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MXL V57M Studio Condenser Microphone

Cardioid condenser microphone. 30Hz - 20kHz frequency response. Requires 48v phantom power supply.

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
           9 out of 10
Features:
           8 out of 10
Quality:
           9 out of 10
Value:
           10 out of 10
I Want It:
           8 out of 10
Sound:
           9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
           9 out of 10
Support:
           9 out of 10
 
 

"good mic for the money"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          7 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          9 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          9 out of 10
Support:
          9 out of 10
User: a customer from charter.net
Submitted: 10/31/2007
Style of Music: Bluegrass, acoustic, acoustic-oriented jazz
Musical Experience: Active Musician & Recording Engineer
Location: North Carolina

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
all the V57M's we have came with the ring mount. Have never bought or used a shockmount with these microphones.

Quality:
Though the color is a little ghastly, use dominates over appearance everyday. At the prices I have bought these microphones for, I'm completely satisfied. They have been hauled a bit for some "on the fly" recording in hotel rooms with no problems. But, we do not take for granted that these are condenser microphones and try to take decent care of them when transporting them from place to place.

Value:
Again, at the price we've paid, we can buy tons of these microphones for what you can tie up a substantial sum of money on ONE "boutique" microphone. The sound going to the hard drive has to come from a decent set of speakers and good ears, along with good instruments and people who know how to play them, not just an expensive microphone. You can take one of the "boutique" microphones and get garish sounds from it if you put the microphone in the wrong place for sound to begin with, or have someone who doesn't know how to coax tone and good sound from the instrument.

Desirability:
It is completely practical for our studio and the money we have to put into it to obtain it.

Sound:
Have used several of these microphones for the past several years. We've recorded upright bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle, egg shake, djembe, sax, trumpet, vocals (male range from bass through tenor) and they have served us very well.

Ease of Use:
With any microphone used in the studio, the microphone placement is the key. We go for completely natural sound, with the mic placement giving us the most even sound that covers the range of whatever instrument we are recording.

Support:
Have needed no support. We currently own 5 of these microphones and have had no trouble out of any of them.

Overall:
I'm continuing to search for good buys on these microphones. I know they will work for us in our studio, they already have. If I happen to fall upon hard times and begin to have problems form these microphones, I want more of the same thing to fall back on.

11 of 11 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Low budget people this is your mic!"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          8 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.com
Submitted: 7/6/2006
Style of Music: mostly voiceover stuff
Musical Experience: video dude that has to do his own audio
Location: up in the mountains in KY

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
Be sure and buy the shock mount with it, $10 more now or $35 later. Only wish it were tall enough that I didn't have to use a mic stand with the shockmount.

Quality:
Its hard to believe how little this thing costs

Value:
This mic is the best value out there.

Desirability:
Its pretty nice lookin, I am sure there are better lookin mics out there, but this one is nothing to be ashamed of by any means

Sound:
Nice warm sound, I am actually a video producer that hates his own voice, but suddenly mine dont sound so bad....

Support:
NA, but I did notice they had a toll free #....

Overall:
great mic, wonderful price, what more can you want? I bought it to do voice over for video and I feel I made the perfect choice.

6 of 6 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Great Sound Quality, Great Price."

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from hotmail.com
Submitted: 2/4/2005
Style of Music: Metal, Drum&Bass, Hip Hop, Experamental Techno
Musical Experience: Musician and Recording Engineer
Location: Okemos, MI, United States

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
Good for pretty much anything.

Quality:
The V57M is manufactured well and sturdy. I hung it over a drumset to record and the drummer accidentally cracked it with a drumstick and it barely left a dent on the metal mesh over the diaphram.

Value:
Very good price and a great product as well.

Desirability:
???

Sound:
This mic has great frequency response and I like the way the cymbals on the drumset I miced up with it, very clear and crisp sounding. The V57M is good for live recording too because it wont pick up sound that's projecting from sources that are further than about 4-5 feet away. A very good versatile mic especially for the price. Much better than Sure or Peavey mics.

Support:
Didn't deal with them yet.

Overall:
Very Good.

2 of 2 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"IF YOU WANT GREAT QUALITY IN YOUR VOCALS, BUY THIS MIC!"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          7 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from EXCITE.COM
Submitted: 8/14/2007
Style of Music: Rock. Hardcore Rap.
Musical Experience: Musician, Recording Engineer.
Location: Brighton, MI, USA

 

 
Feature:
I ordered this product with a microphone shockmount, which is excellent. The color of the mic is a little strange, and the design is different than I'm used to. However, this mic is only $60 dollars and I prefer to use this over my Shure.

