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Post by plinker on Mar 19, 2021 17:22:22 GMT -6
I've never really been a fan of the U87. I always heard/hear an odd scoop in the mids with a zingy high freq that is off-putting and cheap sounding.
However, the clips of this (thanks Mark!) are really nice. I guess I've experienced the bad revisions -- prior to knowing there were design changes over time.
The Serranos are still on-sale (preorder) too!
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Post by julianromero on Mar 29, 2021 0:06:23 GMT -6
I've done two sessions now with the Serrano 87 on vocals. Its addicting. I have never used a real 87 before so I can't compare to that. But- theres a vocal sound Ive been chasing for years, and apparently its the sound of a Serrano 87. Highly recommended! I haven't thrown up the direct comparisons to my old ones yet, but I can tell you the S87 is very very very very close to the 1973. Aloha, I was able to shoot it out with a pristine conditioned Vintage "Battery compartment," U87 and a Beesneez BU87. The Serrano had a lot of the signature 87 character, but the Serrano had a rise in the high end. A really nice sound in itʻself though. Very lovely microphone. The Beesneez BU87 and the Vintage U87 was almost identical. I can vouch for the S87 as a solid performer. |
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Post by drbill on Mar 29, 2021 9:32:11 GMT -6
I haven't thrown up the direct comparisons to my old ones yet, but I can tell you the S87 is very very very very close to the 1973. Aloha, I was able to shoot it out with a pristine conditioned Vintage "Battery compartment," U87 and a Beesneez BU87. The Serrano had a lot of the signature 87 character, but the Serrano had a rise in the high end. A really nice sound in itʻself though. Very lovely microphone. The Beesneez BU87 and the Vintage U87 was almost identical. I can vouch for the S87 as a solid performer. Nice Julian! Welcome, and thanks for the review. Do you have any clips that you can share by any chance? Love to hear them. Cheers, |
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Post by Quint on Mar 29, 2021 10:24:58 GMT -6
I haven't thrown up the direct comparisons to my old ones yet, but I can tell you the S87 is very very very very close to the 1973. Aloha, I was able to shoot it out with a pristine conditioned Vintage "Battery compartment," U87 and a Beesneez BU87. The Serrano had a lot of the signature 87 character, but the Serrano had a rise in the high end. A really nice sound in itʻself though. Very lovely microphone. The Beesneez BU87 and the Vintage U87 was almost identical. I can vouch for the S87 as a solid performer. Was this one of the older Serranos, or one of the newer ones which are supposed to be slightly darker? I know that it had been mentioned at one point that newer Serranos were going to be slightly darker going forward. |
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Post by jacobamerritt on Mar 29, 2021 10:52:02 GMT -6
Was this one of the older Serranos, or one of the newer ones which are supposed to be slightly darker? I know that it had been mentioned at one point that newer Serranos were going to be slightly darker going forward. Perhaps cserrano has the serial numbers for the earlier version, and the number at which he refined the tuning. I have a recent Serrano, and wouldnt describe it as lifted in the highs, but maybe compared to a certain vintage 87 it would be? |
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Post by julianromero on Mar 29, 2021 21:44:37 GMT -6
Aloha, I was able to shoot it out with a pristine conditioned Vintage "Battery compartment," U87 and a Beesneez BU87. The Serrano had a lot of the signature 87 character, but the Serrano had a rise in the high end. A really nice sound in itʻself though. Very lovely microphone. The Beesneez BU87 and the Vintage U87 was almost identical. I can vouch for the S87 as a solid performer. Was this one of the older Serranos, or one of the newer ones which are supposed to be slightly darker? I know that it had been mentioned at one point that newer Serranos were going to be slightly darker going forward. This was in October, with his newer capsule. |
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Post by julianromero on Mar 29, 2021 21:46:21 GMT -6
Was this one of the older Serranos, or one of the newer ones which are supposed to be slightly darker? I know that it had been mentioned at one point that newer Serranos were going to be slightly darker going forward. Perhaps cserrano has the serial numbers for the earlier version, and the number at which he refined the tuning. I have a recent Serrano, and wouldnt describe it as lifted in the highs, but maybe compared to a certain vintage 87 it would be? This was in October with his newer capsule. I just read on another post that he can tune it darker. |
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Post by julianromero on Mar 29, 2021 21:53:09 GMT -6
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Post by the other mark williams on Mar 30, 2021 0:14:06 GMT -6
Perhaps cserrano has the serial numbers for the earlier version, and the number at which he refined the tuning. I have a recent Serrano, and wouldnt describe it as lifted in the highs, but maybe compared to a certain vintage 87 it would be? This was in October with his newer capsule. I just read on another post that he can tune it darker. From my understanding, the stock circuit is a little darker now (starting with my mic) than it would have been in October. I wouldn’t describe mine as lifted in the top at all. But I *did* have Carlos darken my circuit from what was stock up to that point. |
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Post by cserrano on Mar 30, 2021 0:39:28 GMT -6
Hello everyone! I can clarify some things here. My apologies for any confusion! Julian was using a Serrano 87 with the top end similar to the modern U87AI, but just not quite as bright. This voicing for the Serrano 87 used to be the default. The intention was to use the 100% Neumann U87i circuit but adjust the top end to be in between the modern and vintage. However, due to much customer feedback the default voicing now matches your more commonly heard vintage U87, which is darker in the top end. By the way, all the files Mark Williams posted in the shootout on this forum reflect the current default voicing (but just a teeny tad darker at his request). It seems that many pianists and engineers who record primarily classical music often prefer the voicing of the brighter and modern U87AI, so I get regular requests for that voicing. Yet everