Audio-Technica AT2020 Cardioid Medium-diaphragm Condenser Microphone Reviews

I really like this mic. My first audio Technica mic (I also have a few other Audio Technica products) & it's great for recording vocals & acoustic guitars. I've even recorded some banjo tracks with it. My ONLY gripe is a stand mount adapter. Mine fell apart (see picture) where the mic screws into it & I Can't get it back together. Luckily I have a shock mount & mostly use it, but still...
But otherwise I like this microphone enough to give it 5 stars.

The Audio Technica AT2020 is a very good condenser microphone, it delivers crisp, clean and truly accurate sounding vocals. I use it in my home recording studio, and I am very pleased with the results I am getting. Shout out to Zack at Sweetwater for his advice and recommendations. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a quality condenser microphone at a great price point. Sweetwater rocks! They have quality gear and great customer service, Highly recommend them.

This mic has become my favorite for recording rap vocals. It captures vocals in clear detail producing a professional sound. I have a Neumann TLM102, but I find myself reaching for my AT2020.

I was preparing for a stage setup with 11 acoustic instruments. I needed two good mics and in a hurry. I called my sales rep, Tyler Moore, on Monday and these two mics showed up on Wednesday and I left for Olustee on Thursday. Great service!
I used these mics for a guitar and a fiddle and I run them through my Soundcraft Ui24R, also from Sweetwater, and the sound reproduction was phenomenal! Both the players and listeners commented on the beautiful tone.

Thanks again, Sweetwater,

Great Mic, it picks up my super clear.

I bought this mic having read/watched reviews that this mic is great for the price and it almost sounds like semi-pro quality. But I can confidently say that this is semi-pro quality. In journalism school, I used some of my school's high-end Shure and Rode condenser mics (that I couldn't possibly afford on a good month). This mic is nearly comparable, especially for those that are perhaps outside of a professional industry.

I would not recommend for someone looking for the premium quality like they'd find in a professional studio or that a professional musician/broadcaster would use. You're going to notice the limits of this mic when you're using using audio softwares or otherwise editing audio samples, as you'll have more to edit than the high-ends. And you're not going to get that in-your-throat, better-than-real-life sound that the studio mics offer. But with a few minutes of extra editing, it'll be hard to tell the difference. You are going to get clear, robust, accurate, noiseless audio from it. And for those concerned with the physical build, it does match the high-ends - heavy, fully metal, seamless, matte. It also comes with a nice travel bag and screw-on mounting bracket that will allow you to mount your mic to most stands.

Maybe some of you will find this analogy useful: if you're used to a 60 fps framerate (most TVs and office monitors), and 144fps+ is the pro-standard, this mic feels like 100fps. It's going to be a world of difference from the 60, and hard to tell at a glance that it's not 165.

It's everything I wanted and more. Looking forward for using this for lots of voiceover projects!

Back in 2009 we with this mic we recorded an album that is classic today. And it's still the same price! Wow!…great mic!

Great bang for the buck. Does everything I need it to do

The AT2020 has been a staple in studios for a long time. I was excited about this purchase to start recording vocals. It's proven why so many producers/vocalist use this mic as their first. It's amazing. A great budget mic that meets my needs perfectly!

just an overall great mic for recording. I highly recommend.

This is my 2nd time owning this microphone. Reason being, it's a studio workhorse! Vocals, instruments, whatever. Stalwart in many mic cabinets. Highly recommend this piece.

I haven't had a chance to use it much, but it performed excellently in the recording of a podcast appearance a few weeks ago. I can tell it will serve me for a long time to come.

This mic for $ is one of the best values out there. I use it as a single overhead for drums but it can also be used to record instruments, vocal, etc. The range of this mic is excellent.

Love this company. Fast shipping, great merchandise and prices. I will be buying from them again

I bought this mic for use while streaming. It is super clear and crisp. My stream chatters no longer have to deal with a high noise floor and can now enjoy the sounds of the game and my voice. It is fantastic. Seriously if your on the fence, buy this one. If you want to hear what it sounds like live watch me on twitch FizzBuzzRacing

This is a good microphone. I use it just for some playing around with vocals and may do some voice over work. It is totally up to the task. Nice mic on a budget.

First, Sweetwater did a wonderful job of assist. I have a very particular use (capture of congregation sounds during a church service, in a small church). This mic works wonderfully in this setting. I get what I need, and have been able to work with the system to include congregational sounds during responsive readings, singing, etc.

I have had it only a couple of days. So far it sounds good. Looks nice. I'm just experimenting at home with it. Something to add to my arsenal to distract me during the pandemic.

I have not recorded music for a couple of decades and my old condenser mics stopped working (parts broke). This was a reasonably priced mic to start with and it works quite well, giving me all I expect from a condenser mic.

Warm, full, and dynamic. Can't beat it at the price!

Great mic that gets a great sound for a good price!

