Klaus Heyne's work speaks for itself
Oct 21, 2021 20:59:06 GMT -6
Johnkenn, Guitar, and 15 more like this
Post by Chad on Oct 21, 2021 20:59:06 GMT -6
Hi, if there is a thread like this that already exists, my apologies.
I'm going to *try to* keep this short & sweet. Like many of you, I've read so many posts by klaus Heyne over the years (for me, it's been about 5-6 years since I first heard his name). It's a real treat that men like Klaus will share so abundantly the wisdom they've accumulated in the pursuit of their passion. Being a creative, and not a "techy", I can't say that I always understand the scientific part of his posts. However, he does such a great job of being a "layman's teacher", using analogies and making sure to be very specific about what he is saying that... I sometimes have these "aha" moments where it all starts to make sense.
Well, a few weeks ago, I discovered my vintage U87i from 1985 had a capsule which I felt was probably in need of some service. After owning it a couple of years, it suddenly failed the breath test while I was testing a mic pre which had a new tube installed. I started searching the words of Klaus online, and from what I was reading, I determined it *might* be falling into the category of needing to have the capsule cleaned.
I sent the mic over to Klaus a couple of weeks ago, and a few days later I received a surprise call from a friendly voice with a German accent. He got right to the point:
"Well, hello, Chad. Should I tell you the bad news, or the bad news first?"
The bad news and the bad news was simple: This capsule in my mic had been reskinned, and it wasn't the original. My heart sank, as that was not disclosed to me by the seller. In fact, it's very likely the seller himself didn't know the history of the mic either.
In the end, here is what Klaus and I decided: Let's order a new capsule from Neumann – a K87 – which they still make as brand new replacements for the vintage battery compartment U87i's.
This afternoon, I received the mic back in the mail, plugged it in, and did a few voiceover / singing recordings through a clean mic pre and into my Tascam DA3000.
What I heard coming back at me was gorgeous.
I have a lot of experience now with vintage U87's, because I kind of made it my personal project to own over a dozen of them in about a 4 year span, from the years 1970 – 1989, giving me a "hands/ears-on" experience with this era of 87's which helped so much of what I read about these mics come to life for me.
It's hard to explain it any other way except maybe like this... What Klaus sent back to me sounds to my ears like a brand new 1985 U87i. Does that make sense? It just has a life about it that is in my book my favorite 1982–1985 era U87 I've ever had my hands on (and I've owned 5 that were made inside of that timeframe).
His service included the following:
1) Ordering and installing a brand new Neumann K87 capsule.
2) Listening to the capsule to select the best side forward for Cardioid usage.
3) Relaxing the tension on the capsule while comparing it to his own "minty" 1967 K87 capsule.
Having this U87 from 1985 sounding as good as it does to me now is such a gift. I wrote him a thank you, but thought I should probably share my experience right here as well.
Bottom line: In my pursuit of vintage battery compartment U87's, I always believed that the best way to find them is if the mic was 100% original, and ESPECIALLY the capsule. I just somehow had it in my head that there is no way Neumann was still making a K87 that would sound anything close to their 'glory days' era of the 1960's through mid 1980's.
Well, I was wrong.
If someone has a vintage U87, and you're afraid that changing out the capsule to a brand new one is going to hurt the sound (or the value), I would beg to differ with you on that. Of course... I will add... I believe that if the Neumann capsule had been used "as is", directly from Neumann, it would have been missing the bass response that Klaus added back to the capsule by relaxing the tension. So it was a Neumann + Klaus team effort.
That was much more text than I imagined laying out, but I wanted to paint a clear picture of the wonderful experience I had asking for help from one of the modern day legends in pro audio.
klaus ... Thank you!
PS: Trying to give this thread some legs... Perhaps if you've had a good experience hiring klaus Heyne to restore, mod, or otherwise work on one of your microphones, this might be a good place to post it.
I'm going to *try to* keep this short & sweet. Like many of you, I've read so many posts by klaus Heyne over the years (for me, it's been about 5-6 years since I first heard his name). It's a real treat that men like Klaus will share so abundantly the wisdom they've accumulated in the pursuit of their passion. Being a creative, and not a "techy", I can't say that I always understand the scientific part of his posts. However, he does such a great job of being a "layman's teacher", using analogies and making sure to be very specific about what he is saying that... I sometimes have these "aha" moments where it all starts to make sense.
Well, a few weeks ago, I discovered my vintage U87i from 1985 had a capsule which I felt was probably in need of some service. After owning it a couple of years, it suddenly failed the breath test while I was testing a mic pre which had a new tube installed. I started searching the words of Klaus online, and from what I was reading, I determined it *might* be falling into the category of needing to have the capsule cleaned.
I sent the mic over to Klaus a couple of weeks ago, and a few days later I received a surprise call from a friendly voice with a German accent. He got right to the point:
"Well, hello, Chad. Should I tell you the bad news, or the bad news first?"
The bad news and the bad news was simple: This capsule in my mic had been reskinned, and it wasn't the original. My heart sank, as that was not disclosed to me by the seller. In fact, it's very likely the seller himself didn't know the history of the mic either.
In the end, here is what Klaus and I decided: Let's order a new capsule from Neumann – a K87 – which they still make as brand new replacements for the vintage battery compartment U87i's.
This afternoon, I received the mic back in the mail, plugged it in, and did a few voiceover / singing recordings through a clean mic pre and into my Tascam DA3000.
What I heard coming back at me was gorgeous.
I have a lot of experience now with vintage U87's, because I kind of made it my personal project to own over a dozen of them in about a 4 year span, from the years 1970 – 1989, giving me a "hands/ears-on" experience with this era of 87's which helped so much of what I read about these mics come to life for me.
It's hard to explain it any other way except maybe like this... What Klaus sent back to me sounds to my ears like a brand new 1985 U87i. Does that make sense? It just has a life about it that is in my book my favorite 1982–1985 era U87 I've ever had my hands on (and I've owned 5 that were made inside of that timeframe).
His service included the following:
1) Ordering and installing a brand new Neumann K87 capsule.
2) Listening to the capsule to select the best side forward for Cardioid usage.
3) Relaxing the tension on the capsule while comparing it to his own "minty" 1967 K87 capsule.
Having this U87 from 1985 sounding as good as it does to me now is such a gift. I wrote him a thank you, but thought I should probably share my experience right here as well.
Bottom line: In my pursuit of vintage battery compartment U87's, I always believed that the best way to find them is if the mic was 100% original, and ESPECIALLY the capsule. I just somehow had it in my head that there is no way Neumann was still making a K87 that would sound anything close to their 'glory days' era of the 1960's through mid 1980's.
Well, I was wrong.
If someone has a vintage U87, and you're afraid that changing out the capsule to a brand new one is going to hurt the sound (or the value), I would beg to differ with you on that. Of course... I will add... I believe that if the Neumann capsule had been used "as is", directly from Neumann, it would have been missing the bass response that Klaus added back to the capsule by relaxing the tension. So it was a Neumann + Klaus team effort.
That was much more text than I imagined laying out, but I wanted to paint a clear picture of the wonderful experience I had asking for help from one of the modern day legends in pro audio.
klaus ... Thank you!
PS: Trying to give this thread some legs... Perhaps if you've had a good experience hiring klaus Heyne to restore, mod, or otherwise work on one of your microphones, this might be a good place to post it.
