Yoda117
Galley Slave / VO Talent
there is no real mic that I idolize... nor should anyone else. However, I do respect the mic.
that said, the reason that the U87 has the reputation that it does was because for it's time (mid-70s and a bit earlier), it was a mic that was good in multiple applications, fairly priced, and most importantly... there weren't a lot of alternatives.
Home recording was something for the rich during that time frame. With advances in techniques and technology, costs have gone down and quality (for the most part) has come up from several manufacturers. Some people scoff at the R0de series, but 5-10 years ago, we would have coveted them.
Things change... some mics have changed with the times, and some haven't. In the case of the U87, Sennheiser noticed that a lot of people were using them for certain applications, and not for others... therefore they tailored the mic to suit it's strong suites and develop other mics to offset it's weaknesses. Due to it's hyped presence in many applications, I use it for certain VO (especially those requiring a younger voice).
One thing I keep telling people is that anytime you notice people blasting or touting something, find out why... experiment with it and find out for yourself. Despite the hate, I've found the R0de series to be rather good, because I didn't find them to be as brittle as everyone said (the Chinese-made ones were... and deserved the rep, the AU made ones are much better IMHO). I didn't have a lot of love for the Chandler Germanium Pre despite the hype, but after playing with one for a few days, I found it's charm and bought one for my rack. The same can't be said for a lot of RNC stuff, which some people drool over.
All that said, let's put this back on-topic. If you want the "bling" factor, that's great... it tells me that you don't know what you're talking about and your music will probably suck. I'll have more respect and be more attentive to the person who takes the time to find out what works best with their own voice and use that instead of trying to impress me with a pic of their mic.
If you need a pretty mic to impress me, then you obviously are lacking in talent. Talent trumps equipment every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
that said, the reason that the U87 has the reputation that it does was because for it's time (mid-70s and a bit earlier), it was a mic that was good in multiple applications, fairly priced, and most importantly... there weren't a lot of alternatives.
Home recording was something for the rich during that time frame. With advances in techniques and technology, costs have gone down and quality (for the most part) has come up from several manufacturers. Some people scoff at the R0de series, but 5-10 years ago, we would have coveted them.
Things change... some mics have changed with the times, and some haven't. In the case of the U87, Sennheiser noticed that a lot of people were using them for certain applications, and not for others... therefore they tailored the mic to suit it's strong suites and develop other mics to offset it's weaknesses. Due to it's hyped presence in many applications, I use it for certain VO (especially those requiring a younger voice).
One thing I keep telling people is that anytime you notice people blasting or touting something, find out why... experiment with it and find out for yourself. Despite the hate, I've found the R0de series to be rather good, because I didn't find them to be as brittle as everyone said (the Chinese-made ones were... and deserved the rep, the AU made ones are much better IMHO). I didn't have a lot of love for the Chandler Germanium Pre despite the hype, but after playing with one for a few days, I found it's charm and bought one for my rack. The same can't be said for a lot of RNC stuff, which some people drool over.
All that said, let's put this back on-topic. If you want the "bling" factor, that's great... it tells me that you don't know what you're talking about and your music will probably suck. I'll have more respect and be more attentive to the person who takes the time to find out what works best with their own voice and use that instead of trying to impress me with a pic of their mic.
If you need a pretty mic to impress me, then you obviously are lacking in talent. Talent trumps equipment every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
