Pass the Mic

Dan Brockett has written up a very extensive and useful article over at kenstone.net entitled As I Hear It - Choosing the Right Microphone. In it, Dan reviews several industry mainstays as well as some recent upstarts, posting his personal impressions along with recording samples of "popular short shotgun, supercardioid, hypercardiod and cardioid microphones." Snip:

I am not an engineer and I don't know all of the answers but I can tell you that after reading this article and carefully listening to the recorded samples, you will have saved yourself several days of shopping, internet research to hunt down disparate sound samples and lots of misinformation that you might hear from uninformed sound forum posters, salespeople or retailers who just didn't do their research or have a vested interest in not being unbiased. There are no clear-cut winners and losers amongst these microphones; this review is not a contest. All of the microphones I tested and reviewed are capable of excellent sound. Not a single one of the microphones sounded "bad". Some were better than others or stood out from the rest for specific sound qualities though, the purpose of this article is to help you find the best microphones for your needs, taste and budget.

Amen to that.

Link, via kenstone.net.