I went to see the exhibits at the AES (Audio Engineer's Society) Convention this weekend in NYC.
I have been doing my recordings with MXL1006/603 and have been somewhat satisfied - until I listened to the TLM103 at mars music. Since then I have been on a mission to find the best mic for my voice (under $700, that is!)
Thankfully, the AES convention had tons of mic companies that had booths setup to listen to their line of mics.
I got to meet Alan Hyatt of Studio Projects and listen to his whole line of mic's. Alan is a great guy and even took the time to listen to one of my tunes and give me some pointers on mastering. And just from listening to my track, he recommended the same mic that I thought sounded the best on my voice (T3 tube mic). This T3 was VERY nice, indeed! I also got to listen to the new B1 - very clean, should be a great deal for the money!
I also got to meet Larry from ADK. He had some really sweet mic's as well - the A51TC tube mic (around $500) in particular sounded great on my voice. Larry was a very cool guy as well!
I listened to the THE mic's - it seemed like you could tell if I flossed my teeth or not by listening to those little guys! I don't know if the preamp was weak or not, but I had to really crank it up to get good volume out of it. This highlighted the problem of doing the day - each mic listening booth had different preams and headphones, making it difficult to do a true comparison.
I also got to play one of my tracks for the guy at the Marshall booth (I forgot his name, oops... met too many people!). He said he was impressed with the sound I got out of the MXL603 on guitar and MXL1006 on vocals, so I was happy! I didn't think the MXLV67 that many people rave about was all that great (for me)... but I really liked the tube MXLV69 on my voice. Sounded nice, but maybe a little understated.
I listened to the Groove Tubes AM55 and it was pretty nice (didn't give it an extended listen though).
I finally got to check out the whole Neumann line. I think I prefer the TLM103 over the U87 for my voice - just had a nicer sheen to it or something. I also dug the M149 (I think that's the one - it was fatter than a redwood tree) - definately had a big booming sound that would kick arse on some tracks, I would suppose!
Overall I think I left the show even more confused than I was before. I think that most of these companies have some great mics that would be outstanding on some voices and so so on others. Vanilla cake for me, chocolate for you.
So the moral of the story is that I still don't know which mic I"m gonna upgrade to ... although I really like the acoustic guitar sounds my bro is getting with the Rode NT1 so I'll probably get that guy for the "lead" guitar lines, and use the MXL603 for the more understated guitar tracks. But for vocals, I'm leaning towards the TLM103, Studio Projects T3, Rode NTK, Marshall MXLV69, or ADK AM51TC.
For vocals, it's a tough call -- I want them ALL!!! I'm starting to believe that once you get in the $500 range, all these mic's are great - it's just a matter of taste and the sonic qualities of your voice.
Brendan Brennan
"Paco"
I have been doing my recordings with MXL1006/603 and have been somewhat satisfied - until I listened to the TLM103 at mars music. Since then I have been on a mission to find the best mic for my voice (under $700, that is!)
Thankfully, the AES convention had tons of mic companies that had booths setup to listen to their line of mics.
I got to meet Alan Hyatt of Studio Projects and listen to his whole line of mic's. Alan is a great guy and even took the time to listen to one of my tunes and give me some pointers on mastering. And just from listening to my track, he recommended the same mic that I thought sounded the best on my voice (T3 tube mic). This T3 was VERY nice, indeed! I also got to listen to the new B1 - very clean, should be a great deal for the money!
I also got to meet Larry from ADK. He had some really sweet mic's as well - the A51TC tube mic (around $500) in particular sounded great on my voice. Larry was a very cool guy as well!
I listened to the THE mic's - it seemed like you could tell if I flossed my teeth or not by listening to those little guys! I don't know if the preamp was weak or not, but I had to really crank it up to get good volume out of it. This highlighted the problem of doing the day - each mic listening booth had different preams and headphones, making it difficult to do a true comparison.
I also got to play one of my tracks for the guy at the Marshall booth (I forgot his name, oops... met too many people!). He said he was impressed with the sound I got out of the MXL603 on guitar and MXL1006 on vocals, so I was happy! I didn't think the MXLV67 that many people rave about was all that great (for me)... but I really liked the tube MXLV69 on my voice. Sounded nice, but maybe a little understated.
I listened to the Groove Tubes AM55 and it was pretty nice (didn't give it an extended listen though).
I finally got to check out the whole Neumann line. I think I prefer the TLM103 over the U87 for my voice - just had a nicer sheen to it or something. I also dug the M149 (I think that's the one - it was fatter than a redwood tree) - definately had a big booming sound that would kick arse on some tracks, I would suppose!
Overall I think I left the show even more confused than I was before. I think that most of these companies have some great mics that would be outstanding on some voices and so so on others. Vanilla cake for me, chocolate for you.
So the moral of the story is that I still don't know which mic I"m gonna upgrade to ... although I really like the acoustic guitar sounds my bro is getting with the Rode NT1 so I'll probably get that guy for the "lead" guitar lines, and use the MXL603 for the more understated guitar tracks. But for vocals, I'm leaning towards the TLM103, Studio Projects T3, Rode NTK, Marshall MXLV69, or ADK AM51TC.
For vocals, it's a tough call -- I want them ALL!!! I'm starting to believe that once you get in the $500 range, all these mic's are great - it's just a matter of taste and the sonic qualities of your voice.
Brendan Brennan
"Paco"