No wonder this microphone was used to record Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish. It is such a steal.

this mic is more professional-sounding than its competitors of a similar price. the vocals are crisp and clean. its great

For this price, its really good. But you cannot expect it to work like some 500 bucks microphone.

Great product! Sounds great and looks super clean. Hoping to buy a mic stand for it soon!:)

It's a great Microphone and it's great quality it just doesn't come with a wire to connect it to anything so if you buy it just make sure you buy a cord for it

Bought this mic for my streaming setup and also for recording vocals on some projects I have in the works and it handles everything thrown at it with ease. Such a great microphone would recommend to any one on any budget. So great!

At2020 en esa cuarentena me ha sido muy util.
Mi sonido ha mejorado.
Recomiendo el equipo.
Para su precio, tiene un buen sonido.
Me encanta como El at2020 recoge el sonido de mi guitarra.

I have recorded solo vocals, mic'd a full choir in a church, used on a piano and a small vocal ensemble. These mice are super smooth in frequency response, warm and have fair feedback suppression. You should have these. I plan to buy more when I can afford to.

Good for intended use. Great tone. Cost effective for everyone

Great build. It has better quality than my usb yeti mic. Glad i got this upgrade

Served me right. For the price and build can"t beat a microphone like this.

I have studio mike that cost several time but we used the AT-2020recently on show and audio quality was great and several told us it was clean and harmony was fantastic just using the one mike. As matter fact we are getting another. You can beat for audio and clarity. Picks up instruments great . We are a Bluegrass band.

Works perfect and sounds great.

The quality of his microphone is incredible, and it was really easy to set up with the audio interface to my computer, no problems.

I liked mine so much I bought a second one. The accordian player I worked with this past weekend was amazed by how well it works giving him minute details of the sound and plans to get one for himself. It is very versital and I have used it for speech and singing for plays, as drum overhead, for accordian, sax, trumpet, flute, and turkey baster.

The Audio-Techica AT2020 microphone is excellent at capturing vocals and pulling out the unwanted noise. It's very easy to set up, record, and mix. It will come especially handy for videos, podcasts, and anything that requires speaking. Sweetwater Sound delivered exceptional service with personable representatives who follow up. I'll be going back to them.

I bought two of these to use as overhead drum microphones. I was intrigued by these because of their low price point and I saw them recommended in a few drumming forums. I picked up two of them, and these sound amazing for the price as drum overheads. I can't speak much of their other uses, but as overheads, they work great. I'm incredibly happy with them...

Acoustic Treatment!!!!!
This mic is a gold mine. I pair it with the Focusrite Scarlett Solo, and the vocals and guitar are so crisp and clear.
I mess with the EQ, add some compression, (all in Logic Pro X) and the sound is beyond exceptional, except for the fact that the reverb and sound reflections are adding this sound I can't edit out.
Talked to my sales engineer and tried different things, and we figured the only solution must be Acoustic Treatment!
Yeah you can invest in wonderful gear that makes your work in the edit stage easier, but as Auralex says, it's not your gear it's the room. If you have the right Treatment, and are handy with editing, you can get a real solid set up to make competitive recordings!
I recommend this 110%!

This mic is awesome, specially considering its price range. I highly recommend it.

My band owned this mic for a long time, we used it on vocals for our demos. We are currently in the studio for our 4th album and I have tried all the vocal greats. U47, U67, Manley and some more, but we couldn't get the sound we wanted. Our producer asked me with wich mic I recorded the vocals on our demo's because he really liked them, I told him the AT2020, we hooked it up (with a tube tech pre amp) as a sort of "this can't be true" experiment. And It was THE BEST SOUNDING MIC OF THEM ALL!! It sounded better then a 15.000 euro Neuman. Really insane and weird, but I will be using this mic on our record. (We are a big band with alot of radio airplay, so this mic is not only for beginners!)

I was really surprised by the quality o this mic for the price. Yes, it is built in China. But this is defiantly a great quality condenser mic for a studio on a budget. I just recently bought a kit that came with the AT2020, a mic cable, stand and filter. Obviously I got the XLR version. I am starting up a small recording studio in my home and I also play the Soprano saxophone. My girlfriend also sing and she is a very dynamic soprano. So, this mic is a bit much for all the highs I am putting into, but a little eq cut on the high end and I have an awesome mix. I defiantly recommend this mic to everyone! I just recorded her singing Silent Night using a SM57, which is also a great mic, but of course, this one hit it out o the park.

Excellent quality at an affordable price. Bought a pair of these to record our band. When placed in the right locations in our practice studio we were able to record a decent demo.

I was very amazed at the quality of this mic, it blew me away, because of its very low price for a mic, I was worried that it would t be very good, but I was so wrong, it was easy to set up right from the box and the extra parts of it were packaged very nice and safely, over all I think that if you have the money then this mic is perfect for you.

For a mic this inexpensive, it really gets the job done.
It is surprisingly crisp and very sensitive. You don't need to sing right into it because it picks everything up so well.
Also great for recording acoustic guitar by itself.

