Neumann - U 47

My main is a vintage u47. Secondary is a blue bottle or wunder Fet47. I can’t say I have any sleeper unknown vocal mics.

I finally pulled the trigger on a vintage U47 telling my wife exactly that, this’ll be the last one because there’s nowhere to go from here… until the guy I bought it from is also selling a vintage C12, FML

Fortunately, I’m in a position where I get to tell the artist which vocal mic we’re using. I work some high caliber artists that trust me to get the sound they want, so 99% of them have no opinion on what mic we use for anything (although I did have one huge artists tell me recently she wanted to sing into an SM7 over my U47). For vocals, it’s U47, c12, u67, m49, Sony c-800, or an SM7 (which of course I got the OG 1970’s one).

My U47 sounds great on probably 50 of singers. Works particularly well on low voices and people Who don’t sing loud. Any high SPL and it falls apart. The UM70 however works on everyone. We have four of them because they’re so useful.

I got an old 67 and a really old 47 and I love them. BUT, I wouldn't use them for audiobooks. They're both too, big sounding. For big up front vocals or announcer style commercial spots they are the best. U87 all day for audiobooks.

Truth? It’s often a grey area until you get to compare a neumann u47 with any other mike. As far as affordablr mikes go, yeah there’s a noticable difference between a decent and a ‘good’ mike. Not just for audio nerds. It pays to invest in good mikes.

Yeah. I’ve done a lot of studio work and they are almost never used. 414s are way more popular. FET47 is the real go to for that kind of mic. When you have access to KM86s, 54s, U47s, etc. the 87 doesn’t leave the drawer very often.

totally depends on the singers voice. U47 / U67 / 251 / C800G / M49 if you can get 2 or 3 to do a quick shootout you should. take 5 min before you start, move the ones out of the way after you decide. have the assistant break them down when there's a small break (not before you start tracking)...the singer will appreciate the extra effort you show and probably feel more confident with you running the show for the rest of the session.

Hard to narrow down, but here’s 5+ mics I like more: Voiceover: TLM49 or TLM103 depending on the voice ADR: Schoeps CMIT 5U, MKH416, Cos11d Music (vocals): C12 (or any of the C12-inspired mics), SM7b, U47 tube or fet, and then completely out of my price range but of course a great mic is the Sony C800G

If it’s a commercial for rent studio, the minimum I’m looking for is: A U-47 or high end tube mic inspired by the 47, A pair of U-87’s, a pair of 414’s, a few KM-184/C-451 small diaphragm condensers, 4 MD-421’s, a few flavors of kick drum mics, at least one pair of nice ribbon mics, a half dozen each of 57’s/58’s.

The best microphone for a vocalist is completely dependent on the person's voice. If somebody's voice has a lot of muddy low end sometimes that cheap Chinese condenser actually is better than the U47. Sometimes not. But you have to throw up a bunch and test them to know what works best. I know without a doubt that a U87 is perfect for my voice. Don't know why - just cuts through just the right way. There are some singers who I will use an SM7 on until I die because there is literally no mic better for them. Do shootouts, rent some mics for a day if you can.