Pro audio report: M-audio condensers.(Product/Service Evaluation)

In a modern recording world where rights and wrongs simply don't exist anymore, even the most prissy and paranoid studio cats can feel more right by capturing the sound of an electric guitar rig with a dynamic microphone. After all, a Shure SM57 placed dead center on a speaker cone pretty much conjures the aggressive punch of classic rock. However, slavish devotion to one microphone limits experimentation, and your acoustic guitar won't love you very much either, because its blossoming sonic spectrum deserves a little variety in both mics and mic positions.

As the somewhat delicate sophisticate to the dynamic's Marshall-toughened street fighter, large-diaphragm condenser mics offer home recordists expanded sonic options. Although condensers can certainly be used to capture barbarous tones, their expanded frequency range and wonderfully detailed imaging make them great choices for recording off-axis timbres (those thin, funky chiffs typically achieved by placing the mic at a 45-degree angle to the speaker cone), room and ambient sounds (where the mic is placed from 3' to 10' or more from the amp), acoustic-guitar shimmers and ka-booms (depending on whether you position the mic near the soundhole or off-axis to the neck), and any sound where a relatively airy and transparent documentation is desired.

M-Audio's trio of condensers should seduce recordists to upgrade their mic menus, because they not only deliver excellent sound, but are affordably priced from $129 to $349.

LUNA

Like the Nova, the Luna ($249 retail/$199 street) offers one polar pattern (cardioid) and no frequency cut or dB pad. All this means is that you may have to get a tad more creative with your mic positioning to avoid low-end boominess and input-source distortion. Overall, the Luna offers a relatively transparent sound with detailed mids. While the highs don't exactly shimmer, definition is excellent--the Luna really captured the ...