http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Professional/webapp/ModelPrint?id=24120

Spending some time with the Sony C800GPAC Tube Mic PAC [ includes power supply ]. Here's an overview of the kit.

i love the sound of the c-800g. i've been able to use it 5 times and it sound awesome imo. to bad its about $5500. i would buy one, until then i'll stick with my K2

Sting's vocal mic. Drooooollllll. Always loved the sound of his vocals. Would love to have one of these but the price tag is out of reach right now.

Ya know, FWIW, according to an interview with Performing Songwriter Mag, Richard Marx sold his C800 he used for years on everyone but himself and now uses nothing but the AT 4060. For vocals at least.

He said it was a great mic when it was right, but that he'd run into a number of singers over the years (including himself) that it didn't sound good on...he's since switched to the 4060 for everything he produces, and says he has yet to meet a voice that it didn't sound good on.

I'm tempted to pick up his new record just to hear it compared with whatever he used to use...

Also, FWIW, he uses the Avalon 737 as vocal pre. Neve clones for everything else.

Speaking of the C800...Joss Stone. I've commented about her voice being to high endy and clean for the vintage vibe of the on the first record, but just right on this one...C800 on both. So, I'm dying to know what they did differently after that. The new one is pure vintage fuzzy goodness. The first one sounds like a clean, crisp modern R&B/hip hop vocal.

Be interested to hear what you think, Dan.

pop i feel the same way about my u87. i thought it was a the best mic to use, so i got one. i always heard hiphop/R&B records recorded with avalon/u87 or something like that combo.

the u87 is an awesome mic but every artist that did a song on my u87 likes the way their voices and overall production sounds through the K2 over the U87.
the K2 is my new workhorse. now its time for a 737sp or isa220 to really see how this k2 sounds, though the tampa is holding the fort down right now...

Are you sure Richard didn't sell the C-800 because he hasn't had a hit for 15 years?

It doesn't sound like he knows much about mics if he only needs 1 at a time.

-Dusty

quote:

---

Originally posted by dusty:
Are you sure Richard didn't sell the C-800 because he hasn't had a hit for 15 years?

---

LMAO

Richard who?

I'd love to have a C800. Also wouldn't mind having a U47, couple of DPA's, pair of Gefell 930's, pair of Josephson's, AT 4060, etc. No one mic is going to work in every situation or on every voice. The world isn't monochromatic and having a locker full of diffrent colored mics is one way to ensure your music won't be either.

Let me know when you make a better recording than Dick...OK? Then we'll all giggle about how he doesn't know about mics.

You're off in engineer nerd land.

There is no time to pick the best mic for every job. You pick the mic by what's most likely to work in the most scenarios and make music.

Particularly at the level of the game that most people here are at or below.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Popmann:
You're off in engineer nerd land.

---

Not as much as I'd like to be.

quote:

---

There is no time to pick the best mic for every job. You pick the mic by what's most likely to work in the most scenarios and make music.

---

That is indeed sometimes true. Sometimes, it's not. The only way to know is to take the time necessary to determne "what's most likely to work in the most scenarios." Knowing your gear and what it's capable of in a variety of situations goes a long way in helping to minimize the guess work. Whether that's being a "nerd" or not doesn't concern me a great deal. Much as I love my Brauner, it simply doesn't work on everyone's voice. It does work in a great number of scenarios, but what about the ones where it doesn't? Where would I be if that were my only vocal mic?

If I were simply recording myself, I probably wouldn't sweat it too much. However, when someone pays me to record them, I HAVE to sweat it. Will the end result sound like it came out of a million dollar room? Of course not, but I still owe it to the artist to do the absolute best I possibly can. It's true that we tend to over analyze this stuff sometimes, but I also think it's important to have a solid understanding of one's tools. I'm not quite where I'd like to be in that regard, but every new session brings me closer.

As always, it's a mileage and context thing. The point (or at least my point) being that for those of us recording more than a couple of tracks/instruments at a time - not to mention a wide variety of people and instruments - having just one or two mics don't cut it.

Brauner isn't a classic. While it may be a nice, expensive mic, that does miss the point. Classics become classics because of their flexibility. Not because they're the awsome most perfect solution in a given scenario.

Put a U87 up--the vocal sound will not suck. Are there better choices for a given vocalist? Probably. How many you gonna try?

I just don't agree with this idea that "I'd rather have 20 cheap different sounding mics than a couple well rounded better ones". But, that's OK to disagree. Everyone can take their own approach, and we can let the proof be in the pudding.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Popmann:

I just don't agree with this idea that "I'd rather have 20 cheap different sounding mics than a couple well rounded better ones"..

---

That's not at *all* what I read Skeetch's comments to imply.

I just think he meant that this comment doesn't speak for everyone:

quote:

---

There is no time to pick the best mic for every job. You pick the mic by what's most likely to work in the most scenarios and make music.

---

Sheesh, I've got nothing BUT time.

And given the amount of time you appear to put in to fixing and editing and re-mixing, Pop, it might be worth considering if perhaps the time IS indeed put in, it's just a matter of *where* and *when*.

I'm a musician first and a recordist second, so I love the idea of "quit dicking around with the gear and let's PLAY", but often that means you just end up dicking around endlessly with the mix when you don't take the time to get things optimal in the beginning.

Anyway, there's certainly no rule that applies to everyone and every situation.

Chris

Wow, I didn't know Richard Marx was sacred territory. I'll try to tread lighter in the future.

-Dusty

quote:

---

And given the amount of time you appear to put in to fixing and editing and re-mixing, Pop, it might be worth considering if perhaps the time IS indeed put in, it's just a matter of *where* and *when*.

---

Editing what?

I mix. Different thing. And it's nuance. The difference in my 1 hour quick mix, and my work off and on over the course of weeks is small. And maybe not worth it.

Richard Marx isn't sacred territory...I'm grumpy. Ignore me.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Popmann:
Brauner isn't a classic. While it may be a nice, expensive mic, that does miss the point.

---

Misses what point, exactly? Pssssst. Hey, Pop. I wasn't talking about "classics." Couldn't care less if a mic is a "classic" or not. All I care about is will it work for the source I'm aiming it at.

quote:

---

Classics become classics because of their flexibility. Not because they're the awsome most perfect solution in a given scenario.

---

I just finished doing a bunch of recording for a local theatre company for one of their plays. Used the Brauner to record voice, acoustic guitar, some weird old violin thing with a horn attached to it, a regular fiddle and a didgeridoo - yes, a didgeridoo. It proved too strident for Native American flute so the KEL HM-1 got that job. Still, the Brauner performed fabulously on that rather varied list of sources and, yes, I did try other mics as well. I'd say that's pretty damned flexible. So it ain't a "classic." The client didn't give two greasy shits about that. They were thrilled with the end product and, as a result, will probably do business with me again. And that, my good man, IS the point.

quote:

---

Put a U87 up--the vocal sound will not suck. Are there better choices for a given vocalist? Probably. How many you gonna try?

---

As many as I've got until the client is happy. And I've read a number of folks on various recording boards who weren't terribly thrilled with what they were getting from a U87 for a particular vocalist. I still wouldn't mind having one. Or a pair. Regardless, my point is, and always will be, that NO ONE MIC WORKS FOR EVERY VOICE OR EVERY SITUATION. It's a really simple concept that's been proven time and again by folks with far more time in the chair than me. Honest.

quote:

---

I just don't agree with this idea that "I'd rather have 20 cheap different sounding mics than a couple well rounded better ones". But, that's OK to disagree. Everyone can take their own approach, and we can let the proof be in the pudding.

---

Bandini pretty much hit the nail on the head with how you went off the track with that one. IMO, a satisfied client is both proof and pudding. As further evidence of my stance on it, take a look at my earlier post in the thread where I listed a number of fairly expensive mics that I'd really like to have. Some are classics, some aren't. Classic, not a classic, expensive/cheap, colored/clean, flexible/one trick pony - utterly IRRELEVANT to me. Is the client happy? THAT's relevant. If they're not, I'll try every piece of kit I have until they are. If I don't have anything they like, I'll rent shit. See a pattern emerging here? (aside from me being a prick)

Client happy - good thing. Client unhappy - bad thing. Do what it takes to make client happy. Happy client come back, pay me again. They like, me like. Reeeeeel simple. My model different than yours. Not better. Not worse. Just different. Different is good. Me not talk about it no more. Tired of beating head against wall. Me go now. Buh-bye.

Funny that of all these cool topics Dot started in this forum the one that gets the most chit chat in is the most expensive product that none of us have.

It's a classic so it deserves all this undeserved attention... Right? You got to mess with it much yet, Dot?

-Dusty

Yeah Dot, we gonna get to hear it in the Listening Sessions?...Pleeeeez.

Not that I'll ever own one.

-Stixxs