sr1200 said:
Im going to be in the market for a new high end mic in the next month or so... Id like to keep the budget around the $2000(USD) range but (and this is a big but) my eye keeps going to the U87. Any other suggestions for a really nice vocal mic?
Others I've been looking at:
TLM 149
TLM 67
TLM 193
C414 (matched pair)
Note: Currently, I've been going to my R0de NTK for female vocals and a Shure KSM44 for male vocals for the most part. Haven't tried my Royer 121 for vocals yet (usually use that for guitar only), but I'm dyin to hear what it would sound like thru my newly built 1073 clone.
Hi,
not an easy one because every mic has its own character and it definetely depends on what king of vox you want to record.
There is a huge difference if you are doing rock,pop or whatever where you maybe want some proximity-effect or-say- classic recordings where the mic is not close to the mouth.
Combine these with different pres,different artists and different rooms and you will get billions of colours in your sound!!!
I usualy take U87s and combine them with several pres,but only because a)I have them
and b)I know them for about 25 years and therefore know
how they will sound in advance!!
Also i have noticed that you seem to prefer NEUMANN microphones-well,they are all very nice mics but not the only ones...
For vocalese recording in a studio a large diaphragm condenser is a pretty good choice,but sometimes a simple SM58 is much better-as I said:It depends.
The C414s are only good for vox for very special sounds as the tend to be very crisp.Even the different models sound completely different!They are more universal mics-very good on instruments as e.g. on overheads (drums and percussion) and on a good piano for jazz(they blew me away when I had them on a STEINWAY grand and Aziza Mustafa Zadeh was playing it back in the early 90s; about one year later or so I used them when I did a show for Chick Corea and had that same feeling).
If you want to look for further brands look at this for example:
http://www.thomann.de/de/brauner_phanthera.htm
I could give you an endless list,but that would not make sense at all.
May I therefore suggest as follows:
Go and hire some good-seeming or well-known mics at your local store (I do not think that they will take too much money from you-hopefully!).
Check them out and take a lot of time in your place/studio.Do some recordings,compare them and also ask your best friends about what they think about them.Do all testing with fresh ears (No- do not buy new ones but do not be tired or drunk
)
Then decide what to buy.
You will experience how many colours of sound you will hear!
Maybe you will end up in taking not one but two or even more mics-spending 2ooo USD on one mic is not a must!
Using microphones for several purpuses is in fact a biggie and requires a lot of experience-believe me...
Hope to have helped and excuse my bad english
Best,
Udo.