This mic is sooo good for the money! The vocals sound clean and clear. I also use it for acoustic guitars and have used it successfully for miking guitar amps.

This mic for the price blows away all competition .You get a clear crisp sound on all your vocals

This is the fourth studio condenser I’ve tried in this price range, and finally I have one to keep. (The other three I’ve returned or sold.) What makes this a better mic, I think, is that it doesn’t try to be a $3000 Neumann on the cheap. First, it is not extremely sensitive, which means you really don’t need an external pop filter unless you sing ridiculously loud or spit a lot. Granted, it doesn’t have as much high end crispness and “air” as some other budget condensers, but it’s still nicely open and well balanced. But most important, it doesn’t generate the annoying edge (particularly on sibilants) that plagues others in this class at levels and frequencies they don’t seem to like. In other words, no “wow” with this mic, but no “yuck” either. Why pay even $100 just to be annoyed?

I freaking adore this mic. The last mic I used did the job, but it sounded so muddy and didn't pick up any of my high frequencies well enough for me to record any folk/Celtic music to my liking. This is the genre I sing for gigs, so this was a major problem! Well a friend of mine has used this mic for years so when I upgraded I bought this one too. I can't say enough good things about this mic! The frequency response sound so crisp and clean no matter what you're singing: I do covers for fun and so far have done a rock cover, pop cover and folk cover and they all just sounded fantastic, the AT2020 delivers the sound I'm looking for every time! It's also a breeze to mix: I used to have to go through major processing with my old mic, but with this one I just EQ it a bit, put on some reverb and it sounds great! Honestly, I don't know why this mic isn't more expensive...it really should be because it's an amazing buy for the price! I'd definitely pick this one up if you're first starting a studio, are a hobbyist, or just want an extra mic!

amazing mic.... the cymbals came alive ...... the drums.... the voice ....just for everything ...buy 2!!!!!!!

Wow i got this mic Monday and i was blew away.Just the sound this mic put to any recording software is enough to make any one say lets record some thing for the majors.This mic here is no laughing matter its all business and can take you to the promise land.

A/B test using Mackie micro series 1402 mixer set flat with a Carver M-1.0t amplifier and one monitor speaker 8" with silk dome tweeter. This was in my wooden floored living room. A friend was over for a rehearsal and I wanted him to hear the response of this Medium diaphragm/Cardioid Condenser dandy little sound reproduction tool.

We tested this out as on overhead for my small Gretsch drum kit at first and were very happy with the smooth response from snare to
tom's and cymbals. The kick drum was utilizing on old Beyer mike.
As a vocal mike we were amazed of the response singing jazz, blues
and light stuff, the AT2020 was superb. As a vocalist I realized how much I have been cheating with the Sure SM 58, live standard of the industry. This AT2020 tells it like it is. From 3 to 9" from the boom
stand with several placements and angles it was verbatum exactly what was being produced. In the vein of folk music, bluegrass, light jazz and pop tunes........It will teach you how to use your body mechanics and not rely on a close proximity "lip to the grill" for tone changes etc. as with my old 58 vocal mike.
This 2020 will also make for a very nice overhead when I play more intense venues without compromising the true sound of an acoustic drum kit as my little condenser 'sizzler' cymbal catchers I have used for years did. I am very pleased to have this very versatile and value driven tool. I was so bored with the close mike pop/rock sound I was getting with live performance of miking every drum instead of
a true acoustic aural experience. The dynamics are represented with my performance so much better. I was also impressed with the AT2020 as a vocal tool in that if one remembers to slightly turn away
it will not give the signature 'pop' with the letter P or B. Only in an outdoor situation (with wind) will I need a pop sponge. I am in a high
ceiling jazz room with some 200 hz rolling around and with a simple -10db cut of the lows on the mixer this issue will be rectified. There is no need to purchase the high dollar feature of a filter cut on any microphone in my opinion.
Therefore I have no need to buy the more expensive Audio-Technica
unit. I am most satisfied with the AT2020!

This is a great condenser mic to start off with. Not only is it at an amazing price, but it sound extraordinary.

Without a doubt, this is one mic that you shouldn't be without - especially if you're just starting out your collection of microphones and need a reliable workhorse condenser mic.

I've used it on vocals, acoustic guitar and full-on overdriven guitar cabinets. During a recent weekend live recording session, I used the AT2020 heavily on the 10 bands and 30 songs that we tracked. And the it performed like a champ through it all.

Go ahead and buy one. Heck, I bought three!

I bought one of these 4 years or so ago, and never really found a use for it until I bought the second. Now having a pair I use them to mic a guitar cabinet. I mainly work live and double mic my guitars with a 2020 and a Sennheiser 906. My guitar tones scream now. They sing if I want them to of course but the definition I acheive using this technique is pretty amazing. Really worth the money for a couple 2020's to use even with a simple 57. You'll thank me later.

