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[tomhartman]

Great forum, my first post.


It seems in most forums the consensus is the ELUX 251 and Brauner and Sony stuff is where the sound I'm looking for resides....that really extended top end.

For those of us without 5000.00 microphone budgets, I wanted to ask you whether this kind of response is just not technically doable for the working mans budget.  Is there something about this kind of sound that just requires components that cause these mics to be in the stratosphere of costs?

The Brauner Valvet has been recommended, but I can't say anything about it because I haven't heard it. This is about the only mic within financial striking distance.

Interested in any opinions, thanks for your input.

[Klaus Heyne]

Dear Tom,
Right up front:
What does 'really extended top end' mean?

A boost at a certain frequency? That's easy to do, even with a Radio Shack mic. Or do you mean something else?

Your question tells me that your immediate task now may be to listen, not join "the consensus of most forums" about mic a, b, or c.

Your well-meaning post certainly deserves an answer. Similar questions show up on many other forums, and the conventional (and to me endlessly frustrating) answers are invariably:

You should definitely try lkdf! ...
Don't forget to audition lkjlkj!...  
And so on, until, twenty posts later, and 360 degrees around (like the picture on Lynn Fuston's mic test CD) you are about as smart as you were before all of that well meaning but ultimately confusing advice.

Hopefully that won't happen here!   Let's try finding you the perfect mic with the only approach I know of that works, because you alone will have to do all the work!

Let me urge you, in my strongest, most convincing voice to
go out and audition a mic in you budget. I don't care whose advice you follow, because it will be only the first of many (sorry), before you will find what you need.

Take the first mic home to your place, where you are familiar with the monitoring, equipment and room. Form an emotional opinion. Don't even bother reading any specs or advertisements. They will not help you arrive at the mic of your choice.

Record the appropriate material you envision recording with that mic. Do it in a way that is repeatable, because your next move will be a comparison of the first mic's sound with that of a second mic. Form an opinion.
You will not be confused, but will move towards a clearer idea which of the two mics you prefer. Continue with that process until you have found the mic which gives you aural pleasure.

I can see no other path to your satisfaction. To me, following your peers, forum or industry hype shortchanges your learning process towards making a solid decision based on YOUR preferences, informed by your experiences alone.

Kind regards,

[Lynn Fuston]

Klaus Heyne wrote on Mon, 10 May 2004 00:29

And so on, until, twenty posts later, and 360 degrees around (like the picture on Lynn Fuston's mic test CD) you are about as smart as you were before all of that well meaning but ultimately confusing advice.

[tomhartman]

Thanks Klaus.

And of course, you're right.

I've read all the reviews, talked to a lot engineers, and it still gets down to your own ears. I auditioned one popular microphone this week that was reportedly "Very open" and "great for female pop singers" and I thought it sounded like it had a sock over it.

Right now my ears tell me the best vocal mic for my needs is the U99, or a U87 modified by you (no shameless promotion intended, it's just that the modified U87 I used some years ago by Klaus was the hands down best any of us....singers and engineers alike...had heard in a long time).

Again thanks, and thank you for providing this no-nonsense board of terrific information.

TH