i think the whole exercise is an evil plot to make us listen to a song about jebuz 9 times. girlfriend can't carry a tune in a bucket and the drums sound like popcorn. horrid.
the 87 and the shure sounded best to me. the rest of them sounded like ass (just for you Sean).
Yep...I got into it for all of 31 seconds before I bailed...
Brutal yet honest comment on the talent. In all due respect, I appreciate the commenting but hardly think it was worth criticizing this girl or drums because its obvious. If she or the drums where the focus of "fixing it in the mix", I would be using drum replacement tools and autotune lol, not ranting over how bad she was but (long live recording.org problem based mixing forums) how we could improve the situation. I could do magic on both her and the drums lol. Which is yet another interesting "mix" problem based discussion.
IMHO, for this particular study I would say you've put too much emphasis on the performance or styles of an artist making it hard to think past what the OP is about. I think this is a classic example of how we spend a pile of money on gear, even thinking old school tape or U87 for that matter makes the song lol. I simply heard way past the talent, Avid converters and the compression etc. I think this video showed how a cheap SM57 will get the job done (plain and simple).

The 57 cut right through and sounded really good on my playback system. Wow.
I cannot help but think, if I was doing an A/B in a studio together, I wouldn't even be discussing the talent of this particular exercise. I would expect others to be focused on how a cheap mic like a SM57/58 in unquestionably good enough to get the job done, especially if the mic is passing through a good preamp, which was why I posted this and felt it was useful for the community at large.

Even my cheaper RODE mics sound very good through top preamps. I do not hear the over the top harshness others claim or have in their mix when I put them through top pre's and converters.
I'm not saying all mics sound stellar through a top micpre... , but I don't get all unglued over the negative aspects of mics though a good vocal chain . Mic-pres matter most of all as do good converters and gain staging. Go cheap on the converters and micpres and you are sure to be investing in expensive mics that will sound like ASS lol.

not to bypass, most likely hating a lot more about digital audio in general. Thus blaming the wrong things to why vocals sound so bad.
i think the whole exercise is an evil plot to make us listen to a song about jebuz 9 times.
Well, isn't this what most youtube video's are about. Who cares about a plot. The video is posted on RO for discussion on the cheap to expensive mics and maybe some objective thinking about what preamp we use.
Summery: Maybe a U87 isn't the most important part of the equation for those looking to improve their vocal chain . Those looking for a vocal chain on a budget, a good mic-pre/ converter and logical gain staging may be more important that many realize. Just saying.