What's The Worst Microphone For Over $1000?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark7
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And I'm talking new, not second hand off ebay (or similar).
 
Well at that price almost every microphone is going to be very useful. I can't think of a single mic that costs that much that I wouldn't take over say a C-1 or V69. Not these are bad mics, but the subtle differences can be heard with higher costing microphones.

Also many higher priced microphones are multi-pattern. This alone makes them cost more, but also more useful.

Any answers will be purely subjective and highly arguable.

I can't think of a single mic over $1000 that I just wouldn't take.

Beez
 
This one. It has a real mousey tone to it.
 
Everybody seems to be bashing the Neumann U87 lately...why is that? Is it just not worth the money?
 
Track Rat said:
This one. It has a real mousey tone to it.
Click to expand...

I find this mic to sound alittle "mousey". Is it the new RODE(nt) M2000?
 
mkeene said:
Everybody seems to be bashing the Neumann U87 lately...why is that? Is it just not worth the money?
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The U87 is a fantastic mic. It is what every other mic wants to be like, and some come very close. Neumann has the best name on the planet, and like some other names they charge considerably more for their name. Therefore if you instead analyse it from the viewpoint that the name is worth nothing then of course you will find the Neumanns overpriced.

One of the main reasons that Neumann can get that kind of money is that the big studios, for whom price is not a major consideration, do not want a mic that sounds 'almost exactly like' a U87. They want a mic that IS a U87 so they can use them interchangably with all their other U87s.
 
Innovations said:
The U87 is a fantastic mic. It is what every other mic wants to be like, and some come very close.
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The U87 is very similar to an SM57 in certain respects - not in the way it sounds, but rather in the way that it is a great workhorse and an industry standard. It is rarely the best mic for a job but is almost always pretty good.

The problem is that at it's current price (and I understand the price is now going up), you could buy a number of other really good mic's that would give you more variety. If you have a commerical facility that is used by other engineers, it would be worthwhile to have a couple because they are standards. If you are just using it for your own work, I can't see justifying the purchase.
 
Track Rat said:
This one. It has a real mousey tone to it.
Click to expand...

Is that The dude{Steve Pearcy?} from "Rat"..Sure loooks like him:D


Don
 
My worst mic for over a lot of thousands? There is one very clear winner in my opinion, the Manley Gold. The first time I 'met' one in a studio I thought "there is that one they all talk about, lets try it". I put it away again as it sounded hard and sharp, I actually thought it was broken.
Some 6 months later I met another one, in another studio, so I tried it again ---- same result. Later we tried the same Josepson capsule on a new mic, it produced the same hard top end.
 
I will sell my SM58 for $1001 and we can pronounce that as the worst microphone over $1000. LOL :)
 
no way! i have a (L@@K!! VINTAGE!!!) radio shack highball-2 mic that i will gladly part with for $1000+ that will take the cup here!
 
Innovations said:
The U87 is a fantastic mic. It is what every other mic wants to be like, and some come very close.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying they are useless, but that quote is just silly. I don't think very many people with U47's, U67's, E-LAM's, C12's, etc. have even the slightest wish that their mics sounded like U87's, unless possibly you are talking about a Stephen Paul modded 87.

And what about Coles or Royer ribbons? What about Josephson or Earthworks small diaphragms? And the whole universe of large and small dynamics? Do those aspire to sound like a U87?

Even if you limit the discussion to currently produced large diaphragm condensers, there are numerous mics by Lawson, Soundelux, BLUE, and Brauner that I would never trade for a U87. Even Neumann itself makes mics i'd rather have than a U87, like the M149 and M150 for instance.

If you think the U87 is a wonderful mic, that is fine, of course. But your original statement is a bit over the top.
 
Amen to that.

I do however have 2 very good 87's here........
but neither have Neumann "inners", as they have neen "tubed" by InnerTube audio's Stain.
Now there is a good sounding mic, as Stain once said to a couple of curious Neumann employees at the AES. "All I did is make them into the microphones you should have made in the first place".:D

The funny thing is that you can put the Stain converted 87's up against ANY Neumann mic, vintage to new, and they will come out clear winners. Which begs the question why a company the size of Neumann, with their massive resources, cannot come up with a single microphone as good as the ones they made decades ago, while a small workshop can improve their mics so enormously??
:rolleyes:
 
@ Innovations:
that's because the newer U87ai don't do the older U87's justice.
In fact, there's probably a difference between pre-Sennheiser Neumann U87 and the later ones.

The REAL Neumann people started Microtek Gefell, which have quite some nice microphones for less than those Gibson-like Neumann prices. Neumann is currently floating on a reputation of the past.

Like Littledog said, and Fletcher will agree, buy a Brauner, a Soundelux or a Josephson, and they're probably way more bang for the buck.
I haven't tried them yet, but I'm dealing on other ends first right now (SD condensers and pre's).

I do have experience with a M147 on a Vox AC30 guitar amp! BEAU-TEE-FULL SOUND! totally organic.
I've been told by different 'pro' people that the M147 doesn't work too well as a vocal mic.
 
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