AKG P220

I have successfully used this condenser microphone for recording voice overs and as part of a mic kit for recording a grand piano.

In the case of vocals, it allows recordings that accurately reproduce what you would have heard if you were present during the recording session. No detail is lost from the source material. The bass response is great when recording male vocals. The frequency reponse chart indicates that it should also work well for female vocals (only tested male vocals).

In the case of piano recording, the P220 is ideal as part of a coincident pair with a P170 condenser (using P220 to pick up bass end, P170 for treble end).

The microphone does not require a lot of gain like small-diaphragm condensers or dynamic mics to sound right and pick up the slightest of details. I do not recommend a very high gain with this mic however, as the sound will be very tin can-ish. It worked fine with the mic pres I have in my MG10XU mixing console or UR22 Mk ii recording interface (both D-PRE).

The included spider shock-mount is very sturdy and holds the microphone still without any wobbling (the mount screws in to the built-in threads on the bottom side of the mic). I recommend a strong stand with this mic, for example a K&M 232BK if buying a table-top stand as the mic and shock-mount assembly is on the heavy side. Try to avoid flimsy stands with this mic.

I did not spend a lot of time trying the HPF and pad switches, but from my testing they work well. My usual setting is to keep HPF off (using the one on the mixing console if needed) without any padding (again using the one on teh mixing console if needed). The built-in switches will work fine if using a recording interface with fancy mic pres.

On the whole, I recommend this microphone to anyone looking for a high quality but budget friendly mic for recording vocals for interviews, or voice-overs as well as singers.

I bought this one for classical guitar recording. This is a real electret microphone. The sound is warm and open. The internal suspension of the diaphragm is really good, even holding the mic in hand you can not hear a rumble. The lo-cut filter is working fine, leaving the voice range unaffected. Even the guitar can benefit of the filter if you use 2 mics at 90 degrees: the mic pointing the fingerboard can cut the lo frequencies and determine a better stereo image, avoiding bass interference and having the compressor working better. I tried this way together with a Rode mic and I had a very good result.
Even if I bought for instrument recording I have to say that the voice is great with this microphone! I have a NT1 Rode but I prefer the sound from the AKG. I have also a Samson C01, but it is not comparable withe the Rode or the AKG. May be it depends on the polar figure, but the response from the Samson was just acceptable. (The price of the Samson is different and I bought for speech recording, so may be we should not compare it with the AKG and the Rode). But the AKG really surprised me. I did not expect such a good performance from a mic of this price.