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What mic would you pick to capture a breathy, inimate vocal performance ala Dianna Krall. The budget is $1k and for this excercise assume you have a preamp and monitors that are up to the task.

Comments

John Stafford Fri, 06/10/2005 - 20:39

She uses (or at least has used) the Neumann M-147 in the studio for that breathiness. I'm not really sure if I would use the U87 in that situation, because the upper part can clash with some voices, and the breathiness can sound very strange. I suppose that's true for most mics -depends on the singer.

Cheers
John Stafford

John Stafford Tue, 06/14/2005 - 17:33

Moonbaby
I have an AT4047, and I'm not surprised by what you say. It has a sort of gaininess and adds a certain texture (at least in my experience) that is great for that sort of voice. The AT4060 is also a wonderful mic. Any breathiness in the voice comes out the other end sounding wonderfully expensive. BTW I think the same goes for the Oktava tubes that really exaggerate their tubiness. If it works it's great, but if not it can sound really cheap -I've still managed to get some wonderful vocals with one though :wink: I would say that the ATs are of a much higher quality and great for general use. I love AT!

Hey AT if you're reading -when are you going to give us a multi-pattern 4060 or 4047?

John Stafford

anonymous Tue, 06/14/2005 - 19:07

Sorry to jack the thread...

But having not used many AT mics before ( but having used many good mics at work of other brands) , and currently looking for a cheaper all round condenser for use in the home studes...

how would you guys rate these AT's you speak of to a Studio Projects c3 as an all rounder? Which would be more suitable for pop? For 'world' music? and for rap/hip hop? Baring in mind these will often be used with cheaper preamps...

Many thanks.

anonymous Tue, 06/14/2005 - 22:45

Rode Classic II

It's incredible. I use it through a fairly transparent pre (basically a DM2000 pre) and the sound is lush. Tracking the female singer I'm currently working with the breathy-ness is so real it's scary.

I don't have any of the Audio Technica or Neumann mics to compare it to but I'm hunting for new mics now so I'll do some comparisons.

Matt.