Blue Dragonly vs. Soundelux U195

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frist44

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In my search for the perfect vocal mic for my voice, I first got an NTK and was never impressed. I then bought a TLM-103 and a blue dragonfly. I decided to take the TLM103 back and sell the NTK. I thought the dragonfly had much better qualities for my voice. I think i have alot of nasaly kind of midrange and the NTK seemed to accentuate that. I was wondering if the soundelux U195 would hold up to the dragonfly. It's in the same price class and is mostly compared with mics costing twice as much, so it got me curious. plus alot of people have seemed to use for many applications, which is a benefit. let me know your thoughts comparing the two.

Thanks,
Brandon
 
from what i've gathered...a lot of time when you find a BLUE mic that works well on a given application or voice - it takes on a life of it's own.

not that a sounddelux wouldn't be good..i'm sure it would be.

but, a lot of times it's either hit or miss with a BLUE, and if you found a winner with it..then it might be the crown jewel for you.
 
just to chime in...
The beauty of both the B.L.U.E. & Soundelux mics
are that to some extent they are improving upon
old technology (especially blue). They have decided to
move forward in design & sound, and not try to create
another version of that "classic sound", but are creating
the next wave of improvement in mic history.
(Am I the only one who is tired of hearing Neuman's
are a must for true professionals?)
I love the Soundelux U195, and their mics are truly great
but most everything BLUE makes is the cutting edge stuff...
Every bit as pro as the old stand by's - and more :)
Even their appearance is fresh.
I'm guessing either choice would be great, flip a coin...
Then go BLUE. My .02 $ (US)

Bob
 
blue dragonfly or u195.

Neither Darnit!

If you are thinking about those mics, you have not researched your choices in that price range well.
 
Instead of being so condescending, why don't you offer your idea of better solutions
 
I have a U195 and love it, but if the Dragonfly works, stick with that. On the other hand, the U195 might work even better. The only way to know is to try one.

How's that for an answer? :)
 
I've never heard any negative opinions regarding the U195, so that's what caught my attention. People seem to think the BLUE mics are hit or miss, and in my case it seemed to be a hit, but i've never tried the soundelux, which makes me think it might work for me as well. The frequency response on both seem to have the same dip around 5k which has been the nasaly frequency on my voice. I guess it's worth a try. Worse case, it's not a good for me as the blue. Now i just have to find one that can be returned.
 
CyanJaguar said:
blue dragonfly or u195.

Neither Darnit!

If you are thinking about those mics, you have not researched your choices in that price range well.
Click to expand...

And what are those "choices" in that price range?

I for one love the U195, found it to be a good value, found it very versatile. Incredible mic. I hated returning it. It is on my list of next "gets".
I am asuming your pricing mics new, not used in a paper or off
e-bay. I also agree with Jslator... let your ears be the deciding factor. One man's joy is another man's junk.

Bob
 
first44,

sorry for being so condescending.

buying a blue or soundelux without first hearing it is a BIG mistake.

I bought a blueberry and it was a HUGE mistake. How could I go wrong. The mic won mic of the year by three different publications. How could that not be the best mic for the money?

well, it was a piece of %^@%. Maybe not as bad as the chinese made mics, but nowhere close to a world class mic.

I have also heard a u195 and it is also a piece of %#%^


using either a blue or a soundelux is like going to a foreign country and eating their most exotic delicacy. It could be good or it could be bad, but you get more consistent results when you go for good old pizza hut pizza.

A lot of people get caught up in new-product hype. This is actually a good thing for me because I have a marketing degree and make a living shaping peoples perceptions of an offering. Its not good for a musician, however. We tend to forget the tried and true products just because there are shinier new products in town and people are talking them up left and right.

If you want my humble opinion, look at a c414b/uls which was used to record .75 of all male vocals in the 80s. Of course, tons of "pros" are dissing them, but thats because they dont have any financial interest in the mic. Also look at the AT 4033, which must be one of the most undervalued mics in history.

I hope I have convinced you, not confused you, that blue or soundelux are not the way to go.
 
by the way,

you did the right thing taking the ntk and tlm103 back. Those are two of the most hyped pieces of $^@% on the market today.
 
Well, i would hope we all can agree it's certainly all subjective. I don't own a Dragonfly or a U195, so I could very well discover I agree with Cyan, or else i might not.

I do have plenty of experiences with the 414b/uls though, and know it would be about my 10th choice for male vocals out of the mics i own. But that doesn't make it a piece of crap - it's just my taste. And it doen't make Cyan's opinion worthless.

Cyan has a much higher opinion of the U87 and the 4033 than I do, for instance. I far prefer the Lawson L47 to the U87, and the TLM 103 to the 4033. Doesn't make either Cyan or me an idiot or a paid stooge. I would guess that if I listened to Cyan's finished recordings that he did with his methods and his equipment, chances are I would probably really enjoy them, even if i would have done things differently. And I would hope the same would be true if he heard mine.

