When looking for a new microphone, you can spend countless hours or even days on blogs, review sites, reading articles and watching demo videos.
The variety of microphones available is just as vast as the number of opinions on each of them.
How do you find the one microphone that really suits your needs and allows you to capture the high quality recordings that are looking for? Should you pick up classic industry standards like the U68, U87, U47 or the Telefunken 251? Or maybe consider purchasing a modern clone of these microphones? How do these modern clones compare to the original classics? What about new condenser microphones that are not trying to emulate anything and have their own modern character?
With this video, I want to help you to make an educated decision and choose perfect mic for you! Vintage King was kind enough to let us use their showroom to test out a wide variety of large diaphragm condenser microphones: We test over 20 microphones, ranging from $500- $10000, discuss their frequency response and unique characteristics. But most importantly, we’ll give you insights on possible uses for each of these mics and discuss the main points to consider when choosing a microphone.
Check out the list which include only a few of the microphones we look at in the video!
The FLEA 47 is designed to be a superb replica of the U47. It is equipped with an F7 capsule – our replica of the M7 capsule – our replica of BV8 transformer and Telefunken EF12 tube. Of course, the price depends on the type of tube. Those of you who have knowledge of prices know that the price of a good VF14 tube can reach 1,500€, so it is obvious that this mic is not a cheap thing. But this mic is possible to use for almost everything and always sounds great! The body is duraluminium and is nickel plated. The grille is available in two versions: glossy chrome or matte nickel. The whole set includes the mic in wooden box, cable, shock mount and power supply. You can choose from two PSUs, modern or vintage-style (modern PSU is standard, vintage-style by request).
The vintage 251 is THE vocal sound people ask for, but the original (vintage) versions are 50+ years old and sound very different from one another. Repairing, rebuilding and “nursing” original 251’s along has been David Bock’s work spanning over 30 years. The risk for a modern studio or end user to depend on a vintage mic on a daily basis is increasingly problematic.
The Bock 251 is David Bock’s answer to the vintage mic dilemma of getting “that sound” without the headaches. It is a premier lead microphone for premier voices. It is built to last and provide the studio and user with many years of daily, high end performance.
The Pearlman TM 1 Microphone was designed by and is hand made by Dave Pearlman of Rotund Rascal Recording Studio. It is a high quality microphone made for professional studio use but priced for the home recordist. Many studios using digital recording, (Pro Tools, etc.), need a front end system to warm up their recordings. This mic is for you!
A large diaphragm, 6 micron, gold sputtered capsule sends the incoming signal to a New Old Stock tube (electrically identical, except for the heater voltage, to the very expensive Telefunken VF14 used in the famous Neumann U47) to the hand-wired circuit which includes selected WIMA polypropylene coupling capacitors to a state of the art output transformer custom designed (to match the European Tube output impedance) by either the wonderful folks at CINEMAG Transformers in Los Angeles or by the Tamura Transformer Company.
Wunder Audio CM7 Suprema Microphone
The new Wunder Audio CM7 Suprema microphone is one step above the already legendary CM7 model. The standout qualities of the new CM7 Suprema passive electronics are their extraordinarily direct low-end responsiveness and wide high-end plateau. Combine this with an audiophile PSU and you’ll hear both the best qualities of a modern microphone and the legendary sound of a vintage microphone. The CM7 S is exceptional as a vocal mic as well a it being an excellent choice for drums, acoustic guitars and piano. The CM7 S is a serious pro-studio workhorse because it has a very nice top and bottom, and brings out a natural sound from any source.
Watch the video below to learn more about Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphones!
