best vocal mic to rent for this voice.

[bleyrad]

hello,

it's time for my band to record our next album, and as usual, we're having problems selecting a good vocal mic.
for a sampling of our vocalist's voice, visit here:

http://www.mp3.com/appleton

the first two songs are from our last recording project, in which we used an NT1000 for vocals. it sounds alright, but doesn't suit his voice very much, as you can tell, because it ended up quite thin. it has a lot of air and sparkliness to it, but nothing to make his voice sound big and intimate in the mix, even though he was only inches from the mic.
i was thinking of, at the very least, using a tube mic like the T3 this time around, because people have described it as being nicely warm sounding. however, i've never heard it, or many other popular microphones, so i have no idea if it'll be good on his voice. we can rent a mic, so cost is not really a prohibitive factor, thought we'd rather not go with a U47 or something similar in its class, because they cost around $150 CDN per week to rent.
does anyone have any thoughts on this? i'm not looking for a "what's the best bang for the buck" mic, but rather, "what microphone is going to sound the absolute best on his voice", with of course the U47 exception.

thanks!

 

[bleyrad]

i should add the the local drunks who run the music stores in the area aren't into letting people audition mics, so that's not much of an option.


also, in case people are wondering, we only have the preamps of a Mackie 1604 VLZ (not PRO) to work with, though I'm hoping that's not going to make a huge difference.
will be recording into a MOTU 1224. Those songs we have up were recorded into a Delta 44.

 

[Richard Monroe]

If you're looking for a middle of the road tube mic, try Rode NTK. For $150/week, a U47 is cheap. Hell I'd use that. With a clean voice like that, I'd think U87.-Richie

 

[Henri Devill]

I'd try renting mic pre also maybe like a Great River ect..Then you will hear all the mic has to offer



Don

 

[maskedman72]

if you split the cost to rent the u47 between band members it wont be jack. $ 150 is a steal!!!!!
but i would rent a good pre like a great river or a phoenix audio or something that has that neve 1073 sound. or a universal audio. that will bring your current mic to life. the pre will make a big change in comparison to a mackie pre.
good luck!!!

 

[bleyrad]

thanks for the info.

i think we'll probably go with a U87 and a decent pre, if it's possible to rent one.


i've always wondered about expensive preamps, having never worked with one myself. i mean, it just doesn't make logical sense in my mind that something that just basically boosts a signal is going to have that much effect on the overall sound, or even a NOTICEABLE effect. i've been thinking conflicting thoughts with that logic and the fact that people probably want to be able to justify their super-expensive preamp purchases, with the general consenus that somehow, magically (at least to me... i know it has to do with a lot of electronic signal stuff), preamps actually do make a big difference in the sound (disregarding those that purposefully "colour" it)
i suppose it is time to prove it for myself, once and for all, assuming we can rent a good pre to work/experiment with.

also, about the U47 being $150 a week... by the sounds of what you are saying, i could be wrong with that. it just said $150 and i assumed it was per week, because it didn't say. perhaps it is per day though. although, the NT1000 was only like $20 a week.