Choosing the right microphone is something hard. Each voice is unique so a microphone that could fit for a certain person may not be suitable at all for another one.
Objective specs to check when choosing a microphone :
- The frequency range. Mostly between 20Hz - 20kHz
- Maximum SPL in dB
- Directivity : cardioid, hypercardioid, supercardioid, omnidirectional, bi-directional
- Signal-to-noise ratio in dB
- Sensitivity in mV/Pa
References for voice :
- Neumann U87 - ~2500€, legendary mic, very versatile.
- Neumann TLM 107 - ~1200€, lot of directivities and pads.
- Antelope Edge Duo - ~1100€. Modeling microphone to use with Antelope Edge Simulation. Better alternative to the Slate Digital ML-1 below.
- Neumann TLM 103 - ~900€, based on the U67 and U87 microphone capsule.
- Slate Digital ML-1 - ~800€, a very neutral microphone that comes with the VMS software which allows emulating a lot of different microphones with outstanding results. It’s like a swiss knife. Seems to be better with the VMS One Preamp (~450€)
- Aston Microphone Origin - ~220€ low price microphone but still very good. Very robust. Lot of headroom and sensivity.