My vote goes towards the C12VR.

This may be blasphemous, but I'd also have to nominate the current crop of U87's. To me, just not a very interesting mic at that price. :roll:

I don't see what everyone else sees in the Sony C800. At that price it should do my laundry, make coffee, and fill out my 1040. So far, it has been "not the right mic" on every singer I've put it in front of, as well as being the most butt-ugly thing I've ever seen at the end of a boom. Well, the ugliest mic at least.

I can see the 87 being on the overpriced list, tho I find it useful every now and then. So not a total waste - as long as you don't mind that "hey, I'm a Neumann" personality splashed across the track.

I'd have to second the C12VR.

Also any of the "berry" series. Blueberry, Dragon fly, cactus, whatever. They all sound like U87 copies to me. I did like the SonyC800G on one singer I used, but it also didn't work for his brother. Is it worth $4500, I didn't think so. You do end up using less EQ when mixing vocals tracked through it. Come to think of it, no mic is worth some of the outrageous prices some of the companies charge. Case in point, I recently tracked a certain "famous"person voice lately and even though we had at our disposal a locker full of "classis"mics, I went with an old SM57 instead. Go figure.

It's interesting to note that no one has picked on some of the all 'round spendiest sticks...like the Neumann/Telefunken U47, Elam 251, real C12, and a few of the B&K, uh, DPA mics.

And I won't either. U47s and U67s are two of the mics I probably use the most, followed by the pack of usual suspects and workhorses: U87, 57, 421/441, 451, KM84, ATM25, RE20, SM7, C12, 414, etc.

The worst value for money are the mics you never use, even if they're butt cheap. Personally, I've never liked the Marshall, AT4033 and AT4060, Rode NT, and Manley Gold mics, to name a few, but as always YMMV.

There are two mics that I would be interested to take the time to hear and try: the Elux 251 and the Brauner KH SE.

David, what do you say...

Jon

Originally posted by Jon Atack:
And I won't either. U47s and U67s are two of the mics I probably use the most, followed by the pack of usual suspects and workhorses: U87, 57, 421/441, 451, KM84, ATM25, RE20, SM7, C12, 414, etc.

Jon

Well, I guess it is matter of opinion. I've had great results using the 4033. And find U87's way overpriced for what they give. I hate them on vocals, but hey can sound pretty good on toms. However my favorite mic for toms is the shure sm98. The only thing I'll use an sm57 for is a doorstop or hammer. And I think RE20's absolutely suck the big one.

Manley Gold - the first time I encountered one in a studio I thought I'd try it, which I did, it led me to believe it was broken.
The second time I met one in another studio I thought, oh well, lets try one of those again.
And so I found out that they actually sound like that.

On the other side, I have not really used my U47, Sony or any other "good" mic since I've been using Stayne's MagMikes. $3000 - and it leaves everything standing by far. Not just my opinion, also that of every single client I've had over the last 16 months.

Originally posted by Bill Plummer:
What is the most over-hyped over-priced mic on the market?

Neumann m147
i made a contest with 12 mics, the m147 was the most expensive. i get around 15 ratings now & the m147 is on position 10 from 12 mics!
this mic sound strange in the higher midrange.

I thought the topic was the most overrated mic that's over $2000. If it's less I can think of a few more I think are overrated and almost worthless.

Originally posted by THETHRILLFACTOR:
Also any of the "berry" series. Blueberry, Dragon fly, cactus, whatever.

Losing some high frequency hearing? These mics are extremely bright (not the Cactus, but it's extremely soft and colored compared to a U87). The BLUE line and Neumann have not much in common sonically.