This microphone is a great inexpensive mic for people looking to improve the quality of their recordings but not having the budget to get into the more expensive microphones. Previously I had been using some Shure SM57 mics and some knockoffs of the Shure SM58, but this blows them all out of the water in terms of detail and aural fidelity. I am delighted that my rep at Sweetwater, Josh, talked me into this mic when I was inquiring about another in the same price range.

I JUST BOUGHT THIS MIC, AND I WAS HAVEING LITTLE DOUBTS ABOUT IT BUT WHEN I GOT IT AND HEARD THE QUALITY I WAS AMAZED!!! THIS IS DEF. WORTH BUYING!!!!!!

I bought the AT2020 when I started recorinding and I love it, obviously it dosn't compare to my Mojavee tube mic but it does what its suppose to do, I even bought a 2nd one because I love the air that it capture just to try it as a stereo pair for drums overheads and I was amazed at the results, this is a well constructed and practical cheap mic that I highly recommend!

I recently decided to stop getting so stressed about reviews and what other people think of gear. Instead I'm just gonna go in and LISTEN to the gear to see if it works for me.
So I walked into my local Guitar Center to shoot out every condensor that they had for $99.
I brought my laptop and my Apogee Duet, and lined up the AT2020, MXL 990/991, Sterling Audio ST51, and the AKG Perception 120 and did a shootout with acoustic guitar.

Obviously for me, the AT2020 won out. It was clear full, and had an airy high end that gave the guitar some sparkle.
After bringing it home and testing it with vocals, I was even more impressed with the quality of this mic.
So far I have used it on Nylon String guitar, acoustic guitar, and vocals and it has really shined running through the Duet.

I highly recommend that you give this mic a listen. In fact, do that with all of your gear purchases and take opinions with a grain of salt. Find what works for what you are trying to do that fits your budget, and then make great music!

Works flawlessly!

Love this Mike, it dose a great job of capturing the sound of the flute. It really improves the overall quality of my recording system.

We have 2 of these mics and the first thing I must say is, they are very very sensitive. They pick up all over
the church which is a little hard to deal with at first. They even picked up a whisper to me at the control board from about 20ft away. Easy as heck to set up.

The only down side, is either the mic support or our mic stands are not standard as I had to do some modifications to get them to work. I had to remove the stand side of the mount and put on our old ones to fit. Which needed washers to get them to screw down tight enough to keep the mic from dropping.

they plugged into our mic-USB converter easy as pie and VMIX pulls the mics in perfectly.

Highly recommend them as a Choir, are mic.

For the AT2020 being a budget condenser microphone I definitely would reccomend. When it comes to condenser microphones cheaper as this saving an extra penny for the AT2020 is worth it. The noise level it is better than I expected for $... The frequency response isn't the best but with some equalization you can get it to sound to your perfection anyways. For $... it is for sure a worth while buy.

Great sound and design. Perfect for my broadcast meetings and shows. Paired with a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6, great sound and range. Would like to have a mute switch on the unit, but otherwise an excellent buy.

This was my first condenser mic, it's a best buy in its price range. Even I passed to an AKG C214, I do my electric guitar recordings (in front of the amp speaker) with the AT2020. Best for my electric guitar sound (blues, solid rock, Led Zeppelin-like rock, underground rock)

I'm still pushing the limits on this mic but, so far it's quality during my vocal session have been excellent.

Great condenser sound for the money. I webcast a lot and needed a decent condenser that wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb and ruin perfectly good camera angles. The AT2020 fit the bill.

At this price you just can not expect anything more, a great mic at a great price. My only complaint is that Audio Technica wants $75.00 for a shock mount which should come with the mic but you can get them from Amazon much cheaper.

When I was shopping for a good VO mike about a year ago I seriously considered Hogan's Signature mike, but didn't want to spend the money. I still may buy one, but the AT2020 has really impressed me. I'm no technician so I can't give you the low-down from that standpoint. All I know is this mic makes me sound good. As others have mentioned a locut filter would be nice, since my voice is in the baritone bass range, but for $99 what do you expect? Simple enough to run the rough cut through EQ and get the same effect. Definitely suggest a pop filter for this one. You don't get the plosive sound on recording, but you'll definitely spike the VU!

Aside from needing a good shock mount I can't fault this little jewel. At least as good and better than most costing $200-$300 or more.

I am a drummer and use this (a pair) as overheads...then have a crisp clean sound for my cymbals...I really like my AT4050 and I didn't have the money at that time to buy another one so I got two of these...I've also used them on vocals, acoustic, and electric guitars. Always comes through! I wish they came with a shock mount but again it is only $99, so you can always get one later. Run it through a good mic pre and compressor and you won't be disappointed!!

I got this mic as a gift. It was my first condenser. I can promise you this, for 99 dollars, there is no better mic.
I used it on a LOT of vocals, and the results always impressed listeners. I made a lot of instrumental music using only this mic, and everything worked out great.
I still use it today. If you're working with a $100 budget, and you need a condenser, it's really simple.... BUY THIS MIC!

