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KEL HM-7U, Song Sparrow, and HM-2D...anyone used them?
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Old 25th December 2012   #1
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KEL HM-7U, Song Sparrow, and HM-2D...anyone used them?
I'm trying to decide between an HM-7U, Song Sparrow, and HM-2D for male vocals.

I've been listening to KEL clips on both the KEL website and Zen Pro Audio's Clipalator. To me, they sound totally different on both sites and I'm trying to determine which is more representative of real character (different singers and of course I'm assuming the chains are different, probably owing to different sounds of the clips). If you've used one of the 3 below, could you elaborate a little on your experience with it/them?

What I hear:
Clipalator: Song Sparrow (my favorite clip of the KELs on male vox) sounds smooth and airy yet has a great and big bottom end.
KEL website clips: Song Sparrow seems to lack bottom end compared to the 7 and 2.

Clipalator: HM-7U sounds nice, not too much high end hype, but almost too in-your-face and doesn't seem to have a robust bottom end. Very present.
KEL website clips: HM-7U (my favorite clip of the KELs on male vox) seems less in-your-face and has a noticeably solid low end.

Clipalator: HM-2D sounds big and has a robust and controlled low end with less highs.
KEL website clips: HM-2D sounds somewhat similar in detail to the Clipalator clip.

I have a similar tone to the male vocalist in the Clipalator clips and agree with comments I've read about the KEL male vox clips not being great samples for representing a mic, just wondering to what degree and which clips are truer in character.
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Old 26th December 2012   #2
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The differences in the low end are due to proximity effect. The distance to the mic makes a big difference on male vox.

The HM-7u is a really good u47 type capsule on a clean, transformer-less head amp. For male vox, it's always one to try.



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Old 26th December 2012   #3
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I've owned all three mics, and based on your evaluation of the various clips, I'd recommend going with the Kel site clips...your description of those sound files seems more accurate...IMO, the HM-7U is the best choice for most male vocals...

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Old 27th December 2012   #4
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Kel is offering a buy a hm7u get a hm3c, both those for $399! cant beat that, just got mine in!
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Old 27th December 2012   #5
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I have an HM-2D and I can say that it's dark. It sounds great on baritone or bassy type vocals. I can confirm that it sounds allot like a EV RE20. But it's a bit more airy since it is a condenser. I use it mostly on bass cabs.
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Old 27th December 2012   #6
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Another vote for the hm7u.

Sounds great on a tenor or a kick drum. There's a thread round here with someone using hm7u on a kit with good success.
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Old 27th December 2012   #7
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Yet another vote for Hm-7u.

I am getting ready to record a singer-songwriter who plays live so I practiced a bit with my own Hm-7u.

Me singing and playing random crap, Kel is approx 14-16 inches away and tilted slightly upward:

Mono recording: Kel Hm7u > tube preamp > tube compressor > 1/4 tape deck > Soundcraft Delta 200 board with LXP-1 and Yamaha E1005 Delay> Lynx Aurora to mp3.

Yes there are plenty of lip smacking and mouth sounds....geez you hardly notice something like that until playback.

Cheers,

A
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File Type: mp3 Kel Hm7u-tube pre-tube comp-tape-mono.mp3 (1.20 MB, 81 views)
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Old 27th December 2012   #8
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+1 on hm7u.
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Old 28th December 2012   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron W View Post
Yes there are plenty of lip smacking and mouth sounds....
Take a sip of any hard liquor before singing (I like Scotch), works wonders! If you don't wanna drink, you can eat a green apple!
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Old 29th December 2012   #10
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I am going to order the HM-7u and the 2D and use it with a UA LA-610 hopefully for a vintage vibe for old country and 50's rock sounding original material. Thanks for the info on your thread. I guess I will need to get some scotch too!!
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