Pro here working at a top-ten studio with over 200k in microphones. I use the U87 set Ai and even vintage U87 for roughly half of my vocal sessions. Its a bit of a Swiss Army mic. If you can't make a U87 work for your vocals, you have bigger problems than your mic. It is not over hyped in the highs or scooped in the low-mids. It's a fairly vanilla mic all things considered but with minimal preamp eq or DAW eq, you should be able to get a natural balanced tone out of most vocals and instruments. Proximity is the key determining factor when used commonly in cardioid.
Vintage 87s vary greatly from mic to mic, something to keep in mind. Some sound great, some can sound awful.
For seasoned engineers, it’s a predictable go-to. Like a 57. There are certainly better mics, but when you’re in the heat of battle, and decisions need to get made, it’s one of the first grabs because I know exactly what it’s capable of.
100%. I’ve used vintage 87’s, Ai’s, replicas…all blah and boring. If I absolutely had to use one it’d be fine but for being a legendary mic worth thousands, it’s always a letdown.
First: do you own original 70s ones? Because the later ones aren’t close to as good.
Second: part of what makes them great is that they ARE kind of neutral. Or flat.
They just work in literally anything and everything.
They’re occasionally the perfect thing (especially on some vocals. There are probably more 1970s vocals recorded on 87s than any other mic) but they always work.
I could happily make a record with nothing but a room full of 87s (and Ken Scott also often has, for example)
Top External Microphones on Reddit
1
Shure
SM58
79% positive of 373 users
Indestructible live workhorse; but muffled for studio vocals.
aasteveo
