The AKG Perception 220 is a budget LDC microphone for vocal and instrument recording. The price of this microphone is comparable to a USB microphone, which is considered trashy in terms of recording, and yet it is more than capable of high-quality performance in a controlled studio environment. It can sound almost as good as 3-5 times more expensive mics with few nuances, but usually good LDCs are always expensive. It’s a good choice to start with when budget is tight, as well as for non-critical instrument miking.
The AKG P220 has a relatively flat frequency response curve and an overall warm sound. Bass is definitely rich and responsive, though probably not the cleanest. It seems like it lacks mids and instead exaggerates the bass a bit, especially when trying to pick up voices at close range. Perhaps it’s a bit too sensitive for voices, but give it some distance and it suddenly shines and produces a much better, studio-quality sound, which is hard to believe given its retail price.
The condenser capsule is, of course, an electret capsule; there are no externally polarized mics for this price. The AKG P220’s diaphragm size is a solid 1 inches in diameter, and it actually has significant off-axis coloration, much more so than other similar LDCs. That’s why, even though it’s usually flat on axis, it doesn’t really sound that way when you’re desperately trying to record vocals up close, because that technique requires you to be off axis. With some distance, however, you can move a little more toward the axis without sounding either dark or harsh. For instruments, however, this is not such a big problem.
The microphone has two controls, a low-cut filter that cuts 300 Hz, and a -20 dB pad. The cut can be used for instruments that are above this frequency range. The attenuation could perhaps be used for close miking of a cymbal…. But otherwise, I don’t find it particularly useful. For vocals, the low-cut would cut the juice from the pad, making them completely inaudible. That’s not a bad thing, though, since they’re just a bonus. The good thing is that the mic comes in a sturdy case with a spider mount, which is surprising to me considering how cheap it already is, but the same goes for the AT2035, its direct competitor.
The case is very sturdy and stylish. The black metal case of the AKG P220 contrasts with a platinum-colored mesh. The AKG brand is also more trusted than, say, CAD, so all this makes for a solid and durable microphone. Among the most popular applications are, of course, vocals, miking acoustic guitars and other instruments, also for guitar speakers. Shines as overheads in small, light and jazzy drum setups. They pick up toms and the entire set fairly well, but lack brightness when used in heavier multi-mic setups. Bottom line: the AKG P220 is a good and inexpensive entry-level microphone for vocals that can later be used for instruments as well.