When this microphone came in the mail and i seen the appearance i thought "this mic is probably going to suck when i plug it up and start recording . . . but after recording with this microphone i was very satisfied with the quality that came with it. I promise the price might be cheap but its worth the money . . . Sweetwater went ham with this one!!!!!

Me and my group bought this mic because of the cost and the reviews we heard about. So we put it to the test, and started recording with it. Many hits have came from this mic, including one radio hit. If you are looking to buy a new mic, and you don't wanna spend a lot of money, I recommend getting this one.

I wanted some decent condenser mics for home recording. I have a Tascam DP-01FX plus a Focusrite twin trak pro whic I use as a front on to the Tascam.in the past I have used a ADK A51 and an SE Electronics 2200A, they are both good mics but found them a bit boomy for my guitar.

I went to the PA centre in London and spoke to one of the staff who has had a lot of experiance in Sound Engineering and he told me to try this out.

I first did a search on the net and read many good reviews on this Audio Technica 2020 so I went back to the shop and tried it out. I am amazed at the quality and it was ideal for my acoustic guitar . I did'nt need to add to hardly any eq'ing it picked up the sound beautifully. I ended up buying two of these mics and I love then to bits.

It works beautifully with my Focusrite Twintrack pro .

Dave

Recently I had an opportunity to test AT2020 against the much more expensive AKG C4000B with really surprising results that I want to share. The test involved a guitar part and a vocal part with both mics running trhough an uncolored Mackie Onyx 400F preamp, with the microphones placed together and at the same distance and angle with respect to the sound source. I listened to the mix with the standard AKG k240 Studio headphones, a proven studio standard. Here are the results:
The results on guitar were to say the least unexpected. AT2020 revealed a crystal-clear image of the flamenco guitar part capturing all of the string buzz and sharp transients that are essential to flamenco. Due to proximity effect, (recording at 8 in) there was also a sizable low-end boost that I had to cut with EQ by applying a 150 Hz 12dB-per-octave cut. The AKG revealed the same low-end boost that I was able to cut with the inbuilt lo-cut filter, revealing an exceptionally warm and rounded sound which did not capture any of the strumming/pick noise and was noticeably weaker on the transients. A 6-dB dip above 15kHz in the documentation chart revealed this as a weak side of the AKG relative to the AT. Of the two mics, AT came out as substantially more accurate and faithful to the original sound, which is surprising given the price difference.
On vocals AT conveyed an airy, "breathy" and roomy sound with almost zero proximity effect recording a male basso profundo-type voice performing vocal arias from Bach. Despite the vocal's bass range, proximity was not at all apparent, it seems, due to the different radiation patterns of guitar vs voice.
AKG produced pretty much the same picture here as with guitar: sweet, overly mellow, non-edgy, a kind of 60's vacuum tube sound that might have done well for a jazz recording, but then again, this is not what I was recording. AT made the vocal just a tiny bit brighter than in reality due to the +3db presence peak at 10kHz, but remained essentially faithful to the original.
In conclusion, I was forced to make the conclusion that apparently AT is intended as an all-around mic, not coloring its sound input and reproducing very beautiful transients. By contrast, AKG C4000B came out as a strong "character mic" with its own personality which at times was not at all suitable for the kind of music I was recording. Other things notwithstanding, it did awful on flamenco guitar and hand claps but seemed more suited for classical guitar and certain vocals. This conclusion is reinforced by a recording I made recently at another studio where they used AKG SolidTube and we got similarly disappointing results on flamenco guitar. Later I learned that the C4000B capsule was descended from the Solid Tube capsule which was taken as a model.
To summarize: I give AT 2020 4.5 out of 5. The only reason I am hesitant to give 5 is the lack of shockmount and bass cut filter.

It's a good mic I have made songs with this mic that have done good in numbers and was received well, how could I hate it? It's a solid mic but -1 star cause it's a little heavy on the low end which is better for streamers rather than singing/rap. It lacks a high end so you will have to eq more than usual if you want that high crisp sound the new rappers are adapting. So it's good for beginners but please upgrade once you are 100% sure you want to go pro with whatever you're doing that requires a mic. Also, the build quality is nice.

For several months I'd been playing catch-up in trying to record some of my compositions in my home studio, but I'd grown increasingly aware that my Shure dynamic mic was giving my voice a darker sound than I liked. I asked my Sweetwater rep to recommend an affordable solution. He recommended switching to a condenser mic and offered a suggestion. After I explained that that one was (regretfully) still out of my range, he suggested this one and it looked like the perfect solution--especially when I realized I could safely sell the old mic. It's taken some experimentation to get the best sound, but I know I'll keep improving and am still quite pleased with the results I'm getting.

Good value for the money. Not too sensitive, good quality sound, for the price it's a "Goldilocks mic" ...just right.

