Best Mic for Untreated Room

[MBantle]

There is a guy in Canada who used to design mics for Ocean Way, and opened his own mic business - Advanced Audio Microphones at. https://advancedaudio.ca. 45 years experience, family business, some of the nicest people I've ever spoken to.

He sells a CM47FET, which is basically in terms of brightness between the original Neuman U47FET and the U87. Specifically its a U87 mic design and circuitry married to a U47 FET capsule. Its just under $300 and I took a chance because I agreed with him that the U87 can sound over-bright on a lot of sources. (He sells a U87 too) I'm only guessing, but that brightness or brittleness is what most people seem to mean when they say something like you did about fighting condensers. Anyway, I would describe it as a U87 with a little more polish, and I've grown quite fond of it the last couple of years for female vocals.

I think it might be closer to the sound you're thinking of an SM7 but not as dead sounding - which is how I often feel about vocals done on dynamic mics. The CM47FET is multi-pattern, so you CAN use it cardioid and close like you're suggesting, but that's not what I personally do. Put that sucker on Omni, run a long cord out to your living room or wherever and try it. Bet you will find like I did that there's a place with not too much room color, where the sound can breathe, has dimension and more life. I have, I dunno, 15 or so mics? Nothing real expensive - I'm just saying that I don't love it because its the only one I have. I'm saying that we try a few, give the vocalist her choice and this one wins a lot.

Keep or Sweep as you wish.
Greg

Thanks Greg! Will definitely check out Advanced Audio Microphones!
Cheers,
Matt

[davidira]

I have an untreated room and I use a condenser. To me it sounds 10x better than my SM57. I'm sorry I can't remember the brand of my condenser mic right now - but I know it was very moderately priced from Musicians Friend (less than $200). My guess is that if I treated the room and upgraded the mic it would sound even better. That being said - couldn't imagine recording my vocals with an SM57 after using a condenser (even in an untreated room). It's also good for capturing acoustic guitar and/or the sounds of my daughter typing on her computer 10ft away

[andygabrys]

There is a guy in Canada who used to design mics for Ocean Way, and opened his own mic business - Advanced Audio Microphones at. https://advancedaudio.ca. 45 years experience, family business, some of the nicest people I've ever spoken to.

He sells a CM47FET, which is basically in terms of brightness between the original Neuman U47FET and the U87. Specifically its a U87 mic design and circuitry married to a U47 FET capsule. Its just under $300 and I took a chance because I agreed with him that the U87 can sound over-bright on a lot of sources. (He sells a U87 too) I'm only guessing, but that brightness or brittleness is what most people seem to mean when they say something like you did about fighting condensers. Anyway, I would describe it as a U87 with a little more polish, and I've grown quite fond of it the last couple of years for female vocals.

I think it might be closer to the sound you're thinking of an SM7 but not as dead sounding - which is how I often feel about vocals done on dynamic mics. The CM47FET is multi-pattern, so you CAN use it cardioid and close like you're suggesting, but that's not what I personally do. Put that sucker on Omni, run a long cord out to your living room or wherever and try it. Bet you will find like I did that there's a place with not too much room color, where the sound can breathe, has dimension and more life. I have, I dunno, 15 or so mics? Nothing real expensive - I'm just saying that I don't love it because its the only one I have. I'm saying that we try a few, give the vocalist her choice and this one wins a lot.

Keep or Sweep as you wish.
Greg

Good to know! They are actually in my town of Summerland, BC. Have been considering getting my existing cheaper mics mod'ed to get a better sound, but its not been much of a priority

[wendylanders]

I'd like to thank everyone for the info as well.

Best,

Wendy Landers

[mojobone]

In a totally untreated room, I'd stick with a dynamic mic; Shure SM7B, Electro-Voice RE20 or similar, and if you don't have a really robust preamp, a Cloudlifter is a great idea but some untreated rooms are too dead, and that can tire a singer quickly. If you need to use a bright, grabby condenser, or just prefer it, remember you can treat just the area immediately surrounding the mic with commercially-available reflection filters and homebrew vocal booths built with duvets or blankets mounted on room dividers.

[wendylanders]

Thanks Mojo. I do a lot less editing-and waiting for outside noise to stop--when I'm using a Shure dynamic mic, either SM7B or even the lowly SM 57. I cannot say enough good things about Cloudlifts.

Best!

Wendy Landers

[NaeDae]

Personally I wanted a dry vocal sound but didn't actually want to treat my whole entire room either, so I just made a vocal booth out of Owens Corning 703 bass traps and some homemade wood frames to hold them in the shape of a box. The whole thing only cost only about $500, but its sound is on par with the top end vocal booths you could buy. Very very dry.

The difference between my vocals before the booth and after the booth are night and day. Without it, a great microphone can sound somewhat cheap. And with it, a $500 mic can sound more professional than a $10,000 mic in a bad room. The differences are even more obvious if the singer is louder and/or further away from the mic.

The microphone quality is the most important factor of how good your vocals will sound, so keep that in mind if you ever find yourself EQing obsessively in an attempt to get to crispy radio-ready sound. I wasted a lot of time trying plugins and obsessing over settings before I realized that. A great microphone in a great room will sound great with little to no EQ.

[wendylanders]

Thanks for the tip!

Wendy

[mojobone]

There is a guy in Canada who used to design mics for Ocean Way, and opened his own mic business - Advanced Audio Microphones at. https://advancedaudio.ca. 45 years experience, family business, some of the nicest people I've ever spoken to.

