Neumann Mic Shootout.

[László]

This is a recent Vintage King shootout of a variety of Neumann microphones. It's possible to download WAV files from the VK site, but probably not necessary. It's easy to hear the family resemblance between these mics; Neumann gear has 'a sound'. I think they're all very solid mics.

I've owned several of these, and the recordings are pretty much what I've gotten over the years. Everyone's gonna have their favorite with each vocalist, and they're usually gonna be different depending on whose ears are doing the listening, the gear they're listening on, etc.

I don't think there's any one "best" among these mics. They're all excellent, they all have slightly different characteristics, and they have different uses.

A few, like the TLM 102 are absolutely great buys.

Speaking only for myself, Neumann is still the gold standard of microphones, which is why so many mics on the market try to clone them. Some come pretty close, some don't. Anyway, I thought this would be interesting for my fellow mic enthusiasts and studio rats.

 

[Lewguitar]

Some nice mics in this Lindsay Lou video. I like her music a lot.

 

[Lewguitar]

This is a recent Vintage King shootout of a variety of Neumann microphones. It's possible to download WAV files from the VK site, but probably not necessary. It's easy to hear the family resemblance between these mics; Neumann gear has 'a sound'. I think they're all very solid mics.

I've owned several of these, and the recordings are pretty much what I've gotten over the years. Everyone's gonna have their favorite with each vocalist, and they're usually gonna be different depending on whose ears are doing the listening, the gear they're listening on, etc.

I don't think there's any one "best" among these mics. They're all excellent, they all have slightly different characteristics, and they have different uses.

A few, like the TLM 102 are absolutely great buys.

Speaking only for myself, Neumann is still the gold standard of microphones, which is why so many mics on the market try to clone them. Some come pretty close, some don't. Anyway, I thought this would be interesting for my fellow mic enthusiasts and studio rats.

The female vocalist got a really nice sound with the U47 and U87. The 87 seemed a little fuller.

I also liked her on the TCM49. That's a Neumann too?

The guy singer was kind of annoying.

Was that supposed to be a country voice?

 

[László]

The female vocalist got a really nice sound with the U47 and U87. The 87 seemed a little fuller.

I also liked her on the TCM49. That's a Neumann too?

Yes. All Neumanns. I thought she sounded wonderful with all of the mics. Wonderful singer.

There were a few Neumanns missing from that lineup, like the U89 and TLM70, that are also excellent with voice.

The guy singer was kind of annoying.

Was that supposed to be a country voice?

It was a mic shootout. All I cared about was how the mics sounded.

 

[Lewguitar]

Well I enjoyed it. Would have liked to hear a different male voice.

(Hope that guy wasn't a relative of Lazlos's...)

I can see why singers love singing through Neumanns tho!

 

[László]

(Hope that guy wasn't a relative of Lazlos's...)

No worries, not related.

I think singers like Neumanns because they do a subtle thing in the lower midrange and presence area of the upper frequencies that tend to flatter a lot of voices.

They don't work on every voice, of course.

I had a grammy-nominated vocalist in my studio years ago whose voice sounded absolutely annoying on my Neumanns. Her voice didn't go well with the lower mid push. I wound up using a Blue mic with her that cut those low mids. Then she sounded as good as she was!

She also made $60K in SAG/AFTRA residuals for the ad, which was more than what I got paid to write and record the material! Go figure.

I shoulda made her buy me a mic.

 

[Prina]

She also made $60K in SAG/AFTRA residuals for the ad

Sounds like it was a well played ad so everyone must have done a great job, composer and audio engineer included.

Thanks for putting up the link. The YouTube audio fidelity was surprisingly close to the .wav files. Subtle but noticeable differences among the mics but can understand why you recently opted for the TLM 103, especially for acoustic guitar. It seemed to have transparency/clarity/sparkle more than the others.

 

[László]

Sounds like it was a well played ad so everyone must have done a great job, composer and audio engineer included.

Thanks for putting up the link. The YouTube audio fidelity was surprisingly close to the .wav files. Subtle but noticeable differences among the mics but can understand why you recently opted for the TLM 103, especially for acoustic guitar. It seemed to have transparency/clarity/sparkle more than the others.

I love that mic. It's basically a U87 without the transformer, and with only one polar pattern. Simple, easy to use, sounds great on a lot of sources.

I found that with my U89, and U87s, Blue Kiwi, etc., I was only using the mics in cardioid.

Now that I'm planning to record some of my orchestral stuff I'm looking to add one or two TLM107s. They seem like the perfect mic for capturing sources that need to maintain fidelity to the actual instruments, i.e., that don't have a 'vibe', and they have switchable polar patterns. Perfect for classical instruments. I have some Blue small diaphragm condensers, and they're very nice mics, but might want to get a pair of Neumann KM103 omni mics, and set up a Decca Tree arrangement.

