tdukex said:
RE, Speaking of the CR998, how would you describe its sound compared to other mics you have heard (smooth, warm, bright, airy, ect.)? Think vocals, mainly. What types of voices do you feel it records best? Worst? What mics do you feel would best compliment the CR998 in a 2 (vocal) mic cabinet--giving the best overalall flexibility? The C3 perhaps? Maybe a 4033? I'll be interested to see what you think of the Davisound.
I'm not too sure how I'd describe the CR998... The funny thing is every time I think I've got it figured-out, it tricks me!
I think it's become my favorite mic on female vocals. In cardioid and omni, it has quit a scoop in the higher-midrange which seems to kill all the harshness and sibilance problems I have with a lot of female vocalists on hyped hish-end shelf (as in frequency range) mics starting somewhere in the higher-midrange between 2k and 5k or so; typical of a lot of mics out now days. The rest of the midrange is pretty smooth. With the other patterns (hyper-cardioid and fig-8), it's pretty smooth all-across the midrange.
The high-end and low-end is what makes this mic really different, regardless of what's typical in mics now days. In general, the high-end is certainly not natural or even smooth sounding. It is bright and hyped, like your typical AKG, but not harsh like your typical AKG. The low-end is pretty flat and smooth down deep. It is not tight likeyour typical Neumann, but it's not muddy what-so-ever either. So, I guess it's pretty natural in the low-end.
As for what would compliment the CR998 in a 2 mic vocal cabinet, I'd say something very natural. Something along the lines of
a Milab VIP-50 or
a Studio Projects C3. One of the major differences I find between those 2 is that I get sibilance problems with the C3 a lot if the vocalist is close. With VIP-50, I NEVER get sibilance problems. Also, the VIP-50 is a little more natural in the high-end than the C3.
If you ever wanted to get a 3rd mic for your vocal mic cabinet, I'd go for a Neumann something or other. Probably a TLM103 or M149. Then I'd say you'd have all bases covered for large diaphragm condensers on vocals (other than something very dark of course, which I probably wouldn't be choosing a condenser in that case anyway, so...).
With a nice DaviSound preamp, you'd be set!
Seriously, they have terrific customer service.
