Thoughts on the Neumann KMS 105

What'cha doing with it?
Caught my eye' as my last has been KSM8 and the QU-16 (old Mackie's been going down slowly.
Only used the Shure live so far, but seems very copacetic with all of our various singers ..better in that respect than the other mics I tried over over the years.
 
Expensive.

I knew a guy who had one for gigging. It sounded better, but I'm not sure it is that much better to justify the price difference from a good stage dynamic. He thought differently, but I suspect it sounded vastly better to him because he wanted it to sound vastly better.
 
The KMS105 can be a lovely sounding mic but it suits certain voices more than other. It's great on a lot of female vocals giving them a lovely silky quality. It's still good on other applications but for speech or male vocals I'm not sure it's worth the extra money.

One other thing: for your $700 mic to be worth it, the rest of your PA system also has to be top of the line. Your QU24 is a good start--a very nice mixer--but if you're feeding the mic and mixer into a less-than-top-of-the-line amps and speakers, you certain won't get the full benefit.
 
The KMS105 can be a lovely sounding mic but it suits certain voices more than other.

One other thing: for your $700 mic to be worth it, the rest of your PA system also has to be top of the line. Your QU24 is a good start--a very nice mixer--but if you're feeding the mic and mixer into a less-than-top-of-the-line amps and speakers, you certain won't get the full benefit.

I only use the U87 in the studio and from what I gather this is going to give me the closest to that on stage....Check my sig and web-site for my vocal quality?

I agree....My current speakers will be moved to monitors and we will be upgrading that soon....
 
I mix at a small club, they own Rode M1 live mics and I use them every week. I get a great vocal sound and lots of people comment on how clear the vocals are. Enter the singer that brings their own KMS105 because it's the best vocal mic. What happens is that the KSM105 is much brighter so I have to trim the top end, it's much louder so I have to turn it down, it is more prone to feedback so I have to turn down the singers monitors. The result is that the vocal sound is the same or worse then the people using the M1's. Remember I have EQed the system for the M1's (SM58's work fine with this EQ as well) I don't want to EQ the system for the KSM105 because the next act on will be back to the M1's.

The main problem I find with the KSM 105 is that I find them hard to use in a small venue (this is about 80 people max) and a small stage. I recon on a concert stage they would be great to use, but if you are in small venues not so.

By the way I sometimes mix on a QU16 at another venue and I like them a lot.

Alan.
 
I mix at a small club, they own Rode M1 live mics and I use them every week. I get a great vocal sound and lots of people comment on how clear the vocals are. Enter the singer that brings their own KMS105 because it's the best vocal mic. What happens is that the KSM105 is much brighter so I have to trim the top end, it's much louder so I have to turn it down, it is more prone to feedback so I have to turn down the singers monitors. I don't want to EQ the system for the KSM105 because the next act on will be back to the M1's.

The main problem I find with the KSM 105 is that I find them hard to use in a small venue (this is about 80 people max) and a small stage. I recon on a concert stage they would be great to use, but if you are in small venues not so.

By the way I sometimes mix on a QU16 at another venue and I like them a lot.

Alan.

Duly noted, I can see for Sound guys that would be huge with just any mixer....In 1 hour of messing with the QU 24 tonight I realized it can recall ALL those settings in an instant....So you could set whatever you want per act....What a machine for a guys who mix multiple acts....

I will have this dialed in as a one man band for sure....

Seems to really fit my voice too....
 
Would you believe that the singer with the KSM 105 was on last night LOL, plugged it in, turned it down, dropped some top out of the monitors to stop it feeding, shelved some highs in the front to match the system eq, the vocals sounded great with the adjustments. It's not that I don't like it I think it's a bit live for small venues. I actually told the singer this at the end of the gig, they usually do larger clubs with a 9 piece band, this was a 3 piece intimate gig. If you are a 1 vocal show and you can eq the system to the mic and your voice thats fine.

By the way the in house mixer I use at this venue is an analog Allen & Heath mixwizard, they must have sold a billion of these and they actually sound very good, and some good 31 band graphics.

I personally own a QSC Touch Mix, which I love also, plus you can multi track the gig with it.

Alan
 
Ah! The MixWizard is a classic. Between the nice sounding pres and the very useful EQ I used to really enjoy them.
 
First thoughts after 1 evening in my new mixer with headphones.....The Neumann KMS 105 pretty much captures the nuances of my VOX the way the Neumann U87 does in the studio....

Exactly what I was looking for....I'll report back after Sundays live session...I am upgrading from my Blue Encore 100....Should be interesting
 
I mostly use mine in the studio so if my reply is irrelevant sorry for wasting your time :-)
In the studio I dig it for certain voices but it really shines on hihat, ride, fast sounding percussion like shakers, at times acoustic guitar or electric 12 string. It comes in handy if a certain singer doesn't feel comfy with a large condenser or if there's a party vibe going on and it's difficult to get people to STFU or lightning cigarettes and joints. Too much boring editing work, especially when only recording to tape and I don't wanna ruin the mood by keep telling people to shut up. Here the KMS5 is brilliant as its very directional because it's designed for stage use. The slightly bright character is also usefull if I have to bounce a certain source because I loose highs in the process.

I'm not a live engineer, only used it once on a great female singer on a crappy PA in a great sounding room. More detail than a SM58 for sure but also more prone to feedback.
Wish I had a real control room though :D
 
The KMS 105 is very much a favourite of mine for live work. It manages to combine a very warm, musical tone with lots of condenser detail. It suits some voices more than others (female vocals in particular) but i've yet to find a voice it doesn't work on.

You need to be slightly careful with gain before feedback--it's probably not a mic for the thrash metal group with all levels turned to 11, However, for anything a bit more controlled it's very nice indeed.
 
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