I have been whizzing around examining and listening to so many different microphones lately my head is simply spinning. I needed a mic for the New Mexico studio as I took all the vintage beauties to Sweden for a project. I thought it would be easy to go out and find a microphone to use for vocals that was in the realm of the famous U47 but not the price of that highly revered tube mic. The funny thing is I was right and I was wrong....
I feel I was right in my thinking that it is possible to find a great microphone to record vocals and that it is possible to find one for much less money than those of the adored vintage standards. I was wrong, however, in thinking it would be easy to choose ONE!
The truth is there are so many microphones that ARE affordable these days it comes down to a simple task of finding ONE and buying it.
Many engineers stand around with their noses held up in the air citing "brand" and where the microphone is made, what it is made of, which mic it is trying to be, how much it costs, what part of the market it was designed for.... blah blah blah. Some important issues of course, But, in speaking for myself, recording the human voice can be a very daunting task under the best of conditions armed with the best equipment. While having an M49 to go to for that female voice or the U47 for the fledgling "gritty" rock-god is an obvious fix these are just letters and numbers at the end of the day - besides, most engineer's will not eagerly offer up the signal path (it's like asking a chef for the recipe on your way out of his restaurant) which is where the real engineering is going on anyway. I just read a post about a shootout between a new mic designed and marketed toward a mic with much respect which they do not make anymore. Someone took the time to get the two mic's together, record them and post files for everyone to review - and while the process was not entirely uninformative, this poor guy did choose a horrible mic-pre citing that he wanted something that was transparent that would not "color" the mics in any way, in short, negating the whole process - NO! both mic's did not sound the same because of the pre, they both sounded horrible because of the pre...
Long story short, ask yourself: "does it sound good?" Do you like the sound you hear? forget price, forget brands, graph's, marketing literature, forget cosmetics ... (although this seems to sell more microphones than any other factor) most importantly take what "the other guy" thinks with a grain of salt. I have seen some of the most opinionated guys run around screaming about how they HAVE to use a certain mic or mic-pre and then they turn around and record using the internal clock of a Digidesign 192 - and think it sounds good..... get real! I believe with basic engineering skills, a decent and simplified channel path in combination with a recently released, affordable microphone - anyone can record a "technically sound" vocal performance. THEN, whether the performance is worth listening to will have more to do with the artist and the lyric - which is right where the matter should lay - IMHO!
Now, I have been listening to these mics and can safely say, to me, they are "worthy" because of the way they sound for the price:
AVANTONE:
For some reason one of my personal favorites. I do not know why but I really like the sound of these mic's and not only are they handsome, the company puts together an amazingly handsome package for what can only be called "a Bargain". I have and use the CV-12, the FET CK-7, and am about to purchase the BV-1. I assure you "more sound for your money"! They look cool and they sound like they look....
http://www.avantelectronics.com/index.htm
PELUSO:
A decent price for a decent product, surprisingly detailed and "frosty" - Incidentally where many "clones" companies get their capsules. I liked their 251 and did not mind the 47, really wish I could have heard the 48:
http://www.pelusomicrophonelab.com/
FLEA:
Seemingly a bit on the expensive side for a "wanna - be" but the upside is these guys will sell kits directly to you so you can build your own deciding on every detail of the guts - incidentally this is where many of the so called "clones" companies BUY their parts, bodies and the like! - soon to be a household name I predict (although, strangely they have NO distribution in the USA - partly because they sell the mics online and they want any "distributors" to BUY the mic's at full retail, mark them up, and "re-sale" them - presumably to the one studio guy who does not have the internet? - I dunno, FLEA need to think that one over.... ).
http://shop.flea-microphones.com/index.php?page=categoryDetail&category=Microphones
LAWSON:
Having one of the best package deals I have seen available at this moment. Lawson offers a FET and a Tube, in the 47 style, for less than $3900 USD. This two mic package comes in a beautiful hermetic Pelican Case (so when the plane goes down at least your microphones will be saved):
http://www.lawsonmicrophones.com/
GAUGE:
These guys are awesome. Some of the least expensive microphones I have found. Their mics are made in China, nothing they try to hide - the whole planet is made in China these days. They listen to and hand pick each microphone and state that if there is an issue, they will fix it. They also make and keep a recording of every microphone they sell (according to them). Their web site is quite handy in that they have created a listening gallery for comparison of their microphones to some of the more heavily used vintage standards.
http://www.gauge-usa.com/
I know there are more brands out there.... believe me I have probably heard them, but I wanted to keep this posting positive so I am only listing the microphones I have heard and which I appreciated enough as to mention and use in a Neumann U-47 "clone-like" nature (a word I hate when describing microphone's, "clone". I honestly think there is no such thing as a microphone "CLONE" there are only flattering attempts at "similar". The word "clone" predicates a cellular or physical relationship to the original- as to be identical, which in this case there is no such relationship, there's simply no way. It is through the "unattainable" that microphone's like the Neumann U47 garner such "Mythical" status, and ultimately their price point. But enough of the pseudo-existential diatribe.). Honestly, my search recently has turned into a celebration in that we engineers now have more affordable tools that simply sound fantastic..... in this case "more is better". Now if we could just find some talent that was worth recording. Can you imagine if auto-tuning got a royalty! ....OH! don't get me started.
stacy parrish
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