Vocal Mics

[camoe]

A good all around LDC is the Lewitt 640. It sounds great on vocals imo.

[tblizzParticipant]

Do you record more male or female singers? I find the 3D Mic CD (2003) very useful.

[Nick D.Participant]

Im a huge fan of ADK microphones and they offer a ton of great mics at various price points. For under $500 the Thor (clean) Hamburg (dark) or Vienna (modern/air) are about the best LDC i have heard.

[pask74Participant]

My go-to mic is an U67 but sometimes a 441 does the trick, or even a simple chinese (modified) ldc.
On the last session I used a Coles 4038 on a pretty aggressive female voice and it just worked wonders.
So... hard to say as voices are probably the most unique sources we get to work with but I wouldn't neglect ribbons if you manage to protect them from the pops.

[Jacob RichterParticipant]

i would recommend a microtech gefell m930. I have two of them and they fit alot of different voices. "east"german engineering. They are called the "better" Neumanns.

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

I love my Gefell, it's MV691, it's a small diaphragm and amazing for Acoustic guitars. The CMV 563 is in my top 5 mics of all time!! Have a marvellous time recoding and mixing, many thanks Warren

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi @3rdstone, I'll have to Jack about that 251 clone. I have most of his mics here at my studio, I haven't seen it. I'll double check. When we did the last Aerosmith album together we got to do A LOT of shootouts, we had my U47 and U48 on Steven's vocals and loved both, but there was a few instances since where we have preferred the Peluso 47 clone. For the money I'm not sure there is a better clone on the market, have you tried them? I know VK says the Flea flies off the shelves, it's a huge seller apparently! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Warren Huart.

[Steve AParticipant]

Hi Warren, I have not tried the Advanced Audio 251 clone myself, I just found it interesting what Jack said about it.
Nor have I tried the Peluso 2247... A fellow studio owner in town has one and really likes it. I have a mic shootout 'penciled in' over there where I'll be able to hear it, I'm really looking forward to that because you can't find any clips online that I know of, so I'll report back.
From what I understand the Flea is a bit darker than the Peluso, as John P has stated, he tuned the 2247 to what a U47 'would have' sounded like new.
I have yet to purchase a vocal mic with a noted pedigree, but from what I can hear (online clips), the Pearlman TM1 has the best sounding MID-RANGE of the clones, and that's one of the things I like best about the U47. I'm going to hold off till my shootout, and probably rent a few vocal mics before I part with any money though.. (that's a big decision for a guy with my budget, haha).

[timmymacParticipant]

Thanks for all the thoughts and advice here. Lots of good recommendations that I'm going to try out. Yes, @3rdstone, the Pearlman TM1 has caught my ear a few times in online shoot outs. Will have to tryout in person. Thanks!!

[Greg Murray MurrayParticipant]

timmymac. Shure SM7 is a definite. Very affordable, versatile and will take almost anything you throw at it. As for tube mics, I have a Rhode Classic 2. Also a nice mic. Picked it up used. It really depends on the singers voice of course. I have some 414's, but haven't tried me on vox yet. Nuemann's (if your budget allows) by all means. I'm fortunate to have 3. I also have a ribbon mic which I've used on vox with good results.

[Lee HawkinsParticipant]

I have been trying the new Aston Origin microphone on Vocals. Very clean sound but needs a good preamp if you want 'character'.

[Chris SweetParticipant]

I've come to really like the Mojave stuff. I've been using the MA201 a lot on vocals. The Aston stuff looks really promising if you're on a small budget.

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