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chrislieck « Good Mic but for the $$ Look around »
Published on 09/25/12 at 12:45I use this microphone daily at my studio www.chrislieckstudios.com. Here is my assessment of this mic. Clean, but not a U87 or even close. There are some major differences with this mic as opposed to other Neumann microphones. I like it for certain vocalists that have a great deal of dynamic control. If a singer is trained around a microphone and in a recording booth and has worked for many years with studios and recorded a great deal, I will pull this mic out of my collection. I don't use it if the singer is new, or a rapper, or a up and down vocalist that does not have experience or a great deal of knowledge about how to hit a mic the right way on high notes or louder notes. It has a real sensitive spot when it has a hot signal and it distorts way to easily.
If you have a hot signal to the mic that is in any way cracking up, it does not take a beating on the input stage like a U87 or a U67. Great for Vocals and Acoustic Guitar. It is what we call a medium sensitive mic. Meaning if your vocalist is loud, it is rather sensitive. So if you are using this without a compressor on the front end, you will have to ride the input gain. I like this microphone a great deal but I am not sure for the money you could not pick up a few other mics that do the trick and have some money left over for a few other pieces of gear or plug ins that you would need. The sound overall is very warm with low level input.
OVERALL OPINION
I use this mic daily but it is not our go to microphone. I do like it for vocals but only if the singer that you are using is trained and knows how to work a microphone correctly. There are better dummy proof mics out there and to be honest if I were on a limited budget try finding the hand made Superlux on Ebay which is a copy of the U87. I do like it for Acoustic Guitar. I don't use it for much else. As for bumps in the EQ, it has one in the high mid. There are several uses for the mic but I only found it useful for vocals and acoustic guitars. I did not use it for anything else.
If you have a hot signal to the mic that is in any way cracking up, it does not take a beating on the input stage like a U87 or a U67. Great for Vocals and Acoustic Guitar. It is what we call a medium sensitive mic. Meaning if your vocalist is loud, it is rather sensitive. So if you are using this without a compressor on the front end, you will have to ride the input gain. I like this microphone a great deal but I am not sure for the money you could not pick up a few other mics that do the trick and have some money left over for a few other pieces of gear or plug ins that you would need. The sound overall is very warm with low level input.
OVERALL OPINION
I use this mic daily but it is not our go to microphone. I do like it for vocals but only if the singer that you are using is trained and knows how to work a microphone correctly. There are better dummy proof mics out there and to be honest if I were on a limited budget try finding the hand made Superlux on Ebay which is a copy of the U87. I do like it for Acoustic Guitar. I don't use it for much else. As for bumps in the EQ, it has one in the high mid. There are several uses for the mic but I only found it useful for vocals and acoustic guitars. I did not use it for anything else.
