RPhilbeck wrote on Sat, 13 October 2007 16:07 |
I am not confusing anything. The number of years the U87 has been in production has nothing to do with your comment about transformers, which incorrectly suggests that Neumann does not use transformers in any of their new mics. Whether it is a hold over or not is irrelevant. They make transformer based mics! The U87, U89, and the SM-69 being three of them. They make them brand new. They are currently in production. There you go.
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Klaus answered this. In the last 20 years, they have not designed a mic with a transformer. This was specifically my point. They don't want to build them.
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From an R&D perspective they do seem to be focused on low cost tx-less mics. Who can blame them? They've already got the upper end of the market covered with the mics I mention above. Why not focus more on the hobby end market? I appreciate their willingness to bring decent microphones to studios on tighter budgets. And for the money, the TLM line is nothing to scoff at!
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Who can blame them? Well, try listening to their new mics against their old ones. And they DON'T have the upper end covered. If they did, people would be buying TLM49s and not spending upwards of $6,000 on vintage U47s. And the "for the money" argument doesn't work. If I'm making a record, and I'm renting a studio for $1,200 and up, I don't want to hear "This is a good mic for the money." Which they aren't, btw. There are much better mics for the money. Langevin CR3As were going for $400 when people starting buying TLM193 like crazy. The CR3A sounded five times as good as the TLM193, at less than half the cost. And I never had to say to a client, "This is a good mic for the money." I'd say "This is a great mic in this application." They'd throw it on and say I was right.
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I would never find a U87 laughable. I think your statement is a little harsh. That mic has recorded some of the most fantastic rock n roll guitars and voices ever recorded! If you can't make the source sound anything less than stellar with a U87 than something is wrong.
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Oh, please. If you went into an expensive studio and that's the best mic they have, it IS laughable. A U87 has recorded some
good vocals. Fantastic? No way. You want a fantastic vocal sound? Listen to Joni Mitchell on
Court and Sparl. It shimmers. No way that's a U87. Most likely a 251.
I have a lot of mics. I have owned three early U87s, and sold each one of them. I have access to an U87 any time I want. Let me put it this way: anytime I put a U87 in the line up on a singer against other mics, nobody EVER says, "That's the best sounding mic." Never.
It's a serviceable mic. It was a relief to all the studios who found it difficult to maintain tube mics. It's a little honky at 1kHz. It's a tad dark on top. It responds well to EQ, though, which makes it usable on everything. But so does a U67, which sounds even better. Besides, I prefer mics that I don't have to EQ to get a great sound.
Now, take your U87, and get a Brauner AE, a Blue Kiwi and a UM70 (with or without transformer), do a shoot out, as I have done, and tell me the U87 is the best sounding of the group. It's not. It never will be.
It's not a horrible mic. It doesn't suck. The mic itself isn't laughable. But it's not a crown jewel. And the point being that Neumann has no crown jewels right now. Actually, they have tried to tell us that the M149 is, but those of us who have used them don't seem to agree.