Quality:
I actually bought one of these mics in January, but I somehow I'm guessing it got the slightest bit wet. This microphone is very water sensitive. Be sure to ALWAYS use a Pop Filter with this and don't even consider talking/singing into it without one.

Value:
Yes, this mic is worth every penny! If I had to pay another $50 bucks I'd gladly do it knowing the results it can produce.

Desirability:
It's not the most attractive mic. It's color is different as well as it's design.

Sound:
First of all, I use a Yamaha 10 Channel Mixer, as well as the Alesis IO2 Audio Interface when I record. This microphone has performed great with both of these. It has an extremely clear sound, and is very reliable. I haven't had a problem with this microphone yet and I've had it since Feb. '07. I use the program Cool Edit 2.0, and I believe it's all in how you mix your track to classify near perfection. This microphone is a must have!

Ease of Use:
It's pretty basic, just plug it in your interface or mixer. Depending on your equipment will determine how great this microphone will sound.

Support:
They sent me a new microphone after mine broke from water damage due to the 30 day guarentee.

Overall:
I'm always searching for better mics. I may pick up a couple more different ones, but I will always use this one.

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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MXL V57M Condenser Mic Customer Review

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
Submitted: 7/25/2007

 

 
Feature:
it's a plain design. so what! who cares. it sounds fantastic even for the most critical recording applications.

Quality:
can't beat it for the price. it's up there with some of our more expensive mics.

Value:
excellent. buy a few. you won't be sorry.

Desirability:
well... it's a mic.

Sound:
great mic. don't be turned off by some of the negative reviews posted here. they're probably coming from people new to recording or with cheesy equipment to begin with. this mic is amazing! we run a pro studio and have been in business since the mid 80's. we have quite a huge mic locker with very expensive mics at our reach. this one gets used quite often. it's that good.

Support:
never needed them but heard they're great!

2 of 2 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Excellent condenser for the price."

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          8 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
Submitted: 4/27/2009
Style of Music: Alternative Rock, Folk Pop
Musical Experience: producer, recording engineer, live sound engineer, guitar, bass, piano.
Location: DFW

 

 
Feature:
none. it's a simple mic and not intended to have features The shockmount is necessary, so go ahead and buy the combo.

Quality:
The mic is sturdily built, metal (probably aluminum) construction. None of this cheap plastic that many budget mics are made of. All the same, it is a condenser, so if you drop it you will probably damage the diaphragm. This mic is part of my mobile studio, so it gets treated a little rougher than a studio mic would, but it seems to be holding up quite well.

Value:
Well, there are few mics under $100 that sound this good.

Desirability:
Sex appeal? well it's ugly. it's like that weird gold-green-grey color that should have died with the 70s. It is however, a very practical addition to my setup. Very few people think, when listening to a CD "Gee, that sounds like it was recorded on an ugly colored mic"

Sound:
Warm, not as detailed as a top-o'-the-line condenser, but all things considered, the tone is good. It has a strong midrange, which some cheaper condensers don't. Note: If you are recording digitally, this mic (any mic for that matter) wont sound great unless you push the sample rate up to 96kHz or 192kHz. Garageband tops out a 44kHz, so it's performance will be good, but not as good as in a pro product like logic where you can increase the sample rate. At 192kHz, every little detail comes out, this really is not cheap-o mic.

Ease of Use:
Really easy to get pretty good sound out of this mic. You have to work a little bit to get really great sound. For vocals I've noticed that S's tend to get a little fuzzy if the vocalist is within 8 inches of the mic, but just push the gain a little and step back a bit from the mic, and the sound is superb. I have recorded acoustic guitar, electric and bass amps, percussion, piano, and vocals. So far this mic has proved to be very versatile

Support:
I assume, i haven't had to use it.

Overall:
Good mic. I will not say it is better than something in the $500 and up range, but it definitely holds it's own with everything else. A few thing st this mic apart. -Lovely warm sound -Excellent performance at high bit rates (completely acceptable performance at lower bit rates, so don't worry if you are not prepared to dump a lot of $ on a professional sound software.) -Sturdy build -Low price Altogether an excellent mic. buy one.

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"This condenser mic is highway robbery!"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          8 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from hotmail.com
Submitted: 6/18/2005
Style of Music: Hip Hop, Holy Hip Hop
Musical Experience: Vice President of Gospel Rhymes Records, Musician, Producer, Engineer
Location: Decatur, Ga. USA

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
Included a shockmount....very simple mic to use. Just plug it up to your phantom power source, and from there into your inputs, and you are ready to go.

Quality:
This mic might not be the best looking mic right off the bat (not that it looks bad), but it will grow on you the longer you own it. It seems very strong and solid for a condenser mic that you don't have to treat like a wet piece of paper ready to break.

