i don't know how, and i don't wanna know...

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So that's how the grills get dented!  :p

Some serious close-micing going on with the snare there. Whatever works!
 
Mark,


   certainly NOT useless! I am sure that sounded fab. Praise be that we all do it in a different fashion. If there were only 87s in the cupboard, they would be there in a flash. Its just that, especially for vocals, I have many greater favourites. They can (ocasionally) sound amazing on a vocal. Equally, they can sound terrible, irrespective of pre, comp, etc. I especially dont get why they are so popular for dialogue. I keep trying ours against all the other contenders, and it never passes muster. Ho Hum. It is not that it is a bad 87 either. I have used enough over the years to know . . . .


  honk honk honk . .  .


  (. . . . . only kidding! )


  ANdyP
 
Hey Biasrocks,  Those pictures look like the sound of Music. 

Everybody send your 87's to Canada where they seem to know what to do with them.
 
Biasrocks said:
Dismissing a microphone out of hand is ridiculous.

No it isn't, especially if one truly hates anything it does from the bottom of ones heart.

Plus I have a bias against condenser mics in general. I like wider brush strokes, say ribbons and dynamic mics and would rather work with them in any given situation, even if it means forcing them in places you shouldn't. Cue peanut butter, lipstick and vaseline.  :eek: Maybe those kids were onto something?

You can keep your nailgun, thank jeebus I don't have to.
 
fazer said:
Hey Biasrocks,  Those pictures look like the sound of Music.  

Everybody send your 87's to Canada where they seem to know what to do with them.

Wow is all I can say, ignorance is bliss.

The first session photo is Bruce Swedien's setup for recording Omar Hakim.

I won't bother enlightening you further because it seems like wasted effort.

Mark
 
strangeandbouncy said:
honk honk honk . .  .


  (. . . . . only kidding! )

I wasn't. And I had a hunch when pushed enough this thread would degenerate into GS namedropping.



Mark, if I didn't want to stray from the usual paths I wouldn't have gotten into DIY and never would have started designing gear in the first place. I would just do the tried and tested solutions off the shelf instead. Certainly easier that way.

And please don't appeal to authority here, not to me at least. It's just lame with the breadth of information around. We're qualified to have our own opinion on things.
 
Sorry, that comment was not aimed at you Kingston. It was intended for the Denver contingent who decided to make things personal. I avoided name dropping until I wasn't given any choice but to point out the ignorance of the aforementioned members comment.

I'm up for differences in opinion, it's what makes the world go round.

Personal attacks on the other hand; I have very little tolerance for.

Got a team of huskies to mic up.

Getting on my dog sled....

Mark
 
Was the black and white photo the Hit Factory?

I don't like the U87 for most vocals I've done. I am super-sold on the Sony C48 instead. I bet the 87 is great on guitar cabs and other stuff though. I bet it would be good on certain voices too.

I don't get the "rules" thing. I mean I'll agree that maybe the mic is over-hyped by a lot of people that haven't heard a lot of different mics, but I ain't gonna jump on the "it sucks" bandwagon either.

And it's what you're used to I think as well. I have a hard time getting good sounds from SM57s but I really like the sounds I get (most of the time) from a 421...
But on this one album a 57 sounded perfect on this amp, tried like 5 different mics...
 
I have a lovely old Les Paul Custom that I bought used as a 16 year old (I'm 35 now), around the same time I got an old Marshall Super Lead 100 and 4x12.  I've gigged that setup and recorded it in every possible style, room, genre and situation and figured I knew it backwards.  I know how to get the best out of it. 

Just recently a younger musician came in to record and while I was doing something else he started to jam with the LP and Marshall.  He did everything wrong!  I always link the channels he took it out because he thought it was a mistake.  My channel 1 sounds shrill but he choose that, the neck pickup on my LP sound too fat and dead to me but he choose that.  Every single knob was in a place it hadn't seen in years - all wrong.  You know where I'm going with this - the whole thing sounded awesome, unreal, the best I've heard it in forever.

My point is that we all hear things differently and often arrive in very similar places via different routes.  You may like a ribbon with a hi eq boost on the gtr cab, I may like an 87 with a hi eq cut.  Chances are if we're any good that our guitar sounds will be just fine!

I shared an 87 for many years and love them but I don't have one now (though I borrow occasionally).  I would be very happy to have one in the cupboard, not sure that tape has as much to do with it as some think.  Dealing with the sometimes harsh "reality" of digital is about more than just dark or dull microphones. 

Cheers,
Ruairi


 
I'm still a proponent of the idea that every mic has it's place.  I just believe that the U87ai's place is nowhere near me.  :D

I'm sure a ton of my favorite records used them extensively.  I'm not going to say they're bad mics, I just can't get what I want from them.  
 
the change in our medium has certainly changed the way i treat stuff on the way "in".

no longer is some sort of high end boost, a practice learned from years, decades on tape an
automatic thing. 
not to disk any way...

i really like 87s a lot,  if you think they are too bright, put 'em through a summit tube pre,  that's a nice match.
a very good combo for a stereo overhead set up to catch the whole drum kit.

i freakin' HATE those C-414 things, (except for the old silver transition ones and the TL II,)
for the same reason miko hates 87s.

87s on trumpet yikes !  gimme C-37a  or ribbon,

and have you done that mod to a sm57 to remove the transformer? then A/B against one with a transformer?
it's amazing how that tranny f&cks up the sound.  such a clearer sound without it.
i modded one here, cuz a bunch of people wanted to check it out.  everybody used it once.

it's all good.
 
When we first got a TLM49 for our studio, I was really disappointed. I hated that mic at first and it stayed in the box for about a year. Now it seems to come out every session, and makes a good counterpoint to some of the darker mics. Weird how tastes and needs change over time.

Anyway, it's a DIY forum, so we should be suggesting de-honking mods for the U87, rather than cursing the brightness...

 
Hi Stewert,


    I used to attach a pencil vertically to the face of a u87 (or a 414 for that matter)with a rubber band. Sometimes it really helped with sibilance . . . diy enough for yous I hope . . .


  KIndest regards,


  ANdyP
 
Haha! Yes, that counts.

I actually do that too sometimes - I first saw it done with a U47 Fet the first time I ever went into a recording studio to cut a demo.
 
oh yeah -  a number two pencil with the white type of eraser sounds best,

if you have too much high end still, VERY carefully sand the paint of the wood
until you get the sound needed, then add peanut butter to taste
 
Hey Kingston ,  Sorry about the comments I made.  I agree there are a lot of ways to get a sound.  The best way is to use your ears.  That's what you are doing and that is the right way.  In the old days the tape playback would sound dull compared to what you sent to it and you would find a brighter mic or something to make it playback more like the source.  The DAW reversed that.  Those mics from some old glory days may not be as charming as they once were for analog.   
   
 
Okay guys,

I'm throwing down the gauntlet!

I've recorded a short clip of my voice on four different, classic microphones.

http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=41872.0

Honk!

Mark

 
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