Audio-TechnicaMB4K Cardioid Condenser Microphone Blue

Bought as a replacement for a previous one- that died from being knocked over whilst still attached to the microphone stand - after nearly 20 years service. Not complaining there..Used for both speech and vocals, has a very nice neutral sound with no obvious peaks. Quiet, even when used with high gain (Church use, so very wide variety of users, from whisperers to bawlers.. )Will buy more as required..

I have a number of the previous version of this microphone the MB4000. They have stood up to years of regular use and still produce a good sound. They need careful placement in relation to fold back monitors but that aside they have proved reliable and good value for money.

This microphone was recommended to us during a revamp of the PA system in our church.We've used SM58s for our pulpit for years and we've generally had no problems, but when our PA system was recently upgraded, this microphone was recommended to us to give us a further improvement in clarity.I was unsure at first as we've had problems with condenser mics in our auditorium due to highly reflective surfaces and having to operate within a very narrow margin before we'd get feedback issues.I found this microphone very easy to set up, I was quickly able to get the EQ set up so it was at an equivalent state to the old SM58s and then was able to take it significantly further, boosting both input gain and top end to increase clarity of speech - areas we'd struggled with previously.When listening back to recordings on the podcast feed, the changeover between microphones was stark and noticeable. Recordings made with the SM58 were echoey and distant with a huge amount of room noise creeping in to the recordings, but the MB4K rejects a huge amount of background noise, making the recording sound much closer and personal.The microphone itself is very nicely finished - it has a smaller diameter body to many microphones, meaning it needs to use the included mic clips. The body of the microphone is just big enough to house a AA battery with no extra space being taken up. It is finished with a smooth rubber-like texture which is nice and grippy. The smaller dimensions of this microphone make it look very tidy on the lectern.We power this microphone using phantom power (+48V) so no AA is required. The presence of an on/off switch scares me a little as an engineer, but as we just leave them switched to the on position at all times, this hasn't caused us any problems yet!I would totally recommend this microphone, particularly if you're in a similar circumstance to us and would like to improve the clarity of speech.We have yet to use it for singing, but I have no reason to think there would be any problem. It should play to its strengths if you are unable to mic a singer closely (maybe if micing a singing pianist etc), where the background rejection should make big improvements.