Value:
This condenser mic is highway robbery for the price! If you have a good studio setup, this mic will blow away or at least compete with most of the other thousand dollar or more mics! Your friends/family/fans/co-workers/etc may be surprised of the sound you get from this mic!

Desirability:
It's not the best looking mic out there, but the complete gold look along with a sturdy fit and finish gives you a luxurious expensive feel in the mic so I'll give it an 8 out of 10 rating.

Sound:
This mic is HIGHLY underated. The sound quality on this mic sounds better in my home studio than recordings done at a professional studio with a far more expensive mic and equipment. This condenser mic makes my professional home recordings sound like they were ACTUALLY done in a professional studio, and the ones I previously did in a professional studio paying top dollar sound like they were recorded at home! For the price, this microphone is a steal! If you are looking for a professional budget or NON-budget condenser microphone, this is it! Sure, you can buy a better studio mic, but for the price? I have yet to see a legal deal that can beat this mic's sound! Just make sure you have a phantom power supply (can be purchased here on zZounds.com) or you might not think well of this mic.

Support:
N/A

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"Seriously - this is an excellent value"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from jkstraw.com
Submitted: 8/5/2005
Style of Music: Folk, Bluegrass, Old Time and Rock
Musical Experience: Active Musician, Recording Engineer
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

 

 
Feature:
Not sure how to rate this - features of a mic? Well as a cardioid I find it does a good job at keeping the audio bleed down when tracking jams sessions. Shock mount works fine.

Quality:
No defects - solid construction. I imagine the windsreen could be improved upon - but as I use it in a studio wind isn't a concern :-)

Value:
Seriously - I am sure there are incredible condenser mics worth thousands of dollars. But for 60-70 bucks this deal cannot be beat. This mic reproduces my vocals very accurately - paying a few grand for a high end condenser simply can't give me a justifiable improvment (ie. if this tracks at 90% accuracy and something forth $1500 tracks at 98% is it really worth it when only a small percentage of your audience is even going to notice?)

Desirability:
Price <-> performance is amazing. I would replace....and maybe buy more.

Sound:
I admit I haven't played around with many high end condenser mics. But I find this mic tracks my lead vocals and backup vocals very well. My voice is a little low and gruff - so I am not sure how it would respond to the upper end (although it tracks the high's on my acoustic nicely as well). IMHO this is an incredible deal - I have 2 in my home studio and have been extremely pleased with the results.

Support:
Best support - is when you have a product that doesn't need it.

Overall:
I am sure there are other deals like this to be had and I havn't tried them all. This is just in my experience.

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"Not a bad mic at all!"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          9 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from gmail.com
Submitted: 5/25/2008
Style of Music: hip-hop/Rap
Musical Experience: catholic christian rapper
Location: San Juan, TX

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
No Features. I like that.

Quality:
It's made well, it's got a nice weight to it. It seems like it will last a long time.

Value:
For the price it's the best.

Desirability:
Well there are tons of mics out there. Just reading the reviews made me want it.

Sound:
This is actually my second studio condenser mic. With this one i'm noticing a lot of "Sharpness". It's not bad though, it records pretty clear.

Ease of Use:
It's easy to use, just plug in and get started.

Overall:
I'll use this mic until it's un-usable. I do plan on getting something way more expensive in the future.This will do for now overall it's the best mic i've used so far.

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"How can something this good cost so little?"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          9 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from juno.com
Submitted: 2/26/2009
Style of Music: R & B, Jazz, Rock
Musical Experience: Active Musician, Recording Engineer
Location: Greenbay, Wisconsin U.S.A.

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
It is a very basic Condensor microphone which in a way is good, there is less to go wrong with it that way. The microphone included a stand clip and for $10.00 more I purchased the shock mount which was well worth it. It did not include a carry case but was packaged well in a foam crypt.

Quality:
The microphone is surprisingly heavy and appears to be constructed of top grade materials. I will be ordering more like this.

Value:
If you are looking for a microphone that has good bang for the buck, this is a good choice.

Desirability:
It is ghastly to look at but that doesn't matter, I listen with my ears not my eyes and it's a microphone.

Sound:
I Purchased this Microphone from zZounds for laying down some live audio tracks of traffic in the area for an intro to a song and I must say it does a very good job of picking up even the most subtle noises on the street.

Ease of Use:
I turned on my mixer and phantom power waited a few minutes and plugged the mic in, set the gain and EQ and that was all I had to do. The mic has a very warm and natural quality to the recording and doesn't have off axis problems and feedback like many other microphones I have used over the past 30 years.

Support:
Haven't used it.

Overall:
I expect to use it and many like this microphone for many years. If it gets lost or stolen I would replace it with the same. I didn't realise until I got it that it will not mount to my mic stands or boom without an adapter.

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