Recording - February 2015 - 19

Peluso Microphone Lab, Flea, AudioTechnica (notably the tube cardioid
AT4060), and Neumann's own M147, a
fixed cardioid, tube, transformerless U47.
Discouraged? Don't be! Consider this
quote by the great Alan Parsons: "I've
certainly spent many hours with finicky
artists trying different vocal mics, all of
which sound remarkably similar, and all I
have to say is that I felt it was a waste of
time." I can tell you that I have done classroom shootouts with U47-style mics
priced between $300 and $3000 and
found that they do in fact sound remarkably similar. I can personally recommend
Lewitt microphones. Between $600 and
$1000 they have four mics with a perfect
double hump response, including the
LCT540 FET fixed cardioid, the multipattern LCT640 FET (see Figure 7), the tube
LCT 840, and the remarkable Tube/FET
LCT 940 which has a knob to blend the
Tube and FET sounds! I feel this is one of
the great mic bargains of all time.
For a bit less, consider the RØDE NT2A, NTK, and K2. The M-Audio Sputnik
tube mic costs under $500. At $299 it's
hard to beat the Cascade Elroy multipattern tube mic, and for less than $200 you
can pick up the sE Electronics sE X1 and
the Cascade M20u, solid state mics that
are generating positive comments on user
forums. (If you are truly adventurous there
are mysterious grey market options like the
Stellar CM-6, but I didn't tell you that...)
Notable successors to the U47 were the
tube U67 and the solid state U87, both
using the K67 capsule, with two backplates to facilitate better matching of the
front and back tensioning. Both have a
flatter frequency response than the U47.
Another great classic worth mentioning is
the Austrian AKG C12. Early versions had
a very U47-like response, and later versions remained pretty flat up until a few
decibels of boost around 10 kHz. The
C12 became very popular for female
vocals because of its flatter response.
AKG currently makes the C12VR, and
more affordable emulations are available
from Peluso and Lawson. An interesting
way to cop this type of sound for peanuts
is to buy an Apex 460 and modify it using
kits available from a handful of suppliers.
Kits are also available to modify low cost
mics like the MXL990. Google is your
friend...
So go forth and experiment! The sidebar has a short list of some well known
tracks and the mics that were used to
record them. Happy tracking!
Michael Schulze (schulze@recording
mag.com) directs the award-winning
Bachelor of Music Recording and
Production program at the Lamont School
of Music, University of Denver. Learn more
at www.du.edu/lamont/audio
RECORDING February 2015

19

Famous vocals and the mics that captured them...
AKG C12: Michael Jackson-"We Are The World", Jamiroquai-"Supersonic"
Electro-Voice RE20: Paul McCartney-"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey",
Radiohead-From The Basement
Neumann M49B: Norah Jones-"Don't Know Why"
Neumann M147: Gotye-"Somebody That I Used To Know"
Neumann U47: Michael Jackson-"Black Or White", Beyonce-"If I Were A Boy"
Neumann U67: Feist-"1234", The Beatles-"Hey Jude"
Neumann U87: John Lennon-"Imagine", Avril Lavigne-"Complicated",
"I'm With You", "Sk8ter Boi", Marvin Gaye-What's Going On
Neumann TLM 103: Simon LeBon (Duran Duran)-Astronaut
RØDE Classic: Adele-"Rolling in the Deep"
RØDE NT1-A: Amy Winehouse-"Valerie"
Shure Beta 58: Bono (U2)-No Line On The Horizon, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch
Nails)-The Downward Spiral
Shure SM7: John Mayer-"In Repair"
Telefunken ELA M 251: Jason Mraz-"I'm Yours", Deftones-"Diamond Eyes"
http://www.dpamicrophones.com/dscreet http://www.du.edu/lamont/audio http://www.dpamicrophones.com/dscreet
Recording - February 2015

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