Audix OM-5 Reviews

4.4/5.0 based on 8 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Dan VanAmerongen

I use this mic live and it has a full, present sound without being muddy in the midrange. It is one of the best mics in this price range for my voice.

Nick Church

I've owned a number of these mics for several years and have never been less than completely satisfied with their performance in a variety of applications. One of my bands, an all-acoustic three piece with vocalists of widely differing power and projection, would have had major sound problems without the presence, clarity and feedback resistance of an OM5.

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Customer Reviews

George Tarasek
from Wilkes-Barre Pa.
November 15, 2011 Music Background:
Pro Musician

best investment I evr made

For years I was told Shure 57's and 58's were industry standard. After investing tons of money on PA systems looking for the clarity and punch I wanted, the one thing I over looked were the microphones. The Audix microphones were the last piece of the puzzle. Vocals punch through the instruments with a presence that my Shures could never do. Clean upper range and super mid range presence. The instrument mics are clean with less gain needed, so no feedback. My only regret is that I wish someone told me about them sooner. If your on a budget or not ,you cannot find a better mic for the money.

Alan
from Myrtle Beach, SC
December 22, 2008 Music Background:
Pro Christian singer/musician

How did they engineer something this amazing for this price?!

I had used the Audix OM3 mikes at a venue where sound was provided, and couldn't believe the quality and sound of them. In researching their product line, and as a baritone, the mid-bass presence boost of the OM5 seemed a logical choice. I ordered a pair from Sweetwater and used them for the first time this last weekend. Man. The presence of these is remarkable; my wife told me that she has never heard me sound better. That's all relative, of course, but they gave me such confidence, and sounded so fantastic, that they encourage you to sing even better. Phenomenal sound, rugged, beautiful mikes. These make almost every Shure product - even the Beta series - obsolete. Anyone wanna buy any of my Shure stable?! If I had one minor complaint from my first use of the OM5's, the plosive filtering could be better. I popped some pretty good p's. Might try a foam screen, but that's a small price to pay, being more careful on a few words, to get all that you do with these amazing mikes.

Andy
from Atlanta, GA
April 25, 2012 Music Background:
Live Sound Engineer

OM-5

Tight response, however plan to increase gain a bunch! You can still make this feedback.

Joe Calabrese
from Mays Landing NJ
January 16, 2012 Music Background:
pro musician solo artist

Worth Every Penny

I recently a Bose L1 Mod 2. I sing, play guitar while running tracks from a laptop. I was using a shure sm-58 as I've always used for vocals. It just wasn't delivering with the Bose system. I purchased the Audix om-5 based on reviews in the Bose user forum. More than 1/2 the users recommended this mic. At 159.00 this mic gives me everything the shure couldn't. Very good at resisting feedback. Sounds full, clear and concise. I had to do very little in the way of EQ'ing to get a great sound outta this mic. The natural voice tones are clearly audible and once I applied a medium amount of compression, a touch of delay and a whisper of mild chorus, the vocal was studio quality. You'll be hard pressed to find a better sounding mic for under 450.00.

Ben R.
from Los Angeles, CA
September 4, 2007 Music Background:
Pro singing drummer

Excellent mic but......

If you are in a loud band on a pro stage and sound is always provided by a sound company for you and… they mic everything, than the OM-5 is a great vocal mic and especially if you are a singing drummer like I am. The OM-5 won't pick up much other sounds from the stage. Just your vocal but…. you had better get your mouth right on the OM-5. Sound companies I have worked with, love the OM-5 because they have overall better control of micing my drums. On the other hand.. if you are in a quiet type band and do your own sound most of the time where you use a smaller PA system for mainly the vocals and don't really mic anything else, the Audix OM-5 is not your best choice vocal microphone to use. Save your $159. Better to go with a $99 Shure SM58. I gave the OM-5 a high rating because it is excellent for what it does on a bigger stage with pro sound provided. Not the case if you are a band that performs at quieter type gigs such as small coffee houses.

