Audio-Technica AT2020 Reviews

Good good good...

As a low-cost, general-purpose capacitor microphone, the AT2020 is hard to fault other than on account of its noise level. I particularly liked the well-balanced sound this microphone produced, both on voice and on acoustic guitar. It's also a pity the mic doesn't come with a shockmount, but I can understand that Audio-Technica wanted to keep the price as keen as possible, and the included standmount works fine.

Great budget microphone

I use this to record my voice, singers and different sounds for sampling purposes.

It is my first condenser microphone and the difference between this and my 20? dynamic microphone was huge. When i first plugged it into my sound card, I was amazed. I just listened to myslef talking and put some effects over. The details are there and the sound sounds very realistic to my opinion. I can hear the clock ticking if I have my headphones on.

I recored an interview for my collage assignment, which was played on our semester exhibition and my schoolmate thought he was hearing the interviewed person. So that proved to me, that the sound is somewhat realistic.

I am not a professional audio person and I haven't used tons of different equipment, but I just can't imagine, why would I spend 1000? for a microphone. I think its more important, that the singer is good or the guitarist play the melody right. If you are like me and want to start recording a bit more professional, this is the microphone I would suggest. For the price it gets the job done.

The build quality is great, it feels strong and not so fragile (ignoring the fact, that condenser microphones are fragile by default). It has a nice metal body frame and comes with a foam, that you cant put into a box that you have to find/make by yourself. It easier to find a box than to cut a foam to fit the microphone nicely.

So overall a great product for the price and if you are not a highly professional audio person, this will work just fine.

Studio mainstay

I use this microphone all the time in the studio. It sounds detailed and precise, much more than a Shure SM57 etc. I use it to record all my vocals.

Nice!

Great sound quality and price. This and a SM57 go great together for guitar mic'ing.

Very impressive sound for the price

Plugged into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 this mic gives a really high quality sound - it seems well balanced across the frequencies while also being very detailed and accurate. It really shines when recording acoustic guitar in particular. Would highly recommend. Sounds way beyond it's value!

Good and cheap mic for vocal and acoustic instruments recording

Nice sounding, solid built holder, good materials. Very direction sensitive, good both for vocal applications and instrumental recordings, not very good for amp recording.

Great Mic for a small budget

The AT2020 is a classic and in this price range pretty much unbeatable.

The little con: It picks up absolutely everything. Yes it's a condenser mic so it's expected to be highly sensitive, but you need a really quiet space to work with it. I use it at night only in the home studio. Be sure to know how to set up your levels and how to use EQ, otherwise you might end up struggling a bit with parasite noises.

The Big Pro: The texture of the voice recording is amazing. For this price, it's unbelievable. This mic captures all the details, depth, flaws and subtleties in a singer's voice. It's especially good for broken/lower voices in the Folk, Rock or Country genre. I wouldn't use this high pitched voices.

Don't even think of using it without a pop filter and use it for voice recording only. No good for instruments at all. You would get angry.

Yes, baby

This is an amazingly good microphone. At least five times better than the price tag says. Especially on female voices. This baby should be in every musicians arsenal. But don't take my word for it; try it yourself. Seriously, with a price as low as this, you are bound to win!

I love this mic, for a first condenser you can't go wrong with this, if you want cheap prices but high quality here is where you go. Just a note though, it comes with quite a strange little mic clip.

A must

Great money value...

Its for sure a Must have in your studio... Just using it in all my electric guitars as a second mic, next to a classic option of a 57, or a beyer 201. It handles very well the high pressure from a loud guitar Amp, and brings up the possibility of add bright tones to your recording... It happen already that in the end just used the 2020!

And really... for the price...

Great value studio condenser mic

I am recording live drums on demos and band tracks. I bought a pair of these AT2020 mics to use as drum overheads, after also considering others such as Behringer B1, Studio Projects B1, Samson C01, etc. I chose this model for sound quality and build quality based on reviews.

Set up in the 'recorderman' configuration, the AT2020's capture a nice balanced stereo image across the drums with a nice 'live' sound that doesn't require your room to be perfect. Add kick and snare and you have a great basic working drum sound with only 4 mics.

I am very happy with these mics. The sound is excellent and they are well-built. They don't have a lot of features (no pad or roll-off), so what you see is what you get; but they do the job very well.

Of course there are better mics on the market, but you have to spend an awful lot more to get a significant improvement. I tested my AT2020's against a friend's AKG C214 (which costs four times the price). The C214 was just a little warmer at high frequencies, but with a little EQ they were almost indistinguishable.

Highly recommended for the price.

(Don't forget to buy a shock-mount! T-bone SSM 6 works well with this mic).

Great Microphone

I bought this Condenser microphone to try experiment with recording vocals. Out of the box it comes with the manual, protective pouch and holder. I was astonished with the quality of the microphone, the metal casing seems very solid and looks like it will hold for a very long time.

Regarding the sound I was blown away by the quality of my recordings. The Audio Technica AT2020 captures all the nuances and details of the vocalist. The microphone is very sensitive to noise and thus a pop shield is mandatory. It is also recommended to use a shock mount to ensure a good recording quality as the microphone will capture even the slightest noise.

Overall its a great microphone if you're a beginner or a musician on budget. Its hard to beat this price for the quality you get from this mic.

AT2020

Solid microphone that can hold its own against the big boys. At such a low cost, you'd be crazy not to have a couple

Decent Starter mic

Features: 3 stars. I would say that this mic lacks features (with no shock mount, pad or hi-pass etc) but for the price I wouldn't expect these and their absence no doubt keeps the price right.

Sound: 4 stars. Running this through an Apogee Duet i have found this mic to be fairly nice, pleasant lows and mids, nice and responsive. The highs are fairly smooth compared to other large diaphragm condensers at this price point but can be a bit shrill at high levels or on bright cymbals.

Quality: 5 Stars. Nothing to complain about with build quality, nice and solidly built, as you would expect from Audio Technica. has seen a fair amount of home studio use and travel and has held up nicely.

I would say this mic is suited to a beginner for small scale recording or podcasting. Good all round for acoustic instruments, voice and speech. Not an amazing mic but a very good price point. As with most LDCs around this price, though, a dynamic mic (Sm57 or sm58) may well fit the bill better and be more versatile with similar quality.

Great mic with right price.

Great mic with great sound.

Not as good as more expensive ones of course (e.g. Neumann) but it seems to have the right price for what it does.

I've recorded everything from vocals to drums and the results are always satisfactory.

Be mindful, it does not come with a shock mount which is useful in many occasions but can be purchased separately.

Bang for your buck mic

I got this to bring to location recording sessions where I didn't want to risk pricier mics, and to my surprise it sounds decent. The workmanship isn't perfect (mine has spots of paint and solder on it, and there were metal shavings inside the grill that I had to clean out), but for the money I'm satisfied. I've used it on male and female vocals, kicks, cajon, sax, guitar, all kinds of percussion, accordion and for micing bass/guitar amps, and the results were much better than the price would suggest. I generally prefer it to the Studio Projects B1, which I use in similar situations.

Amazing Value

I have always been a fan of audio technica mics and i needed a pair for an upcoming recording, i chose these due to their amazingly low price as they are very similar to the higher end mics that they produce, the mics came in leather wallets with the mic holders and have impressed me from the first time i used them, the sound of the mics at this price point is usually what lets them down, but these mics sound like they cost four times as much, i have used them for recording backing vocals, acoustic guitars and even cello. the sound is quite bright and there isn't any on body options like a pad or bass rolloff, but in my opinion, for the money you cant beat them with any of the other low priced options from other manufacturers.