here's an interesting experiment for all the techie guys out there reading. and actually, even if you aren't technically minded you might find this interesting. below i've posted two links. both are short clips of my wife, @superchicktrish singing. One mic is an $8,000 vintage Neumann u67 ran through a vintage Neve 8068 console mic pre and then compressed with a blue stripe 1176 - the blue stripe is thought by many people to be the best vocal compressor there is. chris lord alge, the top mix guy in the US, says he uses it on almost all lead vocals.
and for those who have no idea what i'm talking about, here are some pictures:
Neumann u67
Neve 8068 Concole
UA 1176 Blue Stripe
the other mic is a $200 rode NT2 run through a Vintech x81 (a modern copy of the Neve 1081) and an Empirical Labs Distressor (which claims to emulate classic compressors). and here's the accompanying pictures:
Rode NT2
Vintech x81
Empirical Labs Distressor
i've mixed them up and labelled one Mic A and the other Mic B. listen to both and post a comment with what you think is the expensive mic and which one is the cheap mic. to vote, just leave a comment telling which one you think is which.
14 comments:
Mic A is the cheap one.
Mic B sounds cleaner. The guitar is bleeding (only slightly) into Mic A. Both sound fantastic, just you can tell Mic B is the more expensive one.
I'm going with mic B as the expensive one. There's more life to it. Regardless, both sound great!
I think mic B is the expensive one, the sound is just a bit clearer
Mic b sounds expensive.
Mic A is the Neumann (expensive one). Mic B is the Rode (cheap one). The top end tells all...
Of course, I have been known to be wrong before....once... :)
Mic B!
-Wayne
Since i'm in radio and I know how the cheap stuff works...I'm going with B. Either way I like that sound way more.
Mic A is cleaner, but it sounds like it is cutting off and Mic B you can hear Tricia's breathing more. So in my not so expert opinion im going to say that Mic B is the cheap one. But i really have no clue, I just love how your blogs always teach me something!!
Nice blog! Keep forward.
great site, keep it up the good work.
The differences are extremely subtle, but I would say the expensive Mic is A. There is a warm undertone in it. But, I think both are highly passable as top notch recordings.
I'd say Mic A is the U67 & Mic B is the Rode... Mic B is obviously hyped up... sounds GREAT though on this singer! But put that same mic on a shrill singer without a soft pretty voice like the one you recorded & that treble will work against you.. I like more natural sounding microphones... too bad they tend to be the most expensive!
can't say because b is so much more compressed than a... so a sounds better (fuller) to me than b - which would make me think that a is the expensive chain, but if the expensive chain is overly compressed with the 1176, then it'll thin out and brighten as such... u67 through a neve is a dark combo (though the 1176 isn't quite dark, it's not as bright as an la-2a for example). so i would say that a is the expensive one, but i might be very well tricked into thinking otherwise due to the incredible amount of compression in b.
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