U 47 fet i

If cost isn’t an issue the Neumann U87ai is industry standard for voice work. Neumann also reissued their U 47 FET microphone which is relatively clean and handles big/deep voices very well. I’m a also a big fan of Brauner mics for a cleaner more neutral sound and the Myburgh M1 for a richer “Neumann” flavor. Your technique, vocal delivery, and the sound of your room are as important as the mic. I’d reach out to a reputable dealer where you can try two or three different high-end mics in your space to compare.

87s already very hard to get right. i despise the 87uis, and never heard an 87 i liked to record with til i got to use a real vintage one. even then i preferred a 67 or 47. I think moreso the 87 is the outlier here because the wa251 is amazing too. dont expect it to be a full 251 sound but if u supplement it itb you can achieve the same sound. which is the purpose of WA mics. get you as close as you can in your budget then supplement from there. also for the youngsters i think its a great way to familiarize yourself with “mic sounds” on a budget. Need to go in knowing its not the real thing but very few get to work with a c800g, vintage 47, or anything above 10k without having great working knowledge.

There’s no magic mic out there that’ll solve it, a U67 or even U47 might get you a bit closer - I guess you’ve tried with your mics plugged directly into your soundcard so you can hear how your voice sounds with no additional processing? If it does still sound toppy then maybe some post EQ processing or even something like Soothe 2 to (very) gently tamp the sibilance down is what’s needed. If the mic plugged in vanilla isn’t boosting your HF then you know it’s some combination of the 1073/CL1B and might be saturation or something in those units that’s accentuating the highs - could you try rolling off a little HF on the 1073? Are you using any form of pop filter? The Hakan pop filters are quite good at being transparent but helping to mitigate issues.

A 47 or 67 has clarity, but the tube smooths it out. I agree that more could possibly be done with mic placement. I also wonder how the CL1B is set because that also smooths highs. Sibilance can be affected by performance, so perhaps an adjustment can be made there as well. The type of pop filter and its distance can make a difference, too.

Those are great for shows/touring. But for vocals, you definitely want a condenser. I used the MXL for years, and then I got a VERY good deal on Amazon on a Neumann.

It matters massively and you’ll see that with experience your ears will learn to recognise the difference. It doesn’t matter how much you process a 57, it won’t compare to a Neumann, no matter what you do to it. It might sound cool in a different way, but you won’t get the high fidelity of a top notch condenser, if that’s the sound you’re going for. Think about this: If you go for an “expensive” vocal sound and have a U 87 and maybe a nice compressor, you won’t need to process it much, maybe a bit of eq and some reverb / delay. In that case you’d be MIXing. If you have a 57, you’ll have to use a ton of processing to make it sound more “expensive”. You’ll have to use multiple compressors, color eqs, cut resonances, etc. in that case you would be FIXing. Makes sense?