How Much???
Let's consider the Shure SM57. It's been an industry standard since it was introduced in 1965. It's a fantastically versatile microphone that is used by the President of United States for the inauguration and at press conferences, and it is also used on many drum kits, guitar amps, and even vocalists. It's a very inexpensive microphone that costs around $100 everywhere because of the control Shure has over its distributors.
And then there's the Pyle PDMIC78. Despite its looks hard core audio engineers will tell you it doesn't sound just like an SM57. They'll explain that it might actually be better in some instances such as spoken word because of the fact that it produces a stronger signal and brings out the frequencies of the human voice. But the chances are that you aren't looking for "the 57 sound," you're just looking for a mic that sounds pretty good for a wide variety of uses and is nearly indestructable. And the PDMIC78 does that for less than $15 and even comes with a cable.
So here's where we come in. Crescendeo comes in. We can help you figure out if the $15 microphone is good enough for your needs. We also know whether we need to check to see if the microphone needs to be rewired and that the cable that comes with is might be best off in the trash can. (But here's a free tip, it's probably worth checking these out, although you might want to do a seach on polarity.)
If you need a lot of gear, a savings of $85 per microphone can really add up.
So let's say for a minute that you only need 4 microphones so you save $340 but that you theoretically pay us $340 to help you pick them out. Why would you do that instead of either just buying the more expensive mics or risking it on the cheap ones? Because not only will we help you know which mics to buy and how the ensure they're actually good, but we'll also help you ensure they're the right kind of microphones for your need, and we'll help you install them, and we'll help you know how to use and care for them, and we'll help you know how to integrate them into the rest of your equipment. Depending on your situation, we may even train your sound engineers from scratch as a part of that fee and walk them through our Three Steps for Running Sound. So even if you don't save a penny (which is unlikely, because you'll probaby need more gear than just 4 microphones), if you work with us we will ensure you get a lot more for your money than just mics.