AKG C314 Large-diaphragm Condenser Microphone Reviews
What are you recording today? A choir? A rock band? Voiceovers or Foley? When you need a mic that will accurately capture any source, you'll be impressed by the AKG C314 condenser microphone, sibling to the legendary C414. Made in the same factory in Austria, it uses AKG's famous XLS microphone capsule, which has been finely tuned to deliver a clear, full sound and an off-axis response that doesn't sound unnatural. The C314 offers an outstanding dynamic range and ultra-low noise, which means you'll be able to capture dynamic vocalists and instruments with the utmost detail. And with the C314's multi-polar-pattern design, you can use it for vocals, as a room mic, for recording large ensembles, and more.
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Highest Rated Reviews
C314
I live in Nashville where I have a modest project studio. In my modest project studio I have a modest mic collection of what I consider to be very good and versatile mics. AEA N22, Royer 121, Neumann TLM103, (2) AT 4033a, (2) Shure KSM141, AT 4050, Sennheiser e906 and other dynamic mics. Nothing to exotic, just good tools. All that is just to say, I have reasonable reference points for comparison. Many times I see reviews that say WOW, my new $700 mic is so much better than my $100 mic, well dah.
I actually bought the C314 for a much more modest setup in my tiny condo in Toronto were I live during the week for work. There I have a simple setup with an Apollo Twin, my MacBook, a keyboard controller, a couple guitars and some good headphones. It's a high-rise condo, no monitors here. All that is just to say, all I'm running through is the Twin with a couple of unison (plug-in) preamps.
Here's the review...I'm shocked at how good the thing sounds. As good as any preamp and mic pair I've worked with at home. I can't wait to take it back to Nashville and run it through my Rupert Neve 511, Shadow Hills Mono Gamma, API 512c's and UA 4-710d. I'm sure it will sound even better.
I can honestly say, unless it sound completely different in my home project studio, it's the best large condenser I own. Buy one, if your disappointed I'll buy it from you (at a discount of course).
Couldn't be much better
Having been mostly a drummer for 30 years, I lack the experience even many other new engineers have with other instrumentation - mic pairings. So, this review will cover what I know best. I've been in the studio with C414s as overheads on my kit, but I wasn't the engineer. Needless to say, they sound superb in a professional studio. I often use them to capture the entire kit (less the kick & snare), so I'm not using the bass roll off. The C314s fully capture the sweet translucent highs of my Paiste fast crashes. But, they still catch plenty of tone from the toms when I don't want to close mic them. I have them running through a WA-412, and that has been a great pairing from the beginning. When close miking the rest of the kit, I set them up in the stereo pair and use the supercardioid pattern, and I'm off to the races. I know very experienced engineers will be able to both use the 414s to their best advantage and tell the difference between them and 314s, but I could not be happier with the performance of these mics in the year I've had them. Well worth the investment. I just can't see how the 414s could be that much better for my money.
