Microphone Shootout, Condensers

[stevedrummer711]

by the way.........TROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!

[stevedrummer711]

i'm listening to trans siberian orchestra right now........yah way better

[eatsleephockey94]

I hate these videos, we watched all of them in my music studio class today for and hour and a half..... TROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[allenpamscofield]

AKG wins.

[madehumble]

My choices are in this order:

1.AKG

2.SATURN

3.JJ LABS

4.U87ai

5. Rode

[sebaslap]

There's no correct answer, depends on singer, song and taste.

My choice: 414 then saturn.

[syzygywell]

I think the AKG really stood out. I'm interested in the saturn and I think its a beautiful mic. I liked the presence on the mic but it was the only mic here I thought maybe the levels weren't totally right for the recording. excellent though really appreciate this shoot out.

[natea792]

Great shootout BTW, like the song too! If I had to build a mic locker with a couple of these I'd probably take the Rode, Neumann and AKG. I think the Rode and Neumann emphasize the opposite ends of the mid frequencies, and the AKG seems to take the middle ground. Of course with uncompressed files it might change my opinion, but who listens to uncompressed formats anymore lol

[natea792]

My impressions:

Neumann: A bit more mud and a little less air than I would have liked on female vox

Rode: Significantly less body than the Neumann, but I liked it for the lower parts. Definitely a different sound than the rest, most likely hit or miss depending on the voice, seems to make the voice a lot airier without being too harsh (sounds a bit scooped in the low mids?)

Saturn: A little bit too forward in the high end for my liking

BNC2: A bit too congested?

AKG: like it, good balance

[skippidido]

I was going to leave my own comments but I'm just going to agree with Dzoni73,spot on.

[bluepingu345]

87 or 414 easily :)

[MangoChunks]

414 for sure

[MastersfortheMaster]

I have a hard time deciding between the U87 and the Saturn, the saturn gives a nice glassy quality to the voice, but it doesn't get brittle like the rest of the mics. The U87 has a more natural tone and a little more clarity, but doesn't have the 'sheen' of the saturn. Both are brilliant mics, and a great performance as well.

[Rishikeshresonant]

NEUMANN IS BALANCED AND PLEASENT THE REST ARE BRIGHT AND SHITE

[virgogreg]

Saturn

[songbirdd68]

Played this through my studio reference system with vintage KEF monitors. This is the best quality mic shootout series I ever heard. Also shows what great results you can get with the various mics once you have an excellent signal chain. (Love that Neve 1073 pre) Love the Neumann U87 & Royer 121 but also blown away by the sound of the cheap JJLabs BNC mic for the price. Amazing. Well done guys.

[MastersfortheMaster]

@songbirdd68 I second the BNC, really surprising, and almost an nt2 replacement.

[OxleyMusic]

Just watched all the shootouts... dynamic, condenser, tube and ribbon.

The Saturn was the best for this performer... I have to say the 57 really held up and second to the Saturn was the RE20. Thanks for posting! God Bless

[goransonic]

Is this U87ai with PAD engaged?

[Dzoni73]

u87ai - its alright, bit muddy and lifeless

nt2a - harsh (bright) and tiny ("plastic") sounding

saturn - harsh and too bright for her voice

bnc2 - very similar to nt2

akg 414 - the winner - sounds very dynamic makes her voice sound like shes signing next to me in room

manley tube mic and akg are best on her voice. great mics...

[VoyageOne1]

I'd have to say Neumann U87 by a long shot.

It's little to no wonder why the 87 has been the vocal mic standard for four decades.

[Fichtezxc]

The saturn sounded a little too crisp for female vocals. To be fair, we're listening on youtube though. The nt2 also disappointed me but that's probably because I heard it after the Neumann! The BNC2 sounded great for the price, no real character to my ears but a great value. That AKG though...something else.

[moriscengic]

AKG has the mojo !!!! 

[MidouBanChan]

the akg is just a winner, the singer is amazing..

[PVCLime]

Gotta buy me a Sontronics Saturn.

A shame it has such a bad shape/design for me to sing in, but it is good looking though. Tack för att ni gjort detta! =)

[lilmrdr]

AKG sounded great here. The rode and sontronics sounded a little too bright.

[bobforte]

u87ai and the saturn in my opinion

nice voice

[ghaibboy]

i saw the three of the video shootout..

and played it again and again

i think this lady need AKG12VR hehe..

anyways the most mic that fit to her is Sontronics Saturn

thanks a lot for doing this shootout guys, appreciated :)

[YoungStarLove]

AKG SOUNDED FULL /PURE & WARM,..SO DID THE U87

THE RODE DIDNT SOUND THE BAD BUT HER RANGE FOR THE MIC IS TO STRONG FOR THEM.

[ivyannerly]

I liked the 414 personally. It gave her voice a lot of presence. I felt that the cheaper mics did not handle the dynamics of her voice well. 2nd for me would be the sontronics. It was very smooth sounding.

[MrWhitey0187]

This is the best thing about this industry, people put in so much effort just to help out others! Not at all common in other industries .love your work ! no doubt u 87 ai any day ! sontronics could be a very useful mic to have around too :)

[stevecor1]

Never mind...I just saw her name in the end credits. She reminds me a little of Agnetha Faltskog. Gotta google her to see if she has released any recordings :)

[stevecor1]

What is this girl's name? Beautiful voice! She makes all those microphones sound good!

[Parkinson9999]

I see you have posted a few such videocomparisons - thanks, you've done a great job. The most intersting thing about this video is the correlation between microphone price and sound quality. In fact, the absence of it. No, Neumann doesn't sound 25,5 times better than JJLabs, at least on vocals (that's the price ratio).

[ArtsLaureate]

Thank you for sharing. As a remote recordist, I'm not generally a fan of the Neumann u87, but it is the winner for me on your voice here. All the other mics accentuated the 6-12k area (sibilants and air) too much for my taste. AKG 414 was 2nd in line.

[michelbolsen]

Really nice voice she has. A "little" bit to expensive signalchain for me... =)