Sen said:
Oh, so there was a KEY PHRASE that I missed, was there
Man..as I said...whatever. It's just that when i read that it stood out and sounded a bit...i dunno...selfish maybe.But of course I can't read anyone's mind (maybe others
can read Harvey's

) that's why I commented...
So Harvey don't worry about what you might have meant, all the possibilities Have been covered already..
Cheers guys...
Peace
Yup, it was poorly worded.
First, ya gotta have a band with talent - one that might get some major label interest, or already be in the process of signing with a label. A lot of the bands we get in our studio want to record an album they can shop to a label, as opposed to some bands that only want to have some albums to sell to local fans. There is a difference.
When we are recording a band that either has label interest, or label potential, it's important that the equipment doesn't get in the way of production. For example, when we do a club demo in Studio B, we usually use the MXL 603s for overheads, or the Oktavas, or sometimes the Behringers, depending on the cymbal choices, the drummer, and the song.
In studio A, we use the backside of a pair of AEA R84 ribbon mics for overheads. In both studios, our goal is to get the best sound possible. That's our job. We work for the group. But major labels are very picky. MCI loved the album we did for South FM, but insisted that the vocals be redone for one song, and Chris Lord Alge had to do the remix. It wasn't our choice of mic they had a problem with; it was the emotional content of the vocal take.
For Slow Roosevelt's Sony album, we had three of the songs re-mixed in L.A., but all the original tracks were used "as is". Same thing for the Fed's new album, and Pimpadelic's last two albums. Most of the vocals on all these albums were done with the Neumann TLM103, the Shure SM7, or one of the MXL's.
In some cases, the albums were paid for by regional record companies, and the album was picked up by a major label and re-released. Others get signed on the strength of their demos, and sometimes, they go somewhere else to record their major album, like Flickerstick and FFTN. That's life.
My point was simply that the mics we used on these albums were good enough to get them major label interest, or if they do a major label album here, the labels don't have any problem with our choices of mics for the lead vocals. Our job is simple; basically stay out of the way, and help the band's talent to shine thru.
The V69, and V67 and the V77 have been solid workhorse mics for us. I also wouldn't hesitate to use
a Studio Projects T3 on a major label album (if I had one), and there are several other Chinese mics that are more than "good enough" to hang with the "big boys". At least for us, they work, and work well. YMMV.
If my previous statement came across as "selfish" or "arrogant", I apologize for my poor choice of words; that wasn't my intent. In the end, it's the band and their music that counts - all we can do is try to help them achieve their goal. Sometimes, we feel like we've succeeded.