We all do what works for us. If someone does it differently, that doesn't make it wrong or stupid.
 
littledog is exactly right. Its all subjective.

another bad__s mic is the AT4060 (and I hope that littledog will agree), and in a situation where I could not find a u87( or in a dream world, a u47) I would go with the AT4060.
 
heh, heh...

in case anyone's confused, i was in the middle of editing my response when cyan answered the unedited version. i think my original statement about liking the AT4060 got lost in the editing process, but yeah - i do like that mic very much. especially at the price.

now, if only stephen paul would hurry up and release his $1200 chinese mic, maybe this whole discussion will quickly become irrelevant.
 
I find that the U195 is often an excellent mic on male vocals, the C414b/uls is almost always a rather poor mike on male vocals, and the AT4033 is somewhere in between.

Then again, I'd rather eat my own feces than a pizza hut pizza.
 
I have to think that it's pretty bold to go out and call the TLM 103 a "hyped piece of $hit". There are some pretty well-respected folks, Harvey included, who seem to swear by it.

Certainly, anyone is entitled to their opinion. And if you believe that, far be it from me to even try to take that away from you. In fact, I probably respect you further for actually having conviction about it.

I just wanted to point out that the opinions expressed above are not necessarily the concensus. In the end, it's what you like, not what someone else tells you to like.

Here's to hoping that we see the Stephen Paul mic some day soon!

-mg
 
i agree with jslator. plus, it's pretty frightening to think that someone would travel around the world and eschew all the local cuisine in favor of pizza hut!
 
CyanJaguar said:
I bought a blueberry and it was a HUGE mistake. How could I go wrong. The mic won mic of the year by three different publications. How could that not be the best mic for the money?

well, it was a piece of %^@%. Maybe not as bad as the chinese made mics, but nowhere close to a world class mic.
Click to expand...

Cyan, I've heard some of the stuff you posted with that mic, and I'll agree about a few things, but there are some statements of yours with which I take exception: First of all, the blueberry is a very bright mic. Sometimes obnoxiously and annoyingly so. Anyone thinking of buying a blueberry should know that going in.

Secondly, the samples or yours I heard sounded very professional if it weren't for siblance and some harsh consonants. This leads me to think that you either weren't properly using a de-esser or perhaps you had the singer right up on it, which isn't good for that mic. You gotta' tilt it down towards their chin/throat/lower lip and back them off a foot or two.

I wonder, sometimes, if you have a tendency to give up on things before you experiment with them and figure out how to use them (?).

Lastly, I think you're generalizing by throwing all the Blue mics in to the same category. The dragonfly simply can't be lumped in with the blueberry and neither of them can be lumped in with the baby bottle or any of the others. The blueberry is really bright, sometimes harsh. The same might also be true of the mouse. The dragonfly is smoother and less midrangy. The baby bottle is very neutral, and more midrangy than the others. The bottle is just plain versatile, etc etc.

To be honest, the dragonfly literally gives me a boner every time I use it. :D I carefully ran it through the paces before I bought it, and realized I had the real deal. Far superior to the blueberry, tlm103, or any of the others in it's range (for what I was looking for, that is).
 
littledog said:
i agree with jslator. plus, it's pretty frightening to think that someone would travel around the world and eschew all the local cuisine in favor of pizza hut!
Click to expand...

NO! dont eschew all the local cuisine in favor of pizza hut, but dont eat the MOST exotic stuff either. In india, I most certainly wont eat monkey brains, and I most certainly wont eat snail in cameroon, or buffallo balls in the U.S.

and jslator should certainly not eat his own feces. excuse me while I go puke.

Chessrock,

I am happy that you like the dragonfly. Do me a favor, record the same vocal track with both a dragonfly and an AT4060 or a 414b/uls. Do me another favor. Dont throw the dragonfly away when you hear the results-there is always someone willing to pay something for it on ebay. :D
 
i hear in some parts of the world, slator-feces are considered a delicacy.

hey, stranger things have happened! (like recommending the 414b/uls for male vocals!) :p
 
chessrock said:
Cyan, I've heard some of the stuff you posted with that mic........
I wonder, sometimes, if you have a tendency to give up on things before you experiment with them and figure out how to use them (?).
Click to expand...

I don't want to get in the middle of this, but I have to agree here. Esp calling the NTK a piece of shit - I really like mine...but you know, when I first started using it I *hated* it. It took me a few months to respect it for what it is good with.

You seem to be all about something that is "world class", and it's as if name brand is just as important a factor as anything else.

I dunno...I'd have to hear more of the stuff you've done I guess. I remember when you did that rock band and you thought the Blueberry was the shit on that guy (and it did sound good).

You do seem to do a lot of gear bashing though, and i wonder how founded it all is. <shrug>
 
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