If you need to record all kinds of things...

[Kubi]

...and can afford only one mic:

Shure KSM32.

Not even close. Unbelievable.

[mhschmieder]

I agree. I'm not normally a Shure fan, and have sold every other Shure mic I've ever owned (most disappointing was my pair of KSM141's).

The KSM32, however, has proven itself in many different uses. Lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, woodwinds, guitar amp, and probably some other situations I've forgotten about by now.

I wouldn't call it a transparent mic, but it has a fairly mild and warm bias to it and also works very well with tube pre-amps, almost taking it into Telefunken territory.

It is a very detailed mic and picks up lots of ambient detail in the background that you might not even notice yourself while recording, so you have to be a bit careful with it in that regard.

[stephentayler]

I have another suggestion as a brilliant all-round microphone, the Sontronics Saturn:

http://www.sontronics.com/saturn.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is particularly versatile with the 5 variable patterns, and was designed to be an all-rounder.

Cheers

Stephen