For All the U87 Haters

[Axelrod]

This audio was captured with my U87ai and my API A2D straight to disk. A touch of Sonnox EQ and compression on the mix side.

It's Robby Hecht, Elizabeth Foster and Julie Lee performing live in Robby's old house.

[peeweedrummer]

sounds gorgeous!

was all that recorded live with 1 mic in the room? what polar pattern was used?

i can never get my u87ai to sound that upfront with the mic so far away, and i can barely hear the room in it. is the room a fairly dead one?

[Chris Parsons]

Great job! U87 haters are obviously doing something wrong

[profi_sound1]

I love the sound , nice job

[Boba FET]

Great!

As always not the equipment... but the complaining nature of "blah... blah... blah..."

[Big_Bang]

Does sound great!!

got a question though, scratching my head here...

How does one compress side using a mono source?

[abechap024]

Maybe meant that compression and EQ was used on the MIX side of things, not during tracking...

[jozef]

Sounds great! I too wonder about the room, must have some treatment?

[Darc]

Yea great recording OP ! let's show them 87ai haters some love here is a recording I did for singer/songwriter Turner Cody from Brooklyn. It's a 87ai thru a Grace 201 > 1176 . Guitar captured with a Sennheiser MKH40. Processed with a lil Sonnox EQ and a tad CLA76 and LA3A thats it.

don't wanna highjack the thread but we could use it as a 87ai showroom lol, great mic btw yall ai haters

VIDEOLINK: ******//www.youtube.com/watch?v=irhhe2D69kw

[Boba FET]

His voice sounds very well in that U87ai...

[Earcatcher]

Originally Posted by Axelrod

This audio was captured with my U87ai and my API A2D straight to disk. A touch of Sonnox EQ and compression on the mix side.

It's Robby Hecht, Elizabeth Foster and Julie Lee performing live in Robby's old house.

Yikes! Some freqs cut into my ears painfully. Overloaded, crackly. I never felt much for the U87, but you almost make me hate it now. Why did you not upload a 720p version, as it will sound much better due to Youtube recompression settings? Or is the original not much better? Sorry, but this is my honest comment. Not meant to piss on you, but you challenged us with your title For All the U87 Haters so I feel allowed to be honest now.

[Axelrod]

Originally Posted by peeweedrummer

sounds gorgeous!

was all that recorded live with 1 mic in the room? what polar pattern was used?

i can never get my u87ai to sound that upfront with the mic so far away, and i can barely hear the room in it. is the room a fairly dead one?

thank you kind sir. yes, this is live. as it appears in the video. the video was edited but the audio was not. i believe my U87ai was in cardioid and im pretty sure the filter was engaged. the mic is pretty close and it took us about 6 takes to get a great performance and a great blend at the same time.

[Axelrod]

Originally Posted by Big_Bang

Does sound great!!

got a question though, scratching my head here...

How does one compress side using a mono source?

thank you big bang.

i compressed on the mix side of the recording process as opposed to compressing while recording. that is what i meant by the "mix side".

[Axelrod]

Originally Posted by Earcatcher

Yikes! Some freqs cut into my ears painfully. Overloaded, crackly. I never felt much for the U87, but you almost make me hate it now. Why did you not upload a 720p version, as it will sound much better due to Youtube recompression settings? Or is the original not much better? Sorry, but this is my honest comment. Not meant to piss on you, but you challenged us with your title For All the U87 Haters so I feel allowed to be honest now.

i had no control over the upload of this media. i too wonder why it was not uploaded at 720p.

[syra]

You can still hear the "87" resonances creeping through but it does sound balanced thanks to the distance. Any closer to the mic and this thread would have been titled "For All the U87 Lovers".

[The dman]

Nice song

[Branko]

Originally Posted by syra

You can still hear the "87" resonances creeping through but it does sound balanced thanks to the distance. Any closer to the mic and this thread would have been titled "For All the U87 Lovers".

Yea! Let's discuss how bad would this recording be if it wasn't done well, and blame the 87 for that...
Axelrod, great recording, good sounding room, great performance! The mic is just a tool. You knew how to use it.

p.s. what "87" resonances?

[Outlaw Hans]

Sounds great. Good job! End of Story. U87= good mic. For all the people with aching ears: Get a grip. Sound hurts. Such is life.

[Greg B]

The performance is great. Good job!
I can't say I love the mic here though. Kinda cold and a bit harsh in the upper mids... I owned the U87Ai for awhile and sold it last year cause it just wasn't my thing. I'm not a U87 hater. It's a good mic, but there are just others I generally prefer.

[NEWTON IN ORBIT]

Sounds pretty good. Sounds like an 87 for sure.

Not sure I like it on his voice, but it sounds good on the female vox.

Cool tune. Seems like a talented guy, and so do the ladies.

Just one question though, I listened to other clips on the youtube sidebar of Robby Hecht, had never heard of him...all of them are like one mic in a room like this.

Why?

Is the dude anti more than one mic or something? Some underground one mic protest indie folk thing?

You would think if whomever is tracking the thing could afford a Neumann, they could afford a couple other shure's or something to catch the other singers and the gtr?