All of this presupposes that I can actually get this project together before I drop dead.

 

[ViperDoc]

Warm Audio's clones are very good for the money.

 

[Lewguitar]

Are the JV V67 microphones anything special? T

 

[Lewguitar]

Warm Audio's clones are very good for the money.

Yes. As is the Rode NT1.

I went with a British company, Aston. Bought both their Spirit and Origin microphones.

I especially like the Spirit which has a preamp built in, has figure 8 and cardioid and has a bigger, fuller sound. More cushion down low...sort of like those low mids of a Neumann maybe, but I've Never had a Neumann.

Anyways the Spirit and Origin both have smooth highs that are modern and open sounding, bright and airy but not harsh.

They're not Neumanns but they have a beautiful voice and sound I like.

Gold capsules. Very nice for vocals, whether men or women. Really nice acoustic guitar tones too.

But so far my favorite mics for acoustic are my Oktava O12's that were modded to sound more like Neumann KM84.

I am not knowledgeable about Neumanns tho. I get get their number mixed up all the time. 47, 84, 87......

I guess my Oktavas do sound more like some kind of Neumann tho, because they sound truly fabulous on acoustic guitar and most of the guys on GearSpace agree...more or less.

 

[ViperDoc]

Yes. As is the Rode NT1.

I went with a British company, Aston. Bought both their Spirit and Origin microphones.

I especially like the Spirit which has a preamp built in, has figure 8 and cardioid and has a bigger, fuller sound. More cushion down low...sort of like those low mids of a Neumann maybe, but I've Never had a Neumann. S

Anyways the Spirit and Origin both have smooth highs that are modern and open sounding, bright and airy but not harsh.

They're not Neumanns but they have a beautiful voice and sound I like.

Gold capsules. Very nice for vocals, whether men or women.

But so far my favorite mics are my Oktava O12's that were modded to sound more like Neumann K47's.

I guess they do because they sound truly fabulous on acoustic guitar.

How were they modded?

 

[Lewguitar]

How were they modded?

Michael Jolly did mine 12 or 13 years ago. When Michael moved on to other projects, his friend Bill Sitler took over his work.

Oktava MK-012 Modification Kits and Service

This link has some decent information altho the guys who post on Gearspace tend to want their personal view to be the only right one. Elitists to some degree.

Oktavamod MK-012: really as good as a KM84? - Gearspace.com

The Oktava Joly mod is well worth every penny. The Mk-012 is a good mic. The mod makes it a great mic, especially for the money. We just finished an al

gearspace.com

 

[László]

Warm Audio's clones are very good for the money.

They are, indeed. So are the Peluso clones - I had one in my studio for a few months, it was really solid. A little different than a Neumann in some details, but just as good, though the quality of the castings of some external parts wasn't quite Neumann-esque. Great for the dough.

Are the JV V67 microphones anything special?

They've been very well reviewed and the demos sound very nice. I haven't used one, but thought about buying one when they had a sale.

I have a JZ Black Hole and it's a wonderful mic for an awful lot of things. Juris Zarins is a very fine mic designer. For a long time a Latvia-made Blue Mouse that was one of several he designed and built for Blue was my #1 mic.

Yes. As is the Rode NT1.

I've mentioned before that Jared Leto (30 Seconds to Mars) cuts vocals with one, and won't use anything else. My son produced this track with Jared featuring Halsey, here's an NT-1 in action. Nothing shabby about the recorded tone of this mic. It's worth bearing in mind that, these kinds of discussions aside, it's not really about the mics, it's about the performances.

The record debuted at #2:

Put the right talent in your studio instead of the most expensive mics and you're better off.

I am not knowledgeable about Neumanns tho. I get get their number mixed up all the time. 47, 84, 87......

Simple. The numbers go up with the years, and the prefixes indicate certain design features.

The U47 was Neumann's first post-war large diaphragm mic that became a studio staple. It was originally a tube, transformer mic. Later they did an FET version. It has a slightly rolled off top end compared to the later large diaphragm mics. Both have been reissued.

The U67 was another Neumann tube, transformer mic with a slightly higher upper frequency response presence before rolloff. It's a classic that has been reissued in tube and a TLM (transformerless mic, see how that works?) version. Another big studio staple.

The U87 was Neumann's first solid state large diaphragm, transformer mic, introduced in the late '60s. Yet another winner, with less of a high frequency rolloff than the U67.

The 'U' mics have transformers. The 'TLM' mics are 'transformerless microphone' mics. With the elimination of the transformer, they have less self-noise and a little more clarity, but lots of people love the transformer mics because they have that lower midrange push and a certain vibe. And of course, as we guitarists all know, older has to be better, right?

I like both types. the 'i' mics are versions with improved specs that were introduced in the late '80s, if memory serves.

The KM84 was their beloved small diaphragm condenser that was replaces with the KM184; the 'KM' denotes their small diaphragm condenser line.