Guitar mics shootout - Shure, Audix, Sennheiser, Heil

!READ FIRST!
!HD RECOMMENDED!

Just a small video showing main differences between these microphones (NOT BETTER/WORSE COMPARISON).
I've picked one spot on the cab and set every mic on it.
Post procesing - volume normalization and a little compression on the master bus (as a 'glue')

Drums - Superior
Bass - GMR + Podfarm/SVX
Guitar - LTD MH301 (Seymour Duncan Distortion/EMG85, some old Ernie Ball 13-56 strings) + Noise Gate + OD + 5150 combo (Red Channel, Cel. V30, JJ's/EH/Tung Sol) + PRESONUS 1818VSL + Palmer DACCAPO Reamp-box

Sorry for shitty playing
Cheers,
Matt

PS1. Thanks to Wieslawscy Bros from Hertz Studio for letting me borrow their Sennheiser MD421
PS2. Thanks to Sinquestsound for letting me borrow his Audix i5
PS3. I don't own Royer 121 and none of my friends does.
PS4. Double-tracked

CLIP1:
PR20 - 0:18
SM57 - 0:41
I5 - 1:03
SM7 -1:27
E906 - 1:48
MD421 - 2:11

CLIP2:
PR20 - 2:37
SM57 - 3:00
I5 - 3:21
SM7 -3:44
E906 - 4:07
MD421 - 4:28

CLIP3:
PR20 - 4:57
SM57 - 5:26
I5 - 5:56
SM7 - 6:26
E906 - 6:56
MD421 - 7:25

CLIP4:
PR20 - 8:00
SM57 - 8:17
I5 - 8:31
SM7 - 8:46
E906 - 9:02
MD421 - 9:17

[piercem]

I have to disagree with the people bashing the high gain tone used in the video. The heavy distortion helps show the differences in each mics treble response. The chugging highlights the midrange response and the power chords mixed with the distortion gives an idea of the bass interaction of each mic. I'm not a metal head but I still enjoyed the comparison!

[SpectreSoundStudios]

Nice work!  Thanks for putting this together... now to go grab my sm7 )

[jaksonopolis]

This is the best shootout i have ever heard. Great selection of mics, no awkward pauses and the music was awesome as well. I personally thought every one of those mics sounded great. Each song had a different mic that really shined on it in my opinion. Great job..

[mondayevening]

God lord. So many complaining about the heaviness of the track and suggesting a different genre to best show of the mics. Erm.... What if you want to hear the difference (or similarities) for recording high gain guitar? And why not double track it? You're probably gonna do that anyway so might want to know what that would sound like. Way too many 'I could do it betters' here. FYI I can hear a clear difference between each mic.

[elsf]

Thank you. This video is perfect! It just starts, without five minutes of explanation and shows exactly enough information.  No long list of what guitar made in what year, what cable, what preamp... perfect. 

[andreapetucco]

did you recorded every single clip with the microphone placed over a plastic star?!!

[jon.lervold]

I've experimented with all of these mics except the Heil before. The Heil clearly sounds best here to my ears. I will have to add one to my mic locker. Thanks for a perfectly done shootout video!

[edwardcullenhotass]

For the busier parts of the music, the sharp cutting high mids of the SM57 were cool, but on the more straight-forward slower parts, the PR20 seemed way more balanced and more fitting. It's between those two for me.

The MD421 was also pretty cool too.

JMO.

Killer shootout, thanks!

[randy]

I like how you switched between genres of rock. I'm not so much into the heavier metal so changing it was really helpful to understand which one I liked the best

[AllenVanWert]

md421 clearly makes every style of music instantly sound like ramstein LMAO

[anton]

thanks for the comparison! any will do, but the md421 is my top choice, followed by the e906. to my ears they sound fuller. great mix by the way!

[UltraBillyC]

Wow! What a great vid. I've gotta' say, I'm pretty excited with the way the i5 sounds. It just seems to really have a top end sparkle that brings the sound more alive to me. Considering that it is one of the cheapest of the bunch, thats pretty cool too. Thanks for putting together a great comparison video.

[goddessintriptych]

0:19, 0:41, 1:03, 1:25, 1:47, 2:09 PR20 & SM7
2:37, 2:59, 3:21, 3:43, 4:06, 4:28 PR20 & SM7
5:04, 5:34, 6:03, 6:33, 7:02, 7:32 SM7
8:00, 8:15, 8:30, 8:46, 9:01, 9:16 All except the last 2

[cutthroughrecordings]

Thanks for taking the time to make this! Its exactly what I needed to see. The PR420 and and the i5 were definitely my favorites

[givemeajackson]

loved the sennheiser in this one. clear, tight, no fizz at all. especially in clip 3 it sounds sooo fucking brutally heavy!

[DCmedicryan]

What a great vid. Your tone is UNREAL! Heavy yet tons of clarity. I wish I could figure out what I'm doing wrong when recording at home. There's always this hideous white noise hiss between 2khz - 4khz that I battle with but can't rid myself of.

[PERRECTUMpl]

great video! nice characteristics of every mic presented here. its not about which sounds better, it depends on what you are looking for in particular situation. its always good to have few choices, and own them all :)

[hjalmarbackstrom]

To me it's like:
For contemporary metal - i5
For old school metal MD-421
Nice upload!

[avnger]

I can't believe how awesome these Audix mics sound for so cheap. That I5 sounds awesome!

[tgchan]

MD421 damn... no wonder it costs that much... it rocks/ Amazing job, mate/