Ben

Robert
from st,albans u.k.
April 30, 2006

very good

this mic is good at minimising the risk of feedback and helpfull in isolating the voice from the noise of other instruments. the mics sound is very present (though not in a overly harsh way like a beta 58 can be sometimes)but it can also project some warmth. i find it to be very clear, transient and crisp sounding. because the mic is very present it might not suit some who have a bright or thin voice ( the audix OM6 would be best in that senario) . its presence is also very usefull when you need the vocals the cut through the mix or when a band is very loud. i have found that this mic sometimes picks up a little more handling noise than some other mics but it isnt of a boomy nature more that it picks up a higher pitched sort of handling noise. overall i think this the OM5 is very good and that you should definatly check out if you looking for a vocal mic. i looking forward the checking out the OM7.....

from Michigan
January 1, 2005

Good Stuff

I've been a sennheiser fan for years....the md-441, 835s have been good performers. I picked up an OM-5 at the urging of a friend, for live work to get better gain before feedback without giving up sound quality. What a nice choice...high output, no feedback, great sound on most voices. I still prefer the 835 on my voice (seems brighter sounding), but can't get the gain I'd like on the 835. Female vocals are stellar on the audix. This is a great one to have in your bag.

Zachary
from Cheney, WA (near Spokane)
January 1, 2005

Good bye SM58, hello Audix OM-5

Hang up your Shure. Throw it in the closet, move on, move up, and graduate to the OM-5. Clearer, crisper, and more powerful than the '58, the OM-5 also has amazing gain before feedback. If you use a '58 in loud live situations, you know how terrible it can be. Also, you're familiar with the midrange honk it always has. The Om-5 truly is a problem solver. This will be the new industry standard at around $160, I certainly hope.
This mic is king. The only thing better are higher end Audixes.
Amazing, amazing, amazing.

inSync Review

Nick Church
8-13-2008

A few years ago I decided to upgrade the mics our band was using for vocals in my PA setup, and, due to comments I had read in a magazine whose reviews I trust, I bought three Audix OM-5 hypercardioid dynamic mics. My band at that time was an acoustic-style cover band, late '60s through to early '90s with a few of our own tunes thrown in, and the lineup was: Lead vocalist, shared lead and backing vocals, myself on backing vocals, and sometimes a soft drum kit or percussion section. Gigs in and around NYC, NY, varied in size from small rooms down in the Village in Manhattan up to 300-500 people at open-air gigs out on Long Island.

The difference in our vocal sound with the Audix OM-5's was immediately noticed and favorably commented on, both by all the other band members and quite a few of our regular fans. All of the comments were positive, and even "non-expert" listeners said that we sounded clearer and cleaner. The backing vocalist, whose harmony work was sometimes overshadowed by the lead vocalist, was now able to balance his parts without having to push for notes and strain his voice all night.

My job balancing our onstage sound also became a lot easier, and I was able to give everyone all the level they wanted, and still keep comfortably clear of monitor feedback, something that I always had trouble with previously, particularly with the weaker-voiced backing singer. EQ'ing his voice to give it some weight was also a lot easier, and the presence and clarity of the OM-5s allowed everyone in the band to be clearly heard, even in the noisy bars we regularly played.

Our live sound was improved so much that I was "forced" to re-record and remix most of our live sampler CD that we gave to potential venues. It wasn't that my previous vocal mics sounded terrible, it's just that the OM-5s sounded SO much cleaner and clearer onstage and front-of-house, and also when we recorded ourselves at gigs. A more electric iteration of the band, with a couple of guest guitar players and a full drum kit only served to show how good the OM-5s were, with the backing vocalist still not having to strain to make himself heard over a much louder instrument line-up.

Based on many years of experience with my previous mic choices I would have no hesitation in recommending the OM-5 to anyone looking to improve their live vocal sound, or as a first choice for someone buying their first PA set-up. If you start with mics that sound as good as these you won't need to plan on upgrades that will drastically change (improve) your sound later on, when you hit the big time!

Audix OM-5

High-Output Dynamic Hypercardioid Microphone with Extra-Tight Response