Vocal Mic Comparison: Shure SM7b, Neumann U87, Rode NTK

[Skinny Viking]

I can only give you examples from artists I've worked with where we weren't too thrilled with how the raw vocals were captured. Two good cases in point are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcXPLeubcPo

and



It works if there's a gravelly edge to the vocals, otherwise you tend to get this bizarre mid-junk that doesn't work too much for cleaner singers.

I agree with RevoltStudios regarding the full mix perspective.

Interesting. Thanks for the insight. My vocalist in particular has been tracked exclusively (on our last album) with a U87 and I do love the sound of it and how he sounds because of it but wasn't entirely sure how much was just the mic and how much the rest of the signal chain. He's of the Russel Allen type vocal, gritty with a lot of chesty resonance so I imagine he could probably work an SM7 quite well but I never had to mix his vocals after using one ... all I know is he vocals just dropped right into place with minimal fuss with the U87

Thanks again ... guess I still have some things to look into

 

[Melb_shredder]

If you do one with solely clean singing and seat it within a mix you should find that the condensers gain a bit of an advantage. The SM7 works very, very poorly with certain clean singer voices. The U87 I've found to sound great on just about anything short of voices that sound very shrill and sibilant.

Gonna have to +1 this.. As an avid SM7b lover... I've had a few female vocalists come through that sounded horrid through the SM7b only to do stuff down the track through an 87 and it's definitely a noticeable difference

 

[Line666]

Is it any better than LDCs with the shrill singers? Because I've had some singers that just stick out through the mix like a sore thumb with them.

 

[RevoltStudios]

Is it any better than LDCs with the shrill singers? Because I've had some singers that just stick out through the mix like a sore thumb with them.

I picked up a TLM102 for the shrill singers and have had no problems since with the 5+ singers I've used with it. That mic is gold for em, and screamers actually!

 

[Melodeath]

Challenge accepted I will do a comparison with both vocal tracks in the mix, as soon as I'm done with mixing the band. I'm excited to know if there really are audible differences in the end.

@Ermz, I totally agree that the U87 might be the better mic for clean vocals, but for screaming and rap vocals the SM7b is very close in my opinion. And as I already pointed out, some vocalists (mostly shouters) feel way more comfortable when they can hold the mic in their hand just like on stage, which results in a better performance. And this is way more important as small differences the sound I think.

Do people really hold an SM7b in their hand while singing?

 

[ecz]

Do people really hold an SM7b in their hand while singing?

Why not? It's a dynamic mic.

edit: here's an example (whitechapel studio vocals):

and another example I produced myself (I know it's not the best mix ever, I did this over 1 1/2 years ago):

 

[nialldoran]

i did a shootout on a session this week for a singer, his growls were really similar to nick holmes form paradise lost circa gothic, used an sm7b, a wunder audio CM7 (tube 47 clone, as its the studios go to vocal mic) and an old sennheiser 441 (as we had used it for the guide tracks and it sounded good) and in the end the 441 beat both the 47 clone and sm7b but the differance between the sm7 and 441 were so minimal that if i didnt have a choice i wouldn't have minded but the 441 had a better sounding presence

really cool shootout by the way really close between the 87 and the sm7

 

[greyskull]

If you guys want a smoother mic, check out the SE T2.

thank me later.

 

[ecz]

Sorry for necrobumping but I finally had time to implement these files in the finished mix (not mastered) with all the processing just like RevoltStudios suggested.
I think it's pretty audible which one is the Rode NTK, but can someone really point out which one is the SM7b and u87?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16585626/vocal mic comparison full mix.mp3

 

[Fox Mulder]

1. Rode
2. SM7b
3. U87

?

 

[ecz]

Nobody else interested in this?

 

[Rhorschack]

Rode first. Not so sure for the other mics.