OT: Least sibilant microphone you know

[Dizzi45Z]

I'm just looking to get some recommendations for a great vocal microphone that is the least sibilant.

I currently have:

AKG C414 TLII
AKG C414 XLS
Oktava MK-319, MK-012 (Oktavamod)
SM57's

I'm interested in all price ranges.

I actually love my TLII microphone on almost every vocal except for when I get super sibilant singers. I'd like a microphone that counters that. I'm thinking a ribbon microphone might be what I need. But I'd like to hear what you all think.

[GS-DK]

I love the Neumann 193.

[DrFord]

Its the one that records the guy with the lisp.

"What Lithp?"

[Bob Olhsson]

U67, Beyer MC 740 and maybe 840.

Ribbons work well too a bit off axis.

[formfunction]

I have an old M49 that is very dark and works well in that scenario.. and a lot of others! ff

[brianjanthony]

ADK CS67 with the GK67 capsule. it sonically sits between the Neumann U67 and 87, with a beautiful and useful proximity effect, with a bottom in a different area than the C12 capsules and not nearly as spitty as the 414... not great for rap or transient dense stuff)

ADK CS47 with Blue Yellow Band capsule - can be too old school sounding and a honky on the wrong source. But it is a dry non sibilant mic.

ADK Hamburg 2 AU edition with the GK67 capsule = for a FET it is REALLY a fat sounding mic. Much Less sibilant than many I've owned/tried (414 TLII, Gefell something or other, Ifet 7, Blue Mouse, U87) - I bought it as my first "I need a less bright mic" mic.

Shure SM7b
No sibilance here. None. with a great EQ and a good pre, can be a world beater. But your pre needs to be able to give it TONS of clean noiseless gain. Its a quiet mic.

Ribbons are nice, but they are Figure 8. In my humble workings, Clients are flipping papers, fidgeting, tapping stands etc. Right behind the mic. Right where the ribbon would be zoning in on. So I shy away from them. I have had some in here... and they sounded ok. I tried a Blue Woodpecker once, but I thought the CS67 smoked it in terms of balance and tone.

I like the ADK mics can you tell? Obviously they are derivatives of the Newmanns (as my clients call them). But they have their own sonic imprint that I find works real well on the wide variety of folks I deal with on a weekly basis.

Find a place that will let you demo stuff. Then bring in the nightmare clients and do a shootout or 2. It's how I picked most of my mics. Time consuming but worth it.

[BradLyons]

Okay there are many amazing microphones to consider.....BUT no matter what kind of vocalist, male or female.....soft or hard voice, vocal range, etc.... I HAVE YET TO ENCOUNTER A SITUATION WITH THE BLUE KIWI THAT DIDN'T BLOW EVERYONE AWAY. The thing I love about the KIWI is it's very smooth on the top-end, silky but not bright by any means. The bottom is well rounded, enough to really add some "umph" into a vocal but it doesn't change the sound of the vocal. It's an ideal mic that works with any pre you plug it into..... use a UA LA610 and you hear the tube warmth of the pre, but go through say an ISA220 and you hear the tonality of that pre as well.

IMHO from my years of selling COUNTLESS brands using them all in-depth... I can't see how the KIWI can't work.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by brianjanthony

Shure SM7b
No sibilance here. None. with a great EQ and a good pre, can be a world beater. But your pre needs to be able to give it TONS of clean noiseless gain. Its a quiet mic.

Do you use it with either or both of the pop filters on?

We use them with the filters on at a radio station I work at as the broadcast mics, but in my production booth at the station, I run them without both filters and just use a screen to minimize popping. I didn't really like the sound much with the foam filters on.

The reason I ask is that I find the mic to still be sibilant. Of course this is dependent on talent, but most women I put in front of the mic come out quite sibilant. I do record the talent quite close to the mic as I'm after a very intimate and dry vocal.

It prob doesn't help that the signal is getting quite heavily compressed (it's radio production) but I'm yet to do a spot with a female voice that didn't need de-essing.

Oh, it's running through an API A2D spdif into a 003. And yeah, VERY quiet mic. Have to have the gain close to full.

[BradLyons]

SARDI,

If you're referring to the SM7B, it does have a very low output.... so that would be why.

[Sean Russell]

I find some humans to be more silibant than others and direct the capsule away from the face-piece a little... Seems to help wonders regardless which mic it is.