I love this mic... 
by Clifton L. Boyd from Sherman Texas, March 2008
Music Background:  Acappella Gospel

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.

  The AT2020 Mic 
by Doe Boi from Fort Wayne, Indiana, April 2007
Music Background:  Rapper & Engineer

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.

  Pleasantly suprised with the quality considering the price 
by Dave from London E16, January 2007
Music Background:  Singer/songwriter

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

  Stumbling Upon A Miracle 
by Luckz from Trinidad & Tobago, September 2006
Music Background:  Artiste , Producer , Recording/Mix Engineer.

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)

  Great Mic Great Price 
by Ahmad W. aka Mouf Pieceof God 1/2 of FLOW from Hewitt, Texas, July 2006
Music Background:  MC(Recording Artist) and Producer

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.

  AT2020 vs AKG C4000B 
by Rad from Boston, June 2006
Music Background:  Musician, Recording engineer

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.

AT2020 
by Rad from Boston, April 2006

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.

Simple and to the point 
by Iain Mclennan from Australia, July 2005

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

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