I was a bit apprehensive about these, given the price, even though I've had very good luck with AT gear in the past. I bought these because I needed a better output level that I was getting from our dynamic mics and we needed a low price (thanks Covid). They are delivering what I expected. They do not color the sound much at any distance, so some might consider them a bit bright. However, I'd rather have them that way so I can use subtractive equalization to get exactly what I want instead of having to boost them. I'd recommend them for recording, but you may need to EQ the monitor send to certain singers who are used to mics with "character."

I was agonizing, and reviews said this was good for starting voice acting work. Others said..not good enough. It was excellent, but was very sensitive to mouth noise (clicks, etc). I moved up to the Rode NT-1A, and it softened defects and made that expensive 'silky' sound. But, since my voice has improved, the AT2020 has pushed back into the mix. With my clearer voice, I can step close to the AT2020 and achieve that 'in your ear' effect....it has won business for ads that want that. Like a musical instrument, the voice/mic pair has a lot of subtle flavoring to it. No wonder audio engineers have cabinets with many mics to fit to the talent. This has turned from 'good start' to 'left-behind' to 'perfect intimate sass mic'. It's on top now, though I need the NT-1a for that classy 'TLM-102-like" sound. So much advice wants to pick a 'best'. You need variety. This fills out the intimate, crisp voice niche perfectly. I like this 'flavor': I need it often. Truly excellent for close talk. Great for a singer with a unique voice. The AT2010 might be cool for that....it's a handheld with the AT2020 cartridge.

Every mic locker should have a selection of cheaper (not cheap) mics, and this one is a solid condenser to add to your collection. It's well built and sounds good. Highly recommended for a first condenser; get this and an SM57 as your "starter" kit.

Awesome microphone love it a lot

This is a great little mic ! I tried it in my small home studio for voice-over work, rock vocals and for acoustic guitars. It did a really nice job on all of them. It's a great product and I'm glad that I chose it. Special thanks to Drew for helping with the order !

This is a great mic for the price. Perfect for scratch vocals, and may even be great for professional recording. One watchout: The chrome-colored adapter that is pre-inserted in the mounting bracket will make it so that the bracket will not attach to a standard mic stand. It is not clear to a mic novice that this adapter can be removed (or how to remove it). This should be made clear so those who are new to mics will not need to spend an hour searching the internet for a solution. If the problem occurs often enough, I expect that Sweetwater could insert something into the shipping package that explains this. That knowledge could have greatly improved this customer's experience!

Really great microphone. Brings out the nuances of the recording with clarity and sharpness. This is a welcome addition to my Home Studio set up. I was happy yo see it on sale, and, when I did some comparison shopping online, I found sweetwater's price to be the best. Of course that was no surprise, because all of the items I have brought from them have been just what I needed.

Picked this microphone after a few friends had mentioned it and then talking with my salesperson, Dave Wallent, who gave me a good nitty-gritty review of it. Very pleased with the results!

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this mic. I've made a few acoustic guitar and vocal recordings and have been pleased with the results. I find the recordings to be very crisp, clear and detailed.

I wasn't satisfied with the acoustic guitar recordings I was getting with my sm57, but the AT2020 seems to shine in the areas where the 57 was lacking. It's difficult to put in words, but the AT2020 just sounds more open and natural.

If you're new to condenser mics, the AT2020 is a good mic to get your feet

Its the best mic ive purchased. The quality is fine. Only thing is the way it picks up your voice if your toooo close. Other then that its perfect for vocals in which i use it for.

I've had this mic for a few months now. I only track vocals... This is maybe my 10th mic. I stick with under $300 mics. I feel like there are some great values in this price range. (Cad M9 is one of them). For $99 bucks, this mic is nice. I have found that it does not excel in broadcasting/voice-over/narration. It does excel at your everyday rap vocal and is pretty good at female vocals. It has a tame low end so don't expect a lot of deep tones, although the mid-bass is all there, sometimes too much. This mic has a good tight pickup pattern which I love. It keeps reflections attenuated. Overall this is a great first mic or a replacement for a dynamic and is probably all a home studio needs to sound nice.

I work in a big recording Studio. We've got all the classy mics. I bought an AT2020 for doing stuff at home. Bought it used for 60$!. I wanted to test it so I brought it to the studio and used it on a voice for a publicity I was working on. The mic pre was a Fearn ($$). I was expecting a harsh, peaky sound. Turned out smouth and well balanced. Not as boomy as other mics, wich is great since we're always cutting some bass out at the mix anyways. There seem to be a suttle low mid bump (200hz?) wich was eq'ed out easly. Final product turned out classy and open sounding. The low mass capsule picked up all the suttle voice harmonics in a controled manner. Frankly, if it wasn't for the danger of some one saying: Hey! what you doing with a 100$ mic in a big studio where we pay 300$ an hour? I could be working with that little wonder all the time and nobody would notice the difference. On guitar it sounds great also.
Can't miss with this one. There are better mics out there, but with the right mic pre, this mic sounds good enough to deliver professional results. I'm giving it a four. Could have a bit more caracter, but than again, that is something you can add later on in the mix.

