Behringer C-2 Studio Condenser Microphones (Pack of 2)

These mics get mixed reviews depending on users' expectations. Are these the best mics you'll buy? No. Can you buy better? Absolutely. Are they worth £40? Yes! If I'd spent £200 on these mics I'd have described them as noisy and disappointing, but these are not expensive high quality mics. They are budget mics, and as such they are great. I compared them to an AT835b (shotgun mic, worth much more), and for indoor use found them a good substitute with similar sensitivity. Size is the first thing that hits you, as they're look tiny at just 9.5cm long and 2cm wide. Outdoors, they're not so good as they have poor wind/pop rejection. They do have a little internal hiss if you wind the gain up, but they have a sensitivity of -41dBV, so you shouldn't need crazy amounts of gain, and the specs imply they are good for loud sources (up to an SPL of 140dB at 1kHz, 10dB more with the cut engaged - that's airshow loud). They are a little "toppy" above 10kHz, but you can EQ that out if necessary. I'm not disappointed with these. For the money you get a pair of functional mics, good for drums, guitar amps, crowd mics, and "off axis" speech (so your plosives don't pop the living daylights out of them) for indoor video (eg about 8 inches above and in front of a subject, out of shot).

Whilst I wouldn't say I was a professional music producer, after studying music tech at college I do feel confident in being able to determine whether something is of an acceptable quality for an enthusiast on a budget. I really do think these things are great. Getting two microphones for £45, I wasn't really sure what I was going to receive. Especially when I have used fairly expensive mics (nothing ridiculous costing, mainly mid range rode and shure microphones) at college and further at University. This was exacerbated when I opened the package to find that they are small, I mean really small. They are fairly heavy for their size and feel of nice quality in the hand with the aluminium finish. They come in a 'nice for the price' carry case that seems to be well padded to protect them well enough with all of the accessories and the mics themselves packing up into a small area, great for on the move recordings. Small note about the incidental pairing stand that they come with, I thought (quite possibly stupidly) that the stand would act as a table mount and hold the mics up. Whilst that is the case without xlr's attached, attached it topples over straight away. Not an issue as a stand is better practice anyway but thought id mention it. Having quickly set them up through my alesis io2 audio interface onto cubase I set about recording my acoustic guitar and vocals as well as just general sampling. They sound great, nice and clear free from distortion etc. Really excellent, especially considering the price point. They need a fair amount of gain from my alesis to get a decent signal through to cubase but once that's sorted they record acoustic guitars very well. For such a small diaphragm they do a good job of picking up low end, maybe too much so when it comes to vocals (probably just my untrained boomy voice haha) for my taste. I do plan to try them out recording a brass band and continue to use them as acoustic bedroom mics. Whilst im not going to lie and say these things are big boy killers (they really arent) they will do a brillinat job of semi professional music production, which in the end is exactly what i bought them for, for a fraction of the price of two Audio Technica Mics or other budget options.

Considering the price, they're great mics. I've only used them for drumming so they're blended with much more expensive mics but for the money, these are amazing.

These are an excellent product for the price, I have used these on multiple occasions. I purchased these simply as a back up pair of microphones, incase something went wrong with my current. I decided to use these on a few records on acoustic guitars, and using the right placement, the right filters and a noise gate, these sound incredible for the price. These do however create some background hiss, which is easy to manipulate and get rid of using noise gates or de-noisers, all dependant on how the hiss has recorded into your wave files. These, coupled with a decent pre-amp sound much more expensive than what they are, they also come with a dual mic clip, which is good for certain situations, primarily spaced pair placements. These coupled with more expensive microphones and blended are a great addition to a mix. I would highly recommend purchasing these microphones, from beginner to professional, for the price they are disposable and have a great tone to blend with more expensive microphones, they also sound great just as the original pair!

This brand is astonishing value for money. I have bought other Behringer items. These mics come with a good protective carrying case and extra mounts. -10dB switched too! Recording of Gibson sj200 (strum) and a Martin OOO Koa (finger pic) were high fidelity! You could clearly hear my mistakes! Used the sound hole and 10th fret at c12" distance positioning (dual mounted on one stand). Obviously you need XLR cables and a phantom power recording apparatus. In my case a Zoom R16 with 2 phantom power channels (usable across 2 banks of 8 channels). Gain at about 7.5 and monitor channels flat. These are great value for money additions to your recording capabilities.

Love the clarity of sound i get from these, little hum if you turn gain too high but that's expected might get another 2 for the guitars

This splendid microphone is perfect for plugging into today's memory card recorders, a digital studio quality recording set-up can be created for around £300 if you plug these into a Zoom or Tascam with phantom power. The sound quality is excellent at a price point which makes it virtually disposable. It can be risked in hazardous environments where a Neumann or Schoeps would be too great a loss. I have mine permanently plugged in and ready to use, just cased with a plastic hood and dessicant. Only one comment: the output of these mics is a little lower than some so a noisy mic pre-amp would leave it's signature on the signal if you trim it up to match the output of famous name brands at 10x the price. My recommendation: pair these mics with Tascam DR 40, gives you 4 track digital recording at 96kHz/24bit resolution. Add cables and stand, should cost under £250. Merry Christmas. ps: I am a professional studio musician, not a sound engineer.

I'm blown away. Came in a plastic carry case complete with pre-cut foam inserts etc. Includes a mount as well. The pair I received are more than sufficiently close in performance (one might be slightly more sensitive to electromagnetic noise than the other - I did try swapping the cables and mixer inputs etc - I think it's one of the two mics specifically...) that we happily use both as a pair to pick-up congregational singing etc in a church. I mentioned a little susceptibility to noise on one of the two mics. I need to be clear - the mics are positioned 30ft+ away from the centre of the congregation, and ~10 feet from the closest person. So we have the gain cranked right up. You put these in front of a singer, or (probably more likely) close to an acoustic instrument - you're going to have no issues whatsoever. Is this a Shure mic? No. Yet you're here looking at the product. If you're on a budget, I'm confident this is going to outperform 90% of other products for the price. If it doesn't, Amazon will let you return it for free. Highly recommended, where the application makes sense.