Fletcher
New member
Re: U-47 Valve vs. U-47 FET
Geez... I didn't know 'Ocean Way' was a recording engineer... all this time I thought it was a facility.
There are lots of microphones that can be employed very nicely for both kik drum and vocals. I've used a tube 47 on kik more than a few times... my main drum mics for a couple of years were a pair of 'Church 47's... which are somewhat similar to a Neumann U-47 in that they hold the same capsule and grill assembly geometry.
I'll remember that next time I'm recording dead people. For the living, it's often good to not work by myth and religion and try a few different mics on each singer, and for each song on the project.
A singer will sing each song differently, the arrangement will be different, and the qualities of the vocal tones will often have to adapt to the new arrangement to fit into the balance in the best way possible.
The only rule is that there ain't no rules.
Best 'sax' track I ever recorded was with an RCA 77-DX into a Daking mic-pre/EQ unit...
Great. Any particular "47 Valve"? They're all over the map depending on maintenance care and feeding over the decades... then again, it's a very popular form of marketing hooey to say "goll-llly, we're "emulating" a microphone who's model number is mythical... but seeing as you've never heard one, we can probably get away with saying it's an "emulation"... especially as you've (A) probably never heard one; (B) may have heard one, but don't know if it was a "good" one... (C) never heard a 'mediocre' one to be able to suss out exactly what a "good" one might be [or any of about another 40 permutations]
You must be talking about the thing your company pimps... a 47 that does cardioid and figure 8 patterns is called a "U-48"... but you can't put it between those patterns.
Funny... I read that article and didn't see anywhere where the price went up as much a $5k from the actual "street value" of the product.
Uhhhh, I generally change the oil in my car around every 3000 miles. I generally change the filter caps in my tube mic's power supplies around every 7 or so years. I get the capsules cleaned when they get dirty. Every so often, I change the cable because the old one doesn't work as well as a new one will.
Things get old, things require maintenance. Sometimes "rebuilding" one of the nice old "vintage" mics is just a way to tell the damn thing you love it... value it... and will give it proper medical attention as it gets old.
Cute.
There are three main elements that comprise the tone of a condenser microphone. The capsule, the amplifier and the grill assembly. If you do the requisite maintenance, they'll serve you well for a lifetime... if you don't do the maintenance, you end up with a classic looking pile of shit.
Seeing as Neumann doesn't have an VF-14 tubes anymore... and a replacement VF-14 tube will run around $1,500... it's often pragmatic to replace the VF-14 tube with an alternative. Sometimes EF-14's are used, sometimes UF-14's are used, sometimes "NuVistors" are employed [which was a common Neumann modification for years!!], and every now and again, you'll find an AC-701/k in a 47 [which BTW are some awesome sounding microphones!!]
There are other replacement valves that will work quite nicely... and I'd mention them... but I would be giving up some state secrets I was asked not to give up...
I know I've never recorded a response curve... but as soon as I do, I'll be sure to find the best microphone for recording 'response curves' that I can find.
Who gives a fuck about response curves... how about "did it sound good?" That might be an interesting place to begin an evaluation... whaddaya think?
Yeah... but just like buying a 'used car'... if you have a good mechanic perform an inpection, you'll have a reasonable idea of what to expect... then if you listen to the piece in the context of some of your work, you'll form reasonable expectations.
While I quite like some of the stuff Gene Lawson does... there are a couple others that do the same thing in a different manner, with different results.
It's more about matching the tool for the job at hand than the name to a myth.
As always... YMMV.
Larry Villella said:
Geez... I didn't know 'Ocean Way' was a recording engineer... all this time I thought it was a facility.
There are lots of microphones that can be employed very nicely for both kik drum and vocals. I've used a tube 47 on kik more than a few times... my main drum mics for a couple of years were a pair of 'Church 47's... which are somewhat similar to a Neumann U-47 in that they hold the same capsule and grill assembly geometry.
I'll remember that next time I'm recording dead people. For the living, it's often good to not work by myth and religion and try a few different mics on each singer, and for each song on the project.
A singer will sing each song differently, the arrangement will be different, and the qualities of the vocal tones will often have to adapt to the new arrangement to fit into the balance in the best way possible.
The only rule is that there ain't no rules.
Best 'sax' track I ever recorded was with an RCA 77-DX into a Daking mic-pre/EQ unit...
Great. Any particular "47 Valve"? They're all over the map depending on maintenance care and feeding over the decades... then again, it's a very popular form of marketing hooey to say "goll-llly, we're "emulating" a microphone who's model number is mythical... but seeing as you've never heard one, we can probably get away with saying it's an "emulation"... especially as you've (A) probably never heard one; (B) may have heard one, but don't know if it was a "good" one... (C) never heard a 'mediocre' one to be able to suss out exactly what a "good" one might be [or any of about another 40 permutations]
You must be talking about the thing your company pimps... a 47 that does cardioid and figure 8 patterns is called a "U-48"... but you can't put it between those patterns.
Funny... I read that article and didn't see anywhere where the price went up as much a $5k from the actual "street value" of the product.
Uhhhh, I generally change the oil in my car around every 3000 miles. I generally change the filter caps in my tube mic's power supplies around every 7 or so years. I get the capsules cleaned when they get dirty. Every so often, I change the cable because the old one doesn't work as well as a new one will.
Things get old, things require maintenance. Sometimes "rebuilding" one of the nice old "vintage" mics is just a way to tell the damn thing you love it... value it... and will give it proper medical attention as it gets old.
Cute.
There are three main elements that comprise the tone of a condenser microphone. The capsule, the amplifier and the grill assembly. If you do the requisite maintenance, they'll serve you well for a lifetime... if you don't do the maintenance, you end up with a classic looking pile of shit.
Seeing as Neumann doesn't have an VF-14 tubes anymore... and a replacement VF-14 tube will run around $1,500... it's often pragmatic to replace the VF-14 tube with an alternative. Sometimes EF-14's are used, sometimes UF-14's are used, sometimes "NuVistors" are employed [which was a common Neumann modification for years!!], and every now and again, you'll find an AC-701/k in a 47 [which BTW are some awesome sounding microphones!!]
There are other replacement valves that will work quite nicely... and I'd mention them... but I would be giving up some state secrets I was asked not to give up...
I know I've never recorded a response curve... but as soon as I do, I'll be sure to find the best microphone for recording 'response curves' that I can find.
Who gives a fuck about response curves... how about "did it sound good?" That might be an interesting place to begin an evaluation... whaddaya think?
Yeah... but just like buying a 'used car'... if you have a good mechanic perform an inpection, you'll have a reasonable idea of what to expect... then if you listen to the piece in the context of some of your work, you'll form reasonable expectations.
While I quite like some of the stuff Gene Lawson does... there are a couple others that do the same thing in a different manner, with different results.
It's more about matching the tool for the job at hand than the name to a myth.
As always... YMMV.