This was the first true microphone I ever owned. I bought my AT2020 four years ago and I still pull it out and use it today. It's sound is detailed and on-point; it's a great working mic for voiceover or handy to have around as a backup mic. Considering the price against quality ratio with the AT2020, there's no reason why you shouldn't buy one. I'm over four years working with mine and I haven't been tempted to do away with it yet. Pick one up, you'll be glad you did.

I purchased this mic about 6 months ago. I was looking for a new mic to record vocals with. When I first saw the price I was a little skeptic but purchased it regardless. After taking it home and hooking it up I was very impressed. This is a great condenser mic and killer for recording vocals don't be fooled by the price!

Let me tell you...if your looking for a great sounding mic, look no further. Now of course there are better mics out there, but for $100 bucks this is a great mic. You don't have to spend mega bucks to get a great sound. This mic is great on vocals, the sound is very crisp and clear. I really love this mic, I just might have to pic up another.

I bought this mic about 2 weeks ago and I luv it. This is a top quality mic for those vocalists on a budget. Not the best mic out there but one of the best for the price that its sold.

While waiting for my SE Gemini to complete my new production setup in Trinidad West Indies ,I went into a local music shop to purchase some strings for my guitars.
I saw the AT2020 in the showcase and given the price I decided to pick it up for the hell of it .

Needless to say that from Norway to Australia to Canada to Sweden (my current home for 13 years), to London ,my Clients continue to comment on the clarity and definition of my mixes. The crystal clear upfront vocal sound and crispy acoustic gtrs.

The AT2020 combined with the Focusrite ISA 220 SessionPak and RME Fireface 800 give me all the UMPH I need to get what's needed . From Vocals to Nylon and steel string gtrs to percussion I am thoroughly satisfied.

Audio Technica's AT2020 is ahead of the game in its price range and in combination with the right Pre-Amp / Processor and an Audio interface with exceptional A/D convertors and which preserves the integrity of the original signal , Anything is possible.

Conclusion : After recording and mixing on SSL , NEVE , Mackie , Soundcraft etc. and utilising the "BEST" mics the world has to offer , I choose to use the AT2020 and my clients can't tell the difference.

Just used it on the Theme songs for two Feature Films and everyone's screaming. Whatever the secret is ..............It works for me !!!!!

Miracles do happen every once in a while .

Thanks Audio Technica .

LUCKZ (Producer for :6 POiNTS , Danillee Mc Intosh , Jah Lightning , Blow , Keisha Charles , Cushan , 6:45 ,Vanessa S. , Kulaz , Trigger)

This was my first "real Mic" purchase. I use it for recording Holy hip hop vocals. It has great clarity. The playback from these recordings sounds like the artist "true voice" not too low not too high. If you don't have big dollars, but want big quality get the AT2020. I think it would be a welcome addition to any studio set up, especially home or project studios.

I love this mic and can't wait to use it on some upcoming projects. I only wish it came with the mount for a mic stand. I guess I'll be ordering one soon

very good mic on acoustic guitar and very good on vocals, i've listen to the high end mics at B&H in NYC, and it's very hard if at all to tell the difference to my ears, ken dileo

The AT2020 is well built, small enough to place easily on an instrument or kit. I bought this mic to use try as a second mic on a guitar cabinet.
This mic does not have the open airy sound of the AT40 series, this makes it less versatile than that series, but for the price it is still worth owning. The slight high end roll off actual gives it a neutral sound that
works well blending with SM57. On bass cabinets the sound is warm and natural with booming or shrill highs. If you consider the cost is the same as an SM57 ( a must have ) it is a solid choice to expand any mic collection.

3 stars, because it just didn't work well for my small treated recording space. Only white noise and feedback hiss that we couldn't work around in the settings. So disappointing as this was supposed to be the 'step up' from a dynamic.

I've owned this microphone for a while. I use it with my ART Tube MP/C into my MOTU M4 interface, mostly for Discord chat while gaming. I also use it to record vocals sometimes.

I like the idea of it certainly - a cheap, functional condenser microphone - but it fails to deliver the sound quality I expected from a condenser. Normally they are very sensitive and pick up sound very well, even when off-axis, but this one is an exception. I have to be very close to the microphone, speak only when on-axis directly into the condenser pickup, and use a lot of gain, to get any sort of usable sound out of it.

I'd expect this behavior more from a dynamic mic like an SM58 or RE20, but not a condenser. Your money might be better spent on a competing product, even within the same price range.

The reviews are amazing. I thought the mic would be great. Turns out... it sounds like a large diaphragm condenser. Nothing special. The recordings are lifeless and boring. I have a couple of MXL990's I bought a decade ago for half the price and they outperform this. I honestly can't imagine what I'll ever use this on. Oh well.

