High end mic and pre-amp for urban/rap vox

S

S-Kay

New member
Hi guys,

Im looking to purchase a new mic and pre-amp for my studio.

They will primarilly be used for Rap/R&B and top 40 sounding rap vocals.

My max budget is £4000 so roughly $6350. At the moment im thinking about a Neumann u87 with a Neve 1073 pre amp. Anyone have any thoughts or reccomendations on this?

Thanks!

EDIT: Also looking at a Avalon 737sp for the pre maybe? Any help would be much appreciated :)
 
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I would go with the 737 because it stacks well... The 1073 doesn't stack as clean... R&B vocals especially use a lot of stacking on the harmonies.
 
I find how something stacks has more to do with the mic than the preamp. Either pre will get you solid results. An 87 is generally good all around - I find 87s are better on single lines rather than stacks - unless you want a super super thick sound. On that budget you may want to consider a 67 - or perhaps a couple of mics at a slightly cheaper price point.

I'd consider a Gefell 92.1s - very "pretty" sounding, and a C414EB/C414ULS - a more "rugged" sound. Then throw anything else at making sure your room is responding the way you want.
 
1073 or 84 would be my choice for preamp.

The U87 is a "safe choice." It will work well on everything. Will it kick ass on any one thing? Probably not. But it is solid and versatile and will always sound very good. Since we are ONLY talking about rap and r&b, I would be hard pressed not to look into the JJ Audio Akita. I was floored at how well it impersonates the Sony mic. If I still did lots of tracking, it would definitely be on my short list, but I rarely track these days; just mix. Will it sound good on everything? no. It's more of a one trick pony (that pony being rap & r&b and some pop vocals). It will suck on lots of other stuff. But it sounds like you only need to ride one pony - and you'd have plenty of cash left for a nice compressor.

Personally, I would skip the Avalon. They are popular in rap circles because they sparkle (visually, I mean). They are good pres, but they are really clean and boring. As a mix engineer I rarely find myself saying "this vocal has too much mojo". But I do find myself cursing and spitting on a regular basis saying "this god damn vocal is too ****ing clean!"
 
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