Mic check!

Tonight I decided to take mic inventory.

I have quite a bit of weird stuff I've collected over the years, along with some experimental things and some Frankenmics.  Up top are my homebuilt drum mics, made from dynamic elements and matching transformers pulled from the parts bin, and attached to modified carpenter's clamps for mounting to the rim. I think I used them exactly once. They needed lots of EQ.

To the left, attached to a roll of cable, is an Altec 633A,  a vintage microphone famously known as the "salt shaker."  These were manufactured by Western Electric, and later Altec Lansing, from the 1930s through the 1960s, and are famous for their low-fi, bandwidth-limited sound.  Next to it, gleaming brightly, is my mid-60s vintage Shure Unidyne II Model 55S. Everyone loves the Model 55 "Elvis" mic!

Leading up the bottom row from the left are my large diaphragm condensers: An AKG P120, a MXL 990, and a CAD e100-2.  The plate-shaped mic is a Realistic PZM boundary mic from the early 80s, excellent for miking a piano or placing on a wall for recording a room evenly. I plan to mod it in the future for XLR connection and phantom power operation.  There are several small diaphragm condensers next to it, including a Shure SM81.  Most of the dynamic handheld mics aren't much to speak about (translation: junk), but there are a few that are my workhorses: A pair of GLS ES-57 mics, which are excellent SM57 clones, along with an excellent-sounding Shure 565 Unisphere I element mounted to a random mic body and mesh ball.  There is also a 1970s vintage Shure 545 Unidyne III, the predecessor to the SM57 – This particular one is transformerless, and has less gain than a SM57, but extended bass response, without the 8kHz peak common to the SM57 and 58.