I've been working with Shure's because they are great dynamic mics, for a home studio voice-over budget. But I wanted to try a condenser, to gauge the quality difference. Well... epic fail. The very moment I plugged this into my preamp, and recorded 15 seconds of dialogue, it sounded like I was talking into a tin can. No matter what settings I tweaked. Disappointing because it would have been great to have both mic types on-hand.

After reading a bunch of good reviews on here I picked this up in the hopes of it being a solid mic for recording lead vocals. Ended up with something that sounded like I was singing through a metal pipe. With no effects on, it was as if I had added way too much reverb or echo. Exchanged it for the AKG Perception 120, and am hoping for better results with that when it arrives.

AT 2020 is an electret condenser mic with a permanently polarized 16-mm (0.63")diaphragm element and a preamp that requires 48V phantom power. It is built using a chassis for a large-diaphragm mic, i.e. a cylindrical box normally used for mics with diaphragm diameter of 25mm (1") or more, but AT2020's 16-mm diaphragm size does not allow one to put it in the true large-diaphragm mic category (More on why later). It has an almost flat frequency response from 20Hz to 20kHz and cardioid pattern, but has no bass-roloff switch or 10dB attenuation pads. Comes with a pivot stand rather than a shock mount.
Overall the mic sounds very decent for the money. A couple of observations. In my experience the mic meets the frequency response specifications and even exceeds the given range (picks up to about 23kHz). The mic is tailored for closer miking than regular studio condensers: 6" to 8" rather than 12" from source. It has almost no proximity effect when used on vocals but substantial proximity bass boost when used on acoustic guitar (which you have to remove with EQs since it has no bass-roloff switch). Acoustic guitar and vocals sound very natural, guitar sounds very good with pick/strumming noise adding a nice bright touch to the recording. It sounds decent on shakers but would not be my first choice for that. I've had some problems removing excess boominess from the bass since with guitar it does get bass-heavy, but the overall quality is commendable. Lack of shock mount and bass-roloff switch I'd say are where AT cut quality to make the mic cheaper.
For a budget mic like this, it's important to know exactly where Audio-Technica is skipping on the quality since for $100 you know you can't get everything. Here are these points:
1)No shock mount and bass-roloff. The mic is sensitive and with no bass-cut you will pick up low-frequency noise that will have to get cut off with EQs. On very high gain levels (over 50dB gain without EQ) bass noise becomes audible. I am not totally clear whether this is self-induced noise or just existing noise that gets boosted by the gain.
2) Diaphragm size. If you look at AT2021 small diaphragm mic that comes with AT2020 when bought as a studio pack, you will notice the pencil mic measuring 16mm in diameter. I bet they used the same diaphragm size (16mm) for both 2020 and 2021 which makes 2 mics out of one. This is not necessarily a bad thing since the 16-mm diaprhagm, as I said, meets the advertised flat frequency response quite well, but this is why AT2020 can't get classified as a large-diaphragm mic.
3) This is an electret condenser with permanently charged diaphragm. It sounds comparable to a true condenser if not better, but experts say electrets may lose up to 3dB gain over 30 years as the material charging the diaphragm gradually gets de-polarized. Hopefully in 30 years you will have another $100 to replace it.
OVERALL: AT has made a very good sounding mic for the money. I would say if you don't have $1000 budget to get an AKG414 or Neumann TLM103, go for AT 2020. Buying mid-price mics in the $500 range will not get you any sizable improvement over AT2020.

When I first saw the AT2020 it had a list price of around $450. Then $199AUS! I had to get one. As far as build quality is concerned this mic is pleasing to look at with a solid feel. I have now used it as an overhead for my drums, backing vocals and all sorts of percussion instruments. I use Gretch drums and am pretty fussy about sound. It's also great on acoustic guitar. I have limited tech knowledge and base all my recordings on sound. I built my studio Oinkmuse see www.oinkmuse.com over the last four years, recorded my solo album "Faith" learning as I went. Don't be fooled by the price, as this mic is a great mic to have in your kit. To me it's honest with no added colouring. When placed over my 8"and 10" rack toms approx 12" above my 16" crash I found it to be dynamic and could handle punchy fills and quiet brush work with no problems whatsoever. I used no compression or EQ, simply sending it through my Sebatron vmp-4000e mic pre set at an even 3 and flat. As far as a vocal mic is concerned particularly when used for harmonies, it delivers the goods. I use a Neumann TLM103 for most lead vocals and the AT2020 is a good dynamic change for harmonies. At times when laying a backing track I will add a little answer back type vocal, working with the lead, it handles a good blues burst from about 6' to an intimate whisper. As I said, though not a technical person, I know what I like and the AT2020 has not let me down. I am purchasing another, simply because it's a good, honest and affordable mic. It's in full use at the moment as I am recording my new album. I have a moderate set up, using Pro Tools LE Digi 002, a couple of mic pres, Dynaudio BM6A monitors with my old Auratones. To me, if you like the sound and feel of the mic or instrument, that's it! Try one and let me know what you think. Cheers Iain Mclennan/Oinkmuse Studio Sydney/Australia