Rode M3

I have been using this microphone for some years both in home-studio and live situations, recording and amplifying acoustic guitars, greek folk instruments (bouzouki, tzouras, baglamas), even voices.

Whatever you put in front of this mic, you will get a decent sound.

On live situation it does what it should. If phantom-power is not available, you can go with the battery.

I got a second one to start experimenting with XY/ORTF arrays and I got pretty interesting results.

If I have to find a drawback, I would say it is a bit heavy. For this reason, if you are looking for two low-price microphones especially suited for stereo-recording, go for Rode M5: beside the fact that they are sold in matched-pair, (this could be not-so-crucial for you) they are a way lighter than M3 and you could avoid some hassles with the mic-stand and the need for counterweights.

In summary, M3 is a sturdy, well-built, good mic.
At this price point, the M3 is a great product.

This is my all-round mic. It does it all from Vocals, Acoustic guitar and even guitar amps micing!

Love the attenuator feature; -10dB and -20dB
The -20 is only to be used for very loud sources!
For home recording I use the -10dB as it helps to reduce the guitar amplifier noise.
For vocals and acoustic 0dB is working fine.

Built like a tank! Very heavy! I like it! Sounds warmer and rounder than my SM57 clone. Also much louder than my 57 clone.
So far very happy with this mic! Time will tell how long it lasts but with the 10 year Rode Warranty one can't loose anything! Great deal!

This is the second M3 I've purchased - so that in itself gives a hint as to how satisfied I've been with this mic.

As with other Rode products the M3 is VERY solidly built and feels like a substantial piece of kit. It comes nicely packaged with a leatherette pouch and a very good quality mic clip, a well as a basic foam windshield. The M3 also comes with Rode's impressive warranty.

At this price point, the M3 has some impressive and very useful features - pad switch, a bass roll-off filter, and the option to power it by battery - very handy if no phantom power is available. This could make it a good option for field recording or news-gathering/interviewing applications.

In use I've found this to be an extremely versatile mic - my first test involved an interview-style recording of a presentation my girlfriend was preparing for her job. She was quite taken aback on hearing her voice played back - it was very cleanly recorded, very intelligble and with nice full lows and good midrange clarity. This was done through Motu preamps - so not exactly boutique quality pre's but nonetheless the M3 delivered excellent sound.

I've used it on a variety of sources since - it handled percussion very adequately (bongo drums) and I've used it for single mic'ing of a glockenspiel with respectable results. I've also used a stereo pair during studio rehearsals to capture a trio of backing vocalists, with excellent results.

I can't really fault this product - at the asking price it represents excellent value for money and personally I would favour these over a well-known industry standard dynamic mic for sheer flexiblility. The only slight negative I can think of is that these are fairly large microphones so may not suit every situation. for me this is not a problem, but I can imagine situations where a less bulky mic might be more appropriate.

I would highly recommend this microphone to anyone looking for a flexible workhorse SDC on a tight budget, and I can see myself investing in a few more of them in future.

Our church sound department was in the process of upgrading our existing mic collection when we came across Rode M3. We saw Rode M3 being used at another church worship service and was amazed by the sound quality, available options and the heavy duty build quality it had. so we did some research and decided to buy not just one but five of them.
Our sound team is very satisfied with the over all experience that we get on daily basis with our Rode M3. we use them on vocals, piano and also as the main podium mic.

Sound is incredibly smooth and flat, on vocal needs very less eq and we leave the high-pass filter on so it applies filter at 80Hz to reduce low frequency sounds and any handling noise that may occur.
We use these to mic our grand piano and also as the main podium speakers microphone. we have had no feedback issues compared to aka c1000 that we have been using before.
We did replaced all our old battered up AKG c1000 with the Rode M3's and have to say its one of the best choices we have made. The price you pay for such an amazing mic like this is just plain bargain. If you are in the process of deciding which mic to by for your studio or live gig just give this mic a try, it'll be worth it.