Home > Consumer Reviews > AKG Perception 220 Condenser Microphone

I have had this mic now for about 3 months and have done a number of recordings of drums, vocals and acoustic guitar and mandolin with it. Due to its design, it is obviously not good for live performances with lots of electric and amplified instruments, but in a studio session where you isolate individual instruments, it is the best microphone I have ever used. It reproduces the sound "going in" very accurately, over an impressively large range of frequencies, without any colorations at all.

Specifically I used it for an overhead mic for a drumset, and both the cymbals and toms were nicely picked up. For vocals, it is best to sing into it at a distance of 0.5 - 2 feet, depending on how powerful the respective voice is. The same holds true for acoustic instruments like guitars and mandolin. It is a spectacular experience to play an acoustic guitar into this microphone and listen to the PA output or monitor. A friend of mine likened it to "being able to stick your head into the body of the guitar".

Very highly recommended.

Overall: I have had this microphone for a while. It can be used to record just about anything from vocals, to acoustic guitar, to drums.. you get the point. This mic is great i love to use it.

Ease of use: Setting it up is a sincheasy, I use it with a tripod and pop filter and just plug in the mic cable and your set. It had two switches on it to help get the sound you want and get ride of the sound you don't want.

The mic itself: When recording i must make sure nobody is in my house, this thing will pick up a pin-drop from a mile away. When i pause recording i can hear what people are saying in the floor below me. Using it to record acoustic guitar is incredible. Every pick and strum can be heard with extreme clarity.

Like i said, this mic is great, the only thing that I don't like is hearing what people say about my singing in other ends of the house (joke). but really if this is your first mic or if you wanna record live music I highly recommend this mic.

I have had this mic for a year and 1/2 or so, I use it with an M-Audio Pre-mobile usb amp with phantom power and it has awesome clarity, crisp clean sound. I wouldn't trade it for any other mic.

I've been a recording engineer for several years. I was on a tight budget and needed a new microphone mainly for guitar and vocals. I was surprised with this microphone's performance. On my vocals the Perception 220 gave a warm, clean signal, slightly enhanced in the high frequencies, giving it an airy sound. Use it on a decent preamp and you'll be happy with the results. It truly is one of the best in its class if not the best. I'm 100% satisfied.

I just started using this for some home recording and the sound is just great. I couldn't be happier.