[Harp-L] recording in a "home studio"

[Attila Czigány <atteeharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I would like to do some harp recordings at home, and I am looking for a good
recording microphone for that purpose.Could anyone recommend me a proper
one?
Ok, I have read a lot about this, checked the harp-l archive, went through
the Taming of the Shrill article on Emusician.com, Richard Hunter's
interviewes with the Pros, and there are three main ways as I see. Good tube
condenser, a good ribbon mike, or the Sennheriser MD441.
Has anyone tried a large diaphragm dynamic microphone like Shure SM7B,
ElectroVoice RE20 or the Rode Procaster?
The budget would be maximized at around $600, so a brand new
Sennheiser MD441would be out of the budget, but is it a good idea to buy it
second hand? (I have chance for this for $500 price in my area)
And this question would be for the condensers too. (There is a good purchase
for a second-hand Studio Projects T3 around me)

Of course the high priced Neumann's or the expensive Rode's are out of the
range, but I would think of a Studio Project TB1 or T3. T3 recieved a lot a
good reviewes. Has anyone any experience with tube condenser at home studio
environment?

And what about the ribbon microphones? Is it worth to play with the cheap
ones, or just the Royers are the good way? I just saw that an MXL has some
low budget ribbons like MXL R144 or MXL 990 Ribbon. Are these useful at all,
or just waste of money?

I know that the quality of the recording depends on not just the microphone
but the recording chain and the recording environment. As my room is a kind
of untreated, so maybe the conderser is not my way for home use because of
its sensitivity.
I played already a bit with my stuff, I have a SM Pro Audio TC02 tube
preamp, and I find it quite good, I got better result than with my Focusrite
Saffire's inbuilt preamp(fatter, compressed, so the tube is not just for
decoration, or sound coloration as in the case of the Behringer pres). I
already have a Rode NT1A, but the result is a kind of shrill, and I am eager
for a fat acoustic sound with good bottom and but with good high notes. I
have already tried the Sennheiser MD421 but I haven't managed to get much
closer to the sound I want to hear back. I find these things good enough for
home usage for vocal things, but I still cannot record my harp the way I
want to.

Does it worth the money to invest into better equipements, or I should play
with the room treatment, mic placement instead, and my existing things are
good enough for a good recording? (Ok, good is always relative)

I tried to check you guys, who play a lot acoustice open mike on the
recordings.
I really like Tom Ball's sound on his duo discs. I like Richard Hunter's
sound on his solo performances, but the first album sounds better to me than
the second one.
Of course I like the sound of the Howard Levy recordings.
I checked a youtube video with Chris Michalek at the end of the Sennheiser
441 (Mr Magic) but I know that live performance is a kind of different
story.

I am looking forward to the Pro's thoughts :)

Attila