MIA Awards 2015: MusicRadar Microphone Brand of the Year Award

AKG

The UK's Music Industries Association has its big night on 12 November, when its members will get together at the Hilton London Metropole hotel for the annual MIA Awards ceremony to chink glasses, break bread and celebrate the very finest new gear releases of the past year.

Microphone manufacturers aren't being forgotten about; indeed, they're represented in their own category, which is sponsored by MusicRadar. For the past month, we've been asking you to vote for the top mic brand of 2015, and now, based on your votes, we can present the final shortlist.

Browse through the gallery for an alphabetically ordered rundown of the companies that have made the top 5. We'll reveal the winner on Friday 13 November.

First up, AKG…

There's been plenty to impress from Austrian manufacturer AKG over the past 12 months, including various new drum mics.

We we were also enamoured of the C314 (above), a multiple-pattern large-diaphragm condenser mic that's more affordable than the well-regarded C414.

RØDE

Having already created a large and successful range of mics for studio, live and location recording, Australian company RØDE made the move into ribbon territory this year with the launch of the NTR.

Promising a fresh take on ribbon mic design, the NTR has many practical applications.

Sennheiser

Whether you want a mic for live, studio, mobile or broadcast use, Sennheiser has an option for you, and usually a very good one.

Its range includes products such as the MK 8 (above), a dual-diaphragm condenser mic for vocal recording.

Shure

Shure is a name that has been synonymous with quality microphones for many years, with the SM57 and SM58 in particular recognised as industry standards.

It impressed us recently with its fantastic looking and sounding PG Alta DrumKit6 mic set (above), while 2015 also saw the company make more moves in the mobile marketplace.

Sontronics

Sontronics is a British success story. With roughly ten years on the clock it was one of the first in the pro audio world to marry Chinese manufacture to in-house design, and to this day it's still using the same manufacturer near Shanghai.

The Aria large diaphragm cardioid valve condenser mic (above) remains one of its key products, and delivers a smooth, non-hyped sound.