Snsguy- "Transparent" and "colored" are opposites. These are some of the most confusing terms thrown around about what mics do, especially when we are referring to vocals. There are 2 major problems with vocals and mics. The first one is that it is so-personal. If I tell you your guitar sounds thin and weak, you can blame the strings, or Takamine, or whoever. If I tell you the same thing about your voice, you tend to get mad or depressed. Being a vocalist is like being a guitar player, except that you go to God's guitar store, and he gives you the only one you are ever going to own, You can take care of it, and learn how to play it, but you can't trade it in for an upgrade. Some of us get the vintage Martin, others the Rogue. I got an Ovation with a straight neck, and learned how to play it as best I could.
The second problem is that our entire lives, we listen to our voice through this bag of meat and water we call our head. Then, when we listen to an honest recording of it, we are horrified, then spend years trying to find the mic and pre that will make it sound on the recording the way we hear it, which it never will. A huge part of being a recording vocalist is coming to grips with that.
That said, "transparent" mics tend toward the flatter end of the EQ continuum. The frequency response of mics is never ruler flat, but transparent mics are closer to that end of the spectrum. The better the sound of your voice is, the better that works. Now maybe Charlotte Church or Pavarotti could sing into a DPA reference mic and sound good, but for most of us, that would be a pretty scary experience. "Colored" mics, on the other hand, introduce hopefully subtle distortion, which tends to gloss over annoying detail that we don't want to hear, like airbrushing a centerfold, so we don't see her cellulite. When we like that effect, we call it "flattering", or "warm". When we don't like it, we call it "muddy". It isn't black and white, it is a continuum. All mics produce some distortion of the signal, and just like great preamps, we often pay the big bucks to make things sound better than they are, rather than reporting the truth. Distortion is a feature of the greatest vocal mics in the world, as well as some of the worst ones. It's just a matter of what kind of distortion it is.
Additionally, mics tend to function on a spectrum of "dark", "bright", and "neutral", depending on whether they tend to augment or attenuate upper or lower frequency bands.
Vocal mics tend to augment midrange frequencies, the primary vocal frequencies, to make the words more intelligible, and help the vocals cut through a dense mix. When we don't like that, and think it is excessive, we call it "hyped". When we want more, we call it "scooped".
Because these words are thrown around so commonly, they are often used differently by different people, so by defining my terms, it at least allows you to have some idea of what I am talking about. The KSM44, for instance, I would call a fairly transparent mic with a gentle midrange boost. That means it's great for recording a good acoustic guitar, or a very good vocalist who has good diction. Put it in front of Faith Hill, and it will probably rock. Put it in front of Bob Dylan, and I expect a recording disaster.
When you talk about "vintage" sound, that usually means the sound of a tube mic or a ribbon mic plugged into an old fashioned tube-based preamp. They didn't do that in the old days because they wanted a certain sound, they did it because those were the only mics and preamps they had. So in modern times, they stuck tubes into the wrong place in the signal chain of a cheap solid state preamp, and told you you'd get that "vintage" sound. They lied. Meanwhile, in the 60's going forward, solid state preamps were designed that introduced similar flattering distortion, but they still weren't cheap, because flattering color still was a function of good mics and preamps with good components, whether they were tube based or not.
If you and your voice really want that "vintage" sound, my first guess would be to look at tube based condensers, and eventually to plug it into a very good preamp with some color, whether tube based or not. For a brighter tube mic, I like Rode NTK or K2. For a dark tube mic, I like AKG Solid Tube. For a more neutral tube mic, I like Audio-Technica AT4060 or Lawson L47, which is a pretty good Neumann U47 clone. For good preamps with some color, I like Great River, Neve, Pendulum, and Avalon. The Pendulum is tube based, the Great River and Neve are solid state, and Avalon makes both (737-tube U5/AD2022-solid state)
Everyone has preferences, because every vocalist has different needs. Because something makes them sound good, they think it is good, and it is- for them. I think "good" is something that is well made, consistent, and respected, so you know what you are getting, it doesn't usually break, it is supported by the manufacturer when it does, and it's easier to sell it if it doesn't work out for you.
I would say- go listen to an NTK, a Solid Tube, and an AT4060, and I bet one of them will give you the sound you want. But- don't believe headphones- they lie. Listen to a recording through any really good preamp. That will get you as close as you can get at an audition to hearing what the mic really does for you. Best of luck.-Richie