He sells a CM47FET, which is basically in terms of brightness between the original Neuman U47FET and the U87. Specifically its a U87 mic design and circuitry married to a U47 FET capsule. Its just under $300 and I took a chance because I agreed with him that the U87 can sound over-bright on a lot of sources. (He sells a U87 too) I'm only guessing, but that brightness or brittleness is what most people seem to mean when they say something like you did about fighting condensers. Anyway, I would describe it as a U87 with a little more polish, and I've grown quite fond of it the last couple of years for female vocals.

I think it might be closer to the sound you're thinking of an SM7 but not as dead sounding - which is how I often feel about vocals done on dynamic mics. The CM47FET is multi-pattern, so you CAN use it cardioid and close like you're suggesting, but that's not what I personally do. Put that sucker on Omni, run a long cord out to your living room or wherever and try it. Bet you will find like I did that there's a place with not too much room color, where the sound can breathe, has dimension and more life. I have, I dunno, 15 or so mics? Nothing real expensive - I'm just saying that I don't love it because its the only one I have. I'm saying that we try a few, give the vocalist her choice and this one wins a lot.

Keep or Sweep as you wish.
Greg

As owner of one of the better U87 FET clones (the Gauge ECM87, shoutout to Rob Chiarelli) and also an Oceanway-branded U67 ringer (refined and approved by Allen Sides, the very dude who built speakers in his garage on Oceanway) This sounds to me like a really sweet deal. Chinese knockoffs have gotten a bad name and both of my bang for buck champs are of Chinese origin, though selected by expert American ears. The Gauge is still well south of $500 beans and the Oceanway debuted at about $999, street. I theenk I paid $599 used, from Guitar Center, but they threw in a $30 shock mount, gratis, and next time I'm in Kentucky, I'm gonna pay 'em a visit and bring my credit card, because it turned out I didn't own one that would fit that fat bastard. Pro Tip: Samson makes one that'll fit, and Sweetwater carries it. (hah, yeah, I ended up with a spare, but wouldn't you know? It came in damn handy)

Anywhoozle, I just wanna chime in about how "vintage" does not equal "magic"; where it comes to circuitry, performance is measurable and repeatable. Unless there's some unobtainium involved with the materials, like the cone paper in the NS10s (long story, pls google) great vintage mics really can be copied, and usually for less than the vintage price. This is coming from a guy who owns a 1965 Blackface Super Reverb, a model widely cited for its vibe, but if you copy the circuit and use similar materials, there's no appreciable difference that couldn't be accounted for by age and condition. buying vintage can be a crapshoot, even when you know more than the seller, sometimes especially so, like when you want to believe something you shouldn't.

Roswell Mics is an offshoot of MicParts or whatever their name was

[mojobone]

There is a guy in Canada who used to design mics for Ocean Way, and opened his own mic business - Advanced Audio Microphones at. https://advancedaudio.ca. 45 years experience, family business, some of the nicest people I've ever spoken to.

He sells a CM47FET, which is basically in terms of brightness between the original Neuman U47FET and the U87. Specifically its a U87 mic design and circuitry married to a U47 FET capsule. Its just under $300 and I took a chance because I agreed with him that the U87 can sound over-bright on a lot of sources. (He sells a U87 too) I'm only guessing, but that brightness or brittleness is what most people seem to mean when they say something like you did about fighting condensers. Anyway, I would describe it as a U87 with a little more polish, and I've grown quite fond of it the last couple of years for female vocals.

I think it might be closer to the sound you're thinking of an SM7 but not as dead sounding - which is how I often feel about vocals done on dynamic mics. The CM47FET is multi-pattern, so you CAN use it cardioid and close like you're suggesting, but that's not what I personally do. Put that sucker on Omni, run a long cord out to your living room or wherever and try it. Bet you will find like I did that there's a place with not too much room color, where the sound can breathe, has dimension and more life. I have, I dunno, 15 or so mics? Nothing real expensive - I'm just saying that I don't love it because its the only one I have. I'm saying that we try a few, give the vocalist her choice and this one wins a lot.

Keep or Sweep as you wish.
Greg

As owner of one of the better U87 FET clones (the Gauge ECM87, shoutout to Rob Chiarelli) and also an Oceanway-branded U67 ringer (refined and approved by Allen Sides, the very dude who built speakers in his garage on Oceanway) This sounds to me like a really sweet deal. Chinese knockoffs have gotten a bad name and both of my bang for buck LDC champs are of Chinese origin, though selected by expert American ears. Both punch well above their weight class. The Gauge is still well south of $500 beans and the Oceanway debuted at about $999, street. I theenk I paid $599 used, from Guitar Center, but they threw in a $30 shock mount, gratis, and next time I'm in Kentucky, I'm gonna pay 'em a visit and bring my credit card, because it turned out I didn't own one that would fit that fat bastard. Pro Tip: Samson makes one that'll fit, and Sweetwater carries it. (hah, yeah, I ended up with a spare, but wouldn't you know? It came in damn handy)

Anywhoozle, I just wanna chime in about how "vintage" does not equal "magic"; where it comes to circuitry, performance is measurable and repeatable. Unless there's some unobtainium involved with the materials, like the cone paper in the NS10 monitor speakers (long story, pls google) great vintage mics really can be copied, and usually for less than the vintage price. This is coming from a guy who owns a 1965 Blackface Super Reverb, a model widely cited for its vintage vibe, but if you copy the circuit and use similar materials, there's no appreciable difference that couldn't be accounted for by age and condition. Buying vintage can be a crapshoot, even when you know more than the seller, sometimes especially so, like when you want to believe something you shouldn't.

Roswell makes some great and affordable clones of popular vintage designs and some really great vintage-inspired designs at budget-friendly prices. Roswell Mics is an offshoot of MicParts or whatever their name was, but they do mic kits and parts and they're also a great resourcefor builders and buyers.