U 87 Question

J

JesusFreak

New member
I am going to be upgrading my little hole in the wall home studio soon and will be trying to get some high end mics, pre's and probably compression.

My question about the U87 isn't whether you think it is a good mic or not but rather, what have you found that it ISN'T good at?

What types of voices haven't been so great through the U87?
What type of instruments?
What type of Pre's have not complimented this mic well??

I realize most of this is subjective, but maybe some of your answers will be close enough to eachother that there will be some sort of a pattern.

I am also looking at getting the Avalon AD2022. Is there anything about the Avalon/U87 that sets off any red flags in your minds that would lead you to conclude that this wouldn't be a wise combination?

Thanks and God Bless.
 
Man you must have some money if you can afford that mic. Last time I checked they were $2800. Sorry don't have a review, but I would like to have one to review that's for sure!
 
The 87 does a bunch of things okay. It is a great workhorse condenser. If you must have a multipattern mic of this caliber, get it. If you think you will be using it mostly in cardioid (which everyone does) then a strongly suggest checking out the BLUE mouse. the one with the Xformer in it.
I wound up with two mouses's's for eactly the things i would normally use the U87 for, and the mouse always beat the U87. on a female vocal, the mouse CLOWNED the U87 severely./.. We were all amazed at how dim and lame the U87 sounded compared to the mouse on her vocal... It was a nice 87 too, well cared for, not smoked around...etc...

The 87 has a signature that always worked quite well for me to tape, but straight to protools, I have never really loved it. i feel like a bunch of the classics seem to be losing their glimmer as everyone moves over to a protools world. I still track to tape, then go to PTHD to mix (still on the console using PTHD as a tape machine, no ITB mixes for me yet).

The 251, the C12.... they sound a touch bright these days to me without the benefit of the rest of the chain being a little more "lossy" in the highs...

Anyway: you kind of cant go wrong having an 87 around, but i certainly would not want it to be my only mic choice.

just my 43 cents......
 
Absolutely. When digital hit, the U87, the 251, and the C12 all became too bright to use. Plus, the newer version of the U87 is boosted even more in the top end over the old version.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Absolutely. When digital hit, the U87, the 251, and the C12 all became too bright to use. Plus, the newer version of the U87 is boosted even more in the top end over the old version.
Click to expand...

It is weird, right? Before protools all I wanted to do was swing a pair of 87's around on a big atlas boom to record EVERYTHING, and now I dont even own one! I recorded entire records with a pair of 87's and a D12 and maybe a couple of 421's and a couple of 57's. That is it! REAL records! To an MCI JH10 16 track 2" machine.... Mixing on an MCI 500 series console.

Amazing to think about that...

The newer 87 is really cruddy. I would rather have a TLM170 any day... which i do....
 
Joel Hamilton said:
It is weird, right? Before protools all I wanted to do was swing a pair of 87's around on a big atlas boom to record EVERYTHING, and now I dont even own one! I recorded entire records with a pair of 87's and a D12 and maybe a couple of 421's and a couple of 57's. That is it! REAL records! To an MCI JH10 16 track 2" machine.... Mixing on an MCI 500 series console.
Click to expand...
You mean like our MCI 556D Console? Somewhere along the way, we traded music for the ability to do the Roger Nichols/Steely Dan thing. I'm still trying to get it back.
 

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Wow...I had no idea....thank you everyone for your responses, you may have just saved me a bunch of money I could spend else where.

Back to the research I guess. Thanks again.
 
Now of course...you could get Tony Merrill to modify that Mic, or Klaus Heyne, and it will smoke almost any mic. www.spaudio.com or www.germanmasterworks.com . The u87 is a great microphone, I prefer the u89 to it, as it uses the same capsule as the tlm170..it can be made to sound awesome..you just have to spend money on the parts that neumann didnt spend money on. Like I said..Tony Merrill or Klaus Heyne. Both amazing. I have his contact info(both of them) if you want it, email me at raytheapostle@yahoo.com

There is a reason these mics are so popular..They are solid. Of course it is always a good idea to have a variety of mics. ...but the SPAudio u87 or Klaus Heyne U87 will be one awesome mic. I am sending my mics (u89s and akg c426) to Tony for mods.

TRB
 
I've used the U87 many times and it's an exceptional mic, even though I ended up purchasing a TLM 170, which at the time, seemed more versatile for what I was doing. But I'd still grab a U87 in a minute and never look back.

Best of luck with your purchase.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
You mean like our MCI 556D Console? Somewhere along the way, we traded music for the ability to do the Roger Nichols/Steely Dan thing. I'm still trying to get it back.
Click to expand...

Just like it, but not the "D" so it has Xformers.....

(unless I am mistaken and they made some D series WITH Xformers, but I dont think so....)
 
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