I mean the clip you posted is cool, but why not mic it up better, if this is going up for the world to see?

Forgive me if I offend (not my intention), I am just curious why the one mic "home studio" type approach is used on almost every video?

Does he not care about getting a better sound?

Thanks,
john

[jcc449]

NOBODY hates U87ai if they cut their price to a more "reasonable" price.
Neumann switch U87 to Fet to reduce the cost of manufacture, let's face it. (Knock out all those XXXX excuses such as "they switch it to fet because it's more convenience....if i want convenience i would use iphone to record."). However it didn't reflect on the price much.
AKG C414 can cut their price down to US$ 999 for their FET.
Many people don't see why Neumann U87"ai" should be as expensive as US$3199? That's 3.2times higher! But is it also the cost of manufacture?
AKG ain't small company, they are legendary just like Neumann.


Lawson "TUBE" L47 is cost as low as $1999, and L251 is as low as $2495.
I would take these two mics anytime ahead of U87ai.

Another example, Brauner Microphones Phantom-V FET, US$ 2990
Manley Reference Cardioid "TUBE" Microphone US$ 2700.


This is why U87ai's haters start to hate. I would say most U87ai haters don't mind using U87ai so does the AVID HD haters. But only if they pay what they deserved.

[zakco]

Originally Posted by NEWTON IN ORBIT

Just one question though, I listened to other clips on the youtube sidebar of Robby Hecht, had never heard of him...all of them are like one mic in a room like this.

Why?

Is the dude anti more than one mic or something? Some underground one mic protest indie folk thing?

You would think if whomever is tracking the thing could afford a Neumann, they could afford a couple other shure's or something to catch the other singers and the gtr?

I think you're totally missing the point. I for one really like the honesty and immediacy of a single mic with a song like this. It's a very cool presentation if you ask me. I don't miss close micing of the other sources one bit. Refreshing really.

Great job Axelrod. Sure there might be better mics out there for the job, but this is a classic case of the song/performance outweighing Gearslutz geekery. You put it in a good spot and captured a great performance. Mission accomplished.

Robby has a great, classic sounding voice. His delivery reminds me of a young James Taylor at times.

[AcoosticZoo]

Freaking beautfiul song and performance!

I love how they "mixed" themselves into the mic. Very enjoyable to watch a listen.

Which recording studio was this?

Regards
Josef Horhay
Mixing Engineer
www.acoosticzoo.com

[dualflip]

Originally Posted by Darc

Yea great recording OP ! let's show them 87ai haters some love here is a recording I did for singer/songwriter Turner Cody from Brooklyn. It's a 87ai thru a Grace 201 > 1176 . Guitar captured with a Sennheiser MKH40. Processed with a lil Sonnox EQ and a tad CLA76 and LA3A thats it.

don't wanna highjack the thread but we could use it as a 87ai showroom lol, great mic btw yall ai haters

VIDEOLINK: Turner Cody - Don´t refuse me my darling - YouTube

Whats that V72 doing in the box next to him?

[Axelrod]

i love how they mixed themselves too. it was the large attic in robby's old house in east nashville, not a recording studio.

Originally Posted by AcoosticZoo

Freaking beautfiul song and performance!

I love how they "mixed" themselves into the mic. Very enjoyable to watch a listen.

Which recording studio was this?

Regards
Josef Horhay
Mixing Engineer
www.acoosticzoo.com

[Axelrod]

Originally Posted by zakco

I think you're totally missing the point. I for one really like the honesty and immediacy of a single mic with a song like this. It's a very cool presentation if you ask me. I don't miss close micing of the other sources one bit. Refreshing really.

Great job Axelrod. Sure there might be better mics out there for the job, but this is a classic case of the song/performance outweighing Gearslutz geekery. You put it in a good spot and captured a great performance. Mission accomplished.

Robby has a great, classic sounding voice. His delivery reminds me of a young James Taylor at times.

thanks for saying, zakco. im very flattered. robby is one bad mother****er! and elizabeth and julie are amazing as well. julie has an album coming out soon that is sure to be stellar.

[Big_Bang]

Originally Posted by Axelrod

thank you big bang.

i compressed on the mix side of the recording process as opposed to compressing while recording. that is what i meant by the "mix side".

I read "mid side" !!!

[crosscutred]

I like it alot.

Refreshing.

[DarkSky Media]

Originally Posted by jcc449

Neumann switch U87 to Fet to reduce the cost of manufacture, let's face it. (Knock out all those XXXX excuses such as "they switch it to fet because it's more convenience....if i want convenience i would use iphone to record."). However it didn't reflect on the price much...

Say, what?

Neumann did not "switch the U87 to FET". The U87 has always been a tripolar FET condenser mic, since the day it was first introduced in 1967.

[jcc449]

Originally Posted by DarkSky Media

Say, what?

Neumann did not "switch the U87 to FET". The U87 has always been a tripolar FET condenser mic, since the day it was first introduced in 1967.

u misunderstood me.
I mean switch u87's design to Fet from u67's.
Neumann couldnt convinced us why they give up the tube circuit that used by U67 and switch it to a new Fet circuit with AA battery slots for U87 vintage.