased are they? So I went to several guitar stores in my area and tested out every single mic they had in the store. $40 mics all the way $5,000 mics. What I found out was this: you know imediately which ones you hate. It comes down to how the mic makes your voice sound. I repeatedly found that the AKG mics work best for my voice. The sound is rich and warm without any tweaking. (Remeber I was testing in a guitar store, all controls were the same, just the mic was different.) When I saw the price tags, I had a mini heart-attack. Then I thought about my studio needs. So I did a mental budget check and decided I'd rather spend the money on the mic since it's the most important piece of equipment for a podcast. I couldn't be happier. It's solidly made and should last me for years to come. If I need to buy another mic, it will for more hosts on the show, not to replace this one.

One of the first things to say is : this is a good mic , yes, but only when used by a pro singer or pro guitarist , & the correct monitoring system. otherwise u may be wondering that is the difference between this & the $200 mic u already have. This is something that a lot of people dont understand : if u are a good singer, u will sound amazing with this mic bcos it picks up many small details which are not obvious on cheaper mics. if its a bad singer, well... they may sound worse than on a $200 mic because this picks up all the flaws beautifully. same with acoustic guitars. if u are playing a guitar in the $4000 range(like my handcrafted model), this may be useful. but my other $500 guitar actually sounded better on one of my $200 mics. this is because the cheaper mic gives a lot of artificial high/low boost to make the guitar sound better than it is. but this c314 is more transparent, so a cheap guitar will sound ... cheap. When listened carefully through studio monitors, i could make out the small details which make the elder brother mic c414 famous. Admittedly, I have never used a c414 so no reference there , but my standalone opinion is that yes this c314 is a good mic. for now, i have to believe akg when they say both mics use the same condensor. pros : -yes this mic is quite transparent without any artificial massive eq boost -yes this mic is quite versatile, works well on many different instruments -the included polar patterns are useful. figure 8 is great for Mid-side recording, hypercardiod allows it to be used even on stage with live monitors. omni is ok, cardiod is clearly tight & focused. -nice little case is included along with mic clip & shock mount. cons :- As expected with large mics, this mic does not feel the best fit for super fast strummed guitars, because it may not respond to the fast transients. I added some transients later in post production which is not completely natural, but its a mix effect. u may want another small mic for this, anyway even the manual mentions to pair with a small mic for acoustic guitar. - the build & colors are not as high-end as i imagined from the photos. it does not look cheap either, but then its not going to turn heads. maybe akg decided to keep aesthetics simple for this price range, which may be a good practical decision.

hands down this is one of the best microphones i've ever owned. and in my opinion, it's priced pretty reasonably for the quality you get.

Sounds great! Highly recommend for people looking to upgrade their home studio but don't have the money for a higher price range just yet

After bringing it to Brazil, we tried to use it with the proper XLR cable and a professional audio interface (with 48V phantom power), but there is no sound output from the microphone. We have tested different cables, inputs, and devices, but the issue remains the same. It seems that the microphone may have arrived defective or damaged during shipping. Could you please advise on the warranty procedure or replacement options for this unit?