Clarion FC-357 Large-Diaphragm Condenser Microphone

Chose this mic over Telefunken TF29, Vanguard, U87 clone, 251 clone, etc... It has a really nice warmth and presence. Extremely well made, filter choices and more. Very happy with this purchase. I do rock, pop vocals..

When the thought came up about opening @cmp_studios_ a production recording studio in the Bay Area, Ca, one thing was in mind... QUALITYWe wanted a vocal chain that would be considered an industry standard due to the clientele we were catering to. The first piece of the chain I was interested in was a microphone and I’ve always been interested in a C800. So, I reached out to my good friend and dealer @brycentenial from #bulldogCPU to see if he could locate one for me...Immediately, I was steered away and introduced to @lautenaudio flagship microphone, The Eden LT-386. It’s got the clarity and presence I was looking for but with the added bottom and thickness. With the added Multi-Voicing switch, it really sounds amazing on anything! Now this microphone goes everywhere with me, and will put this up against the C800 and any other mics in the “other guys” locker any day 😈-Jantzen PatagueCMP Studios | Chief Audio Engineer

Its not a bad mic but I would not have priced it at $3500. I got mine on sale... at Sweetwater and even that was a high price point considering many of the parts including the capsule are Chinese origin. I was initially impressed with the shockmount in the photos but mine was not such a pleasant experience. Lauten offered to exchange the mic but I offered to fix the mangled mess myself. The shockmount had been installed such that access to several switches could not be accessed. I uninstalled the shockmount and re-installed it with slightly better results but the mic was still a bit off-kilter. Lauten has no torque specs for the shockmount. To add to the confusion there are several different versions of the shock-mount's band configuration on line. The tightening lever on our shockmount was loose and rattled when the bass amp or bass drum were played. Lauten was not able to solve that issue. In fact they brow beat me over that issue. Gaffer's tape worked. Gross. I may get a washer to fix that rattle permanently. I am not a big fan of putting the pattern switching on the mic. Be prepared to lower your monitor levels - the mic emits an extremely loud pop each time one switches polar patterns. Nothing in the manual warning about that design flaw and we almost lost our tweeters in our expensive monitors. For the price this mic SHOULD NOT blow out our tweeters when switching patterns! Even my cheap MXL mics don't do that! The mic has a sound of its own and I will maybe be using it for some vocals ... without the bass amp or drum playing at the same time ...

I've put this mic up against a $25,000 C12, and my clients couldn't tell the difference. It's truly amazing. The three distinct circuit paths/voicings are fantastic. This gives you options for dark singers, normal singers, and bright singers. Male and female, etc. You can't go wrong with this mic.