AKG D112 x2- “The standard kick drum microphone. Can take high SPL before clipping. Midrange notch can be useful on aggressive vocals and guitar cabinets. Not very similar in sound quality to earlier AKG D12.” (Electrical Audio)
Audio Technica ATM813 x3 – Cardioid electret condenser, powered via 1 AA battery. Has a pretty smooth sound for a small diaphragm condenser. Sounds cool for a warm snare drum tone, and does decently on acoustic guitar or cymbals.
Beyerdynamic M500 – (coming soon) End-address cardioid ribbon microphone. “Single ribbon in the same family as Beyer M160, but cardioid and voiced for vocal clarity (has presence peak around 8-10kHz). This voicing may accentuate sibilance, but is also useful for intelligibility of mumblers.” (Electrical Audio)
Beyerdynamic M55 – Omnidirectional dynamic microphone. Appears to be built in the body of a small electric razor from the 1960s. Has a vintage sound, rolled off in both the highs and lows but with a warm and pleasant sound. Have used on drum overhead, vocals, and electric guitar cabinet with some success.
Beyerdynamic MC23 – Half-caridoid condenser microphone. It’s designed for being mounted in a conference room table, but it has been used inside of and above pianos with surprisingly good results, and makes a cool trashy drum overhead or snare bottom mic (if you’re expecting and welcoming its distortion). Very tough and small.
CAD TSM411 – An actually-pretty-useful cheapo drum mic. Imagine a more focused (it’s hypercardioid) SM57 that also has a lower, growlier character. Sometimes it works on snare or toms if something like an SM57 isn’t doing it. Easy to place.
Cascade Fat Head – A modern classic at this point, the Fat Head is a ubiquitous Chinese-built short ribbon motor with an output transformer (and as with all passive ribbon mics, that’s pretty much it). These sound pretty dark and are incredibly versatile mics for such a low price. One of mine has the stock transformer and I think it sounds totally solid. I also have a pair of modified ones with Lundahl transformers and a headbasket upgrade.
Cascade X-15 – Stereo model with similar ribbon to the Fat Head. A hair better high-end to my ears; this one has been upgraded to Lundahl transformers.
(Custom) “S-K47” Completely modified mic built on MXL 990 donor body. Audio circuit is based on a classic transformerless Schoeps circuit, capsule is a nice K-47. Sounds crystal-clear, yet has more body and much less annoying crispy sibilance compared to many cheap condenser mics. Sounds great on everything, cardioid/omni switchable.
Electro Voice N/D308 – Excellent cardioid drum mic. Easy to place with its cute lil swivel head. Has a TON of proximity effect… low end is up +10db at some frequencies.
Electro Voice 631b – A 1960s precursor to the legendary 635a. This one has been rewired to be lo-z. It has a magnetic on-off switch, and is a slightly lo-fi and extremely tough omnidirectional dynamic mic. From The Evergreen State College’s Media Loan, on the 635a: “Affectionally known as “the Buchanan Hammer” by roadies in the 70s who would use the microphone for stage assembly. A workhorse mic and very sturdy, the 635a is a classic ENG (Electronic News Gathering) microphone and spawned the EV-50, another common ENG mic (especially in the US). In the recording world, the 635a is often used as a room mic for drums, a live band, vocals, or field recording. No windscreen needed. Good for loud sources, but has a noticeable noise floor. Has a boost in high-mid frequencies, along with sharp roll offs in the low-end and top end. XLR Connector.”
Oktava MK-012 – (2) Small-diaphragm, transformerless FET condenser mics. Both have interchangeable cardioid, omni, and large-diaphragm cardioid capsules, as well as a -10db pad. Pretty useful little mics. I have used them on snare drum, hi-hat, drum overheads, acoustic guitar, room mic, and vocals.
Sennheiser MD407 – Tabletop cousin of the venerable MD409. Lives up to the hype on guitar cabs.
Sennheiser 421 – (x5; 4 MD421-U-5, 1 vintage MD421-9) “Versatile, general-purpose dynamic mic. Often used on bass drums, toms, snare, bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals, horns. Can handle extreme SPL. Has high-pass filter variable from flat (“M” for music) to strong hi-pass (“S” for speech).” (Electrical Audio)
Shure SM57 -x3 “Piece of shit dynamic mic some people are inexplicably crazy about, so we bought one. Sounds equivalently good on everything from snare drum to electric guitar. Unfortunately, not a very high standard of “Good.” If you need to record something and there’s no microphone available, this will do, I guess.” (Electrical Audio) I have two of these, one more recent version and a nice old one (Unidyne III).
Shure SM58 – Same capsule and transformer as the SM57, different windscreen. I have one of these.
Studio Projects C-3 – This multipattern, transformerless LDC has been modified with a kit from Microphone Parts. From their website: “The Studio Projects C3 is nicely built, but in our opinion is too brightly voiced for many sources. It’s great for sources that need to cut through a dense mix, but can be fatiguing, especially when layered. We have created an add-on EQ circuit that reproduces the corrective high-frequency attenuation built into the Neumann U87. It gives the C3 a sound very very close to that of a U87, although with fuller low-frequency response.” I would go as far to say that it sounds pretty damn close to a U87ai, but definitely doesn’t compete with a real-deal U87 (transformer-coupled output). That said, this is a great-sounding unhyped, accurate, and very low-noise microphone.