It’s time to showcase a condenser mic this month! And there’s nothing we like more than a versatile mic you can find for under $400.

I first got into recording doing a lot of solo and acoustic performers. I emailed one of my favorite songwriter/recordists at the time and asked him what mic he used to track his acoustic guitars. It just so happened the Audio-Technica 4033 was the mic he’d been using for years to record guitars and vocals. This being THE first studio mic for me, I put it in front of as many instruments as I could and received pretty incredible results. Audio-Technica even boasts that this was the mic to break the $1000-barrier in it’s class.

The 4033 is a fixed cardiod large-diaphram condenser, with a super wide and flat frequency response and a slight boost around 6k. It also features a 10db pad, and a bass roll off around 80Hz. It seems like a pretty basic mic, but I can’t tell you how many albums I’ve done almost entirely with this mic. Even today with all the vintage gear and fancy tube mics we’ve got in the studio, I still find myself grabbing this mic for most projects…call me sentimental!?

Instruments I like in front of the AT 4033

• Male/Female vocals
• Acoustic Guitars
• Banjo
• Cello
• Guitar cabs
• Brass Instruments
• Upright Piano
• Organ
• makes a decent room mic too!