Neumann for vocals

[grimy paco]

Warm Milk Chocolate is not the phrase I would use to describe the NTK. More like bright and spitty.

Then maybe it is just my vocals that are warm.
I use much compression and eq my lows as well.They seem to come out much warmer than usual.Straight out of the mic they do seem a little bright.TRUE.

 

[EleKtriKaz]

Interesting insight on the GR vs VMPro. I recently did a shoot out with both of these and the DMP3. I used a Neumann TLM103, NTK and V67G.

My findings:
NTK into the GR provided the most detail and smooth, almost limited quality
NTK into the VMPro was just slightly less detailed but when externally limited, can provide just as good a result with a slightly edgier sound. I think the VMPro pushed the vocal out in front a little better when you need to get over the top of the music.

There was not more than a 10% difference in the two with smoothness falling to the GR. I will buy one just for slow, ballad sounding vocals.

The DMP3 provided a less pleasing but accurate result. The transient response and slew are just not there but hey, for $189 it produces great guitar reproduction.

Middleman, I use an NTK and am looking at preamps in the $1000 range. I've been looking at the Great River me-1nv and the various John Hardy one channels. Which one of these preamps do you think sounds better paired with an NTK? I'm also looking at Sytek, and the API 312A by Brent Averill. Any others you can suggest?

 

[Middleman]

Wow, lots of great preamps there and unfortunately I can only provide information from various sources on all but the GR which I have tested. I have not played with the John Hardy or Brent Averills.

API preamps tend to be slightly more agressive and are generally used for rock, metal, possibly hip hop although just one style of it. Slightly grainy sounding by nature to silky on the high end.

Neve preamps are darker, smoother sounding (generalizations here as they can be all over the map)

That said, Brent seems to be the king of Neve sounding preamps. Others have said his boxes are the closest to the real thing they have heard. Not sure on his API boxes but I'll make an assumption they are close to the real thing too. So, if your music type is loud and in yer face this might be the best bet. I'm guessing any API type of preamp might increase the worse tendencies of the NTK, that peaky up mid-range thing that you have to adjust for.

The GR by the way is not a truly sounding Neve clone but kind of does its own thing. Think Neve and beyond. It's probably more versatile than the others but may not be the exact sound you want. If you need to go from agressive to almost Neve this might be my choice. It works really well with the NTK. This I have played with.

John Hardy gets a lot of kudos for that ballad sounding thing, mellow, clean are some of the words that I have read about it. An acoustic James Taylor type of sound is where I have read it being used. It might match quite well with the NTK to reduce the microphones edge.

That's about as good as I can provide but I would get to a pro audio shop and rent some of these or buy them somewhere that will let you try and return. They are all in the same ballpark pricewise so I am sure you can find someplace to let you buy and rotate until you find the best combo.

I usually buy, record and save the session, return and then try the next one. Of course here in the big city I have that luxury.

Can't speak to the Sytek although many here rave about it. I am not sure where it falls on the scale of smooth to agressive, maybe others can comment.

 

[EleKtriKaz]

Thanks for the great info. At the moment I've been doing a lot of acoustic songs and acoustic demos of rock songs for bands. I definitely want a preamp that will give me some versatility, but like I said it will probably be used mostly for acoustic, acoustic rock, rock, indie...sorry I'm bad with labels. Unfortunately guitar center doesn't carry any of these preamps, and there really aren't too many good pro audio shops in arizona, as far as I know.

I think I want something with a bit of an edge to it, so from what you said I should probably focus on GR, API, and maybe the Sytek. Thanks again for the info. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[StevenGurg]

I also endorse the NTK with a good preamp. I use my NTK's with a Universal Audio 6176 channel strip, and love the sounds I can get out of that combo for my voiceover and spoken word work. I also like the EV RE20 with the UA 6176. I have a SafeSoundAudio P1 coming in next week and will let you know what that is like. But perhaps the only drawback to the NTK is that it is soooo sensitive it picks up every mouth sound too. Fortunately a relatively slow attack on the noise gate cleans the mouth sounds up nicely.