Electro Voice RE320 Mic

[LowPayDJ]

I was going to buy an EV RE20 and I'm wondering if the RE320 might be a better purchase. It will primarily be used for Production and On-Air Internet work from a Home Studio. Any thoughts from anyone who has compared the two?

 

[Emmett1057]

Costs less and sounds just as bad as an RE20 (they sound quite similar).

 

[VODood]

Better off buying a condenser for that $$$. Get a Blue Baby Bottle.

 

[BlackiesHotDogs]

I second ditching the RE20 for a baby bottle. The only advantage of the RE20 is that it's better in less than perfect studio conditions- I used an RE20 for a couple of years at my desk facing a huge office window and it worked beautifully. But for a home studio, the Blue is better for around the same $$ if you use it with something like this- which you can either buy or make your self:

http://alisocreek.net/vo-articles/voice-over-vocal-booth.html

OR

http://www.harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml

 

[LowPayDJ]

I don't know. The BLUE Baby Bottle is almost $400, and I can get a RE320 for around $250. I've used an RE20 at every station that I've ever worked for, so I know that they are a good heavy duty very forgiving microphone. So that's why I was interested in the RE320. Are there any Broadcast Stations using the BLUE Baby Bottle Mics? This will be used daily for live radio shows as well as production work.

 

[BlackiesHotDogs]

That's why there's ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blue-Baby-Bottle-MINT-Condenser-Cable-Pro-Microphone-/130712541115?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6f1317bb

I think the point is, you want the best sounding mic you can afford. The reason most radio stations use RE20s are because they can stand up to the abuse of 'talent' not because they are the best sounding mic. The 320 is ok, but for production I wouldn't use it. If you look around you can get better quality for a better or the same price.

 

[Emmett1057]

AT4040, Rode NT1-A or NT1000, SE 2200a and plenty of others in that price range. There are a lot of mics in that price range that don't sound terrible.

Emmett

 

[VODood]

You can get a Baby Bottle for $250 on eBay. I've purchased most of my mics off eBay w/o issue.

I second BlackiesHotDogs. Re20s/27s are used b/c of durability and cost moreso than anything else. With that said... the legendary Charlie Van Dyke uses it as his VO mic... so what do I know?


We actually employ a Baby Bottle here in Akron for our tracking studio. It's used to track two FMs and an AM. It's connected to a Mackie VLZ 1402 and sounds fantastic. WAY better than a RE20 or RE27.

I'm not an AT fan mostly due to the shock mount. Very precarious IMHO, esp for radio work.


I was fortunate early on in my career to work at a station, WMJI/CLE, where we used AKG414s (the original versions) on air (five in the air studio) and three 414s in each of the two prod studios. These went for over $1200 in the early 90s. Thankfully those that built the station had $$$ and vision. The guy who spec'd the studios? None other than JR Nelson (Z100, MTV VO etc).

Only had one RE20 at WMJI and it was for the newsroom.

 

[Emmett1057]

Yes, Charlie Van Dyke uses an RE20 and sounds awesome. I have no doubt that he could sound even better on another mic. But he's not losing any clients with what he has.

I prefer AT over Blue, but it's personal taste. Both are fine.

 

[whit979]

I second ditching the RE20 for a baby bottle. The only advantage of the RE20 is that it's better in less than perfect studio conditions- I used an RE20 for a couple of years at my desk facing a huge office window and it worked beautifully. But for a home studio, the Blue is better for around the same $$ if you use it with something like this- which you can either buy or make your self:

http://alisocreek.net/vo-articles/voice-over-vocal-booth.html

OR

http://www.harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml

Thanks for posting the link to the guide on making a portable vocal booth. I've been looking for something that like that for a long time!

 

[BlackiesHotDogs]

I was fortunate early on in my career to work at a station, WMJI/CLE, where we used AKG414s (the original versions) on air (five in the air studio) and three 414s in each of the two prod studios. These went for over $1200 in the early 90s. Thankfully those that built the station had $$$ and vision. The guy who spec'd the studios? None other than JR Nelson (Z100, MTV VO etc). Only had one RE20 at WMJI and it was for the newsroom.

I worked with JR for a number of years in Detroit before he passed. He knew his s**t! He was always great with me, but could be hell on salespeople (some deservedly so )

Yes, Charlie Van Dyke uses an RE20 and sounds awesome.

I worked at an an AM/FM combo that had all Neumann U87's in production. There was only one guy on staff who didn't sound great on those mics. I tried everything the engineers had, RE20, Shure, nothing seemed to work until we found a crappy old Sennheiser MD421(I think that was the model) which made him sound great. I learned that not every mic fits every person.

 

[VODood]

We have u87s here. I don't care for them. Now, if they were modded and had decent pres... which we don't, then perhaps. My buddy Ed Weigle (WWE commercial VO) uses a modded u87 with a ISA430 pre amp. Rocks! Some PT plugs help as well, lol. My personal preference is a 416. Works for my tone.

 

[Emmett1057]

The U87 is easily the most overrated mic on the planet. It's bland and boring and hugely expensive. But it works on everything and is amazingly consistent from one to the next. It's predictable and every engineer knows how to use one. But for what we do, more often than not, there are much better choices for much less cash.