Has anyone used the Beyer M88 (or TG) for "ssudio" vocal tracks?

[Greg Heimbecker]

I just used one a couple weeks ago for a hardcore vocalist doing screaming tracks for mostly choruses on a bunch of tunes. I didn't try a lot of options as they were local kids without much dough. I wound up going M88-Mp2NV-Voxbox-LA4-Massivo, It definitely took 2 compressors to get the voice to behave in the track. I suspect the pre in the Voxbox would have been just fine but I wanted to play with the NV to get to know it a bit better. The 88 sounded good in this application and took to heavy massaging pretty well winding up with a nice combo of girth, snarl & bile. It had a much more solid low end than a 58 in the same application. Handling noise was kind of a pain in the arse though...

Now back to orchestral work...

[Gone Fission]

M-88 is a vastly underappreciated mic, useable on most things, great on some. It's almost like it's the mic you wish a 58 could be. If you can only have two mics, that and a decent small diaphragm condensor can get you through most situations on the cheap.

Bear

[chessparov]

It's also a fine microphone to use with melodic singers (like me) who want
to sing hard rock style songs without blowing their voices out.
I also have a Beyer Soundstar MKII that is smooth and mellow sounding,
excellent on ballads.
In addition, the Beyer Soundstar that looks like the Sennheiser 421 is on
the way from Germany, and should arrive within a week.
All that's "missing" now is a nice Beyer ribbon than I'll have all the
Beyer necessities!

Chris

[Drumsound]

I use the M88 (the all black one) for a lot of things.

I did a whole record where I used as the vocal mic. The singer had a very high voice(think Boston or Head East). All the condensers were very sibilant and peak-y. the M88 was smooth and sounded great. I think I used an ARE MPA and an LA4. I thought I was going o put it up tonight when I wasn't digging the U87. I put up a PL20 and it's doing it for me, at the moment. The singer's not too good so I may keep searching...

[Remoteness]

It's good mic for vocals, but I use it mostly on kick, toms, and sometimes horns... Very useful mic. I own and use the original ones, not the "TG" version.

I wasn't as happy with the results on the stuff I use it for. It seems like the TG sounds better on vocals.

[Gone Fission]

Chris, unless you already have the M-201, keep hunting. I dare say it's a better snare mic than the '57, and good to useable on a ton else as well.

And if I hadn't had a $1,200 car repair last week, I would have sniped your ass on that Soundstar, so count your blessings.

Bear

[chessparov]

A nice Beyer M-101 (omni dynamic) sold for under $60 recently on e-bay.
Thanks for the replies!

Chris

P.S. Knew enough to appreciate scoring the "other" 421 type Soundstar BTW.

[monkeyxx]

interesting that you noticed the "ballsy/compressed" effect. I have an M88TG that does the same thing, it kind of makes a bulgy attack on certain vocal notes. I was wondering if this was a defect in the mic or just part of its character, or some other part of my signal chain

I find this mic really suits my voice for lead vocals on mellower, sparser acoustic songs. it's got a big full sound that's kind of mellow on top. in a dense mix I'd prefer my SM7 or 4047, but I still might use the M88 for backing vocals/harmonies

I use it with my universal audio preamps (solo 110 and 610) and it sounds really good with both

since we're on the topic of this mic, I've read around here that you can damage it by using it on kick drum. anyone have experience with that? what would you notice happening to the sound of the mic if it were damaged? is the TG model any better at taking this abuse than the older models?

[EV676]

I've been a Beyer M-88 fan since the mid 80's when a friend at a local sound company turned me on to them. I would agree that they are every thing an SM 58 should be. The Beyer is a good vocal and voice-over microphone, and is one of the go to mics for kick. I've heard a tale though that once you use one for kick, it probably should remain a kick mic. I had one hung onto the back of an Lectrosonics "butt pack" wireless transmitter this past football season for my sidelines guy and it sounded great.

If Beyer had better marketing and they didn't cost more than twice what an SM 58 costs they'd be more widely used. It's one fine dynamic microphone.

[chessparov]

Well since some time has passed (6 years!)...

I ended u[p selling the M88TG later on because, at that time, was having more of an issue with sibilance-at least for this very fussy vocalist.

Harvey Gerst "inherited" one of my two Soundstars, via someone else who bought one from me. Glad to know it gets used a bunch over at his studio for scratch vocals. My understanding is that it gets picked over the more conventional
vocal mics many times.

The M88 seems to have gone up about 2X in price since this thread was originally posted BTW.

Oddly enough, the AKG D790 sold by Guitar Center(!), is somewhat of a "poor man's M88', with strong lower tones and good high frequency extension.
At least on vocals anyway.

Chris

Sorry, I can't be definitive like others regarding kick drum, however, IIRC on the Beyer company website they discuss this.

[papawhitehead]

Kevin Barnes from 'of Montreal' uses a M88 for most of his vocal tracks. Actually, he told me he uses it on 'damn near everything'. thumbsup