Best Vocal Mic between 2-5k?

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Fury

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What are some of the best vocal mics between 2k and 5k? Why would you recommend them? Is the U87 THE mic to get? What is going to have the finest vocal sound? AKG? Blue? Neumann? Thank you for your help.
 
I was originally looking at the U87 or Blue Bottle...but would appreciate comments on both of those and others that compare.
 
No matter how many times, and in how many ways, this question is asked (thousands of times), the answer stays the same, and if you substituted "under $200" for "2-5K", the answer would be the same. The mic that sounds good to you on the singer you have got, through the preamp you have got, in the room you have got, doing the song you are recording-today.
Some of the greatest recordings of all time have been done using Electrovoice dynamics, or a Shure Unidyne. These are cheap mics, as they go. Are we supposed to believe that Jacko recorded "Thriller" on a Shure SM7 because he couldn't afford a Neumann? I don't think so. He used it because it made *him* sound good.
That said, the only thing anybody can do to answer your question is name mics that often make some people sound good. In building a mic cabinet, you have to decide whether you are looking for a mic to make yourself sound good, or whether you just need mics to make your clients sound good. My tendancy in choosing vocal mics is to choose mics that make *other things* sound good, so at least I know they'll be generally useful, even if they don't work for the vocalist I've got right now. The best you can hope for is to have at least one really good dynamic, one really good FET condenser, one really good tube mic, and one really good ribbon. Just about every singer is going to sound good through one of those.
First, what sounds good on me? B.L.U.E. Kiwi. What sounds good on my sometimes partner, Maureen Fleming? Neumann U87. The Kiwi does nothing for her, and I sound like shit through a U87. Is it because I'm a man, and she's a woman? No. It's because vocal mics are like shoes. They either fit, or they don't, and there is *No Way* to predict what will work without sticking the mic up and recording it.
OK, all that aside, you asked about U87 and B.L.U.E. Bottle. The bottle is more pricey, and requires different capsules to get the different polar patterns. It is not a good mic. It is a *great* mic. Remember what I said above about being good for *other stuff*? It's good for *lots* of other stuff.
U87? It is a studio standard for many years, and many engineers prefer the older one to the new ai version. Either one is an extremely versatile mic, good on many sources, and it can be a stunning vocal mic on the right singer. Other mics worthy of consideration in that league- I would list Neumann U47 and U67, Brauner valvet, especially the discontinued voice valvet, Soundelux U99 and ifet7, and Lawson L47 MkII. Bang for buck, the Lawson may be the best tube mic of the lot, and ifet7 the best solid state mic. Of the 2 you mentioned, I'd buy the Bottle and never look back. In the range you are talking about, there are no bad mics. There are only mics that fit your needs, and mics that fit somebody else's needs. Good luck. Sounds like you are about to buy a badass vocal mic. Congratulations.-Richie
 
I got a pair of Blue Bottles with almost 2 complete sets of capsules and for the money they are very versatile. The mics are around $4300is new and the capsules are $600ish each.... (Check EABY there is one on there now)....You can get a lot of different tone out of them with the different caps and the voltage regulator. By having a pair, I can use them for drum overheads and other stereo trackng. My biggest gripe is the physical size of the mics, they're just a bit big if you trying to get them into a tight spot.

I picked up a Cactus awhile back pretty cheap and I've been playing around with it. It's output is not quite as hot as the Bottles but the tone is good and it's variable pattern.

I'm not a big fan of the newer U87's and unless you know your stuff about mics I wouldn't buy an older one unless you got it really cheap. It can get spendy getting a vintage mic rebuilt

Right now there are tons of mic makers so your mic choices are vast. Gefell, Brauner, Soundelux, B.L.U.E. etc... I have not used but have heard some good things about Peluso, Lawson, the Korby convertable....
 
For 4,999.00 I can get you a custom mic..... built by me ! and its worth every penny.
 
500 SM58's?
500 SPB1's?

collect them all and make a mega mic
 
I think if I had a couple had a couple of million dollars behind me I could produce exact replicas of the Nuemann and the C1 ...

The raw materials are only about 10 bucks each (including the 2 dollars worth of gold) and then I could sell them for $200 each and make millions selling them to the hundreds of thousands of guys who have home recording studios....

Oh thats right .......ADK already did that... Hamburg and Vienna.
 
Provided you could build the capsules the same, drilling and venting to the right depths and measurements, tuning and glueing the diaphragms to the right frequency, using PVC instead of mylar. Milling the backplates to precise measurements. Making sure resonance chambers were to exact mils. Neumann rejects almost 7 out of 10 capsules made.

use the same wire types and transformers as well as using the right laminates for the transformer cores. Provide the right filtering from the PS. Appropriate capacitors and other components.

I've done it. It cost me alot of money developing the right parts list, getting decent capsules. As good as my DIY mics are (and they are fabulous) but parts and time are worth way more than $200 per mic.

I've started my attampt at a U47 and am way behind on appropriate parts.

I think if you put a Hamburg up against a U47, the U47 would blow the doors off the hamburg. They might sound similar, but under closer listening you would hear things in the U47 that wouldn't be there in a hamburg.
 
I ended up with the Blue Bottle and I bought the kit with all the capsules too.

I tried the AKG C12 also and it was "nothing" special...at least to me for the money. The Bottle has a really nice sound.

I have a U87 and am probably going to get a Telefunken too...

As for making my own mic - it appears I am not the only one who has a hard time taking that serious :)

As for 100 mics sounding great...yes it has happened...there have been great famous recordings that made millions of bucks on a cheap mic, but if you can afford it why not get a much better mic. The Blue is versitale and it sounds a hell of a lot warmer and sweeter than an SM57. A lot more recordings (vocals of course) were probably done on a U47 :)
 
the Gefell UM75 is an outstanding mic for vocals, as is the Horch.

the Gefell is a limited run..
 
woops

Replace either the 500 with 50's or up your budget.

It's your call
 
If I had 5k I'd probably just by 5 royer r121's. I've found this mic to sound amazing and even more versatile than my venerable U67 which I love. They sound great on female vocals, guitar amps, drum overheads, violin, trumpet, flute, cello, etc. Just fucking awesome. You could by one and still have money for a kick ass pre to go with it. Do it! Get yourself a Millennia Media (dual topology) pre and the Royer. Don't say I didn't tell you so.
 
Fury said:
What are some of the best vocal mics between 2k and 5k? Why would you recommend them? Is the U87 THE mic to get? What is going to have the finest vocal sound? AKG? Blue? Neumann? Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

What kind of board, pres and processors you using? Are you operating a commercial facility? Just curious.
 
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