Acoustic Artist - Vocal Mic Upgrade

[J200Guy]

My current gear:

Shure Beta87A
Mackie 1202-VLZ3
TC Helicon VoiceSolo Monitor
Kurzweil Rumour
EV SXA100 PA Speaker (1) - I do small gigs and hard pan to left
Digitech Vocalist Live Pro


I am looking to upgrade my vocal mic and possibly add a preamp in between. I've been using the 87A for over 2 years now and at the $250 price point it's OK (have previously used the EV ND767, then the EV RE20 (yes, live) ... My voice is a bit on the thin side (like an early Clapton) and nasally (a bit like Lennon's), though my vocal coach says it's not nasal at all it's resonant. My range is pretty good up to a high "G", (with "D" being the cutoff into "head voice" aka "falsetto").

One interesting bit:
A mic that I normally use to record with (KEL HM1) actually does sound very much better live on me (in rehearsal) than the 87A, but picks up the guitar (Martin D-42 using K&K Pure Western). When I kick in a 3rd harmony above (for example) on the Digitech - the guitar is affected and makes the whole thing sound awful.

Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions from folks with experience on what may be an appropriate mic choice for this type of voice and setting. In other words, I'm looking for a mic that would make my voice sound a bit fuller.

Also, if a preamp would help.

I'm open on $$$ for the mic up to $800 or so.

[DAS]

How was the 767 on you? I always thought those had an excessive amount of proximity effect and low end for a vocal mic. Seems like that could help the thin aspect of your voice. There's so much about that mic I don't like...I'm not recommending it, just wonder what you thought of it.

In light of much of what you say I think you should at least consider the KMS105.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KMS105MT/

Killer mic. So smooth, with a nice, though not excessive, bottom end.

[jpleong]

One of my working theories is that voices that sound "bad" on the Beta 87 sound good on the SM58 and vice-versa. I would give that a try (since 58s are usually easy to find and borrow).

My usual suspects for live vocal mic recommendations are the AKG D880 (now packaged as the D5), the Sennheiser e835, the Shure SM58, and (moving up the scale) the AKG C535, Sennheiser e865, and Neumann KMS series. But audition these before buying as all of these are different sounding microphones.

JP

edit- to add to DAS' thoughts, the AKG C5 has a lot of proximity buildup with its PB1000 attachment installed.

[J200Guy]

There was a bit too much boominess .. since I was playing (and moving) a bit during the sets (proximity to mic)

[cmchamp]

Do you want a hypercardioid or supercardioid mic as opposed to a cardioid? My personal preference is the Audio-Technica AE-5400, or it's little brother the AE-3300.
As for front end live, I use an ART ProChannel. A better mic pre may or may not improve the overall sound with the rest of your signal path.

[jpleong]

There was a bit too much boominess .. since I was playing (and moving) a bit during the sets (proximity to mic)

With this in mind I'd recommend sticking to mics with cardioid patterns.

JP

[J200Guy]

What about the M88 ??

[J200Guy]

Also, the Opus 89 ??

[jpleong]

I love, love, love Beyerdynamic mics and always forget about them since they're on the pricey side... Definitely worth adding to your list. Incidentally, now that you've mentioned them, Beyerdynamic makes great ribbon mics which would probably work well on your voice. I believe the M260 is the only current live vocal ribbon mic they make (I have the retired M500).

JP

[dboomer]

My personal preference is the Audio-Technica AE-5400, .

Me too (very similar to an earlier model - ATM4055)! or a KM105 Neumann

[michaelhoddy]

I'm not so sure you need to buy a more expensive mic as you might want to try some different ones. The Beta 87- especially the A-model- is a tricky beast- it either sounds just right or sounds completely wrong, without a lot of middle ground.

[J200Guy]

Michael,

I'm in Northern NJ (close to NYC) ... do you know if there's a local studio/sound company where I can try a variety of mics?

DM

[keylay]

The secret is to find an independently owned pro audio store. They generally let you try different mics and pre-amps.

[Roswell_King]

I use a Neumann KMS105 and I love it .But if you are having problems with an 87a ,you may want to evaluate your system or the system you use.
If it is not eq'd by ringing or pinking some dude may have just stuck a smile face on it and that will kill an 87,also ,87s like a pre-amp,if you don't have access to system settings or a good pre-amp you may want to just get an beta 58, you can get the volume you want when you sing from further back ,meaning you wont get as much proximity effect.
A midas venice 160 or alittle mackie onyx would help your 87 sound better.The VLZ is not nice to signal. I ran smaart analytics through a VLZ and it came out of the line level send looking like the andes.
Get a board that is nicer to your sound and everything will sound better ,It'll be like you just cleaned your windows.
Roz