[/quote]
I disagree ... this whole "color" argument is for everything is way overrated...
Musicians and their instruments provide color.[/quote]
I would have to say yes and no.
Musicians and their instruments DO provide tone-color (timbre) - BUT - if you put a 'reedy'
Sax on a mellow A-T 4047 you'd likely get a much better result than on a brighter 4033.
It's the INTERACTION between the Color of the Source and the Color of the Microphone -
that Blending - that is the art of recording. (Or so it seems to me after 40 years of recording).
If one-mic-fits-all is what you're saying, I respectfully disagree.
The statistical proof (to me) of Harvey's statement is the fact that when
we offered Matched Pairs of LD Mics,we sold three times as many Vienna Pairs
as Hamburg. The reason is that Vienna Pairs make great Drum O/H, while the
Hamburg is mostly a male vocal, sax and guitar cab mic (or so say our clients!).
I used to own a studio. For the past 12 years I've run a microphone company.
The feedback from all over the world has been pretty consistant. Every vocalist
is looking for that one mic that matches up to their voice! Guitarists, Sax players,
Trumpeters, they all tell me the same thing! In fact, Mark Isham's latest CD
Bittersweet has asymetrical mic technique on trumpet. The result is awesome!!
From my vantage point, you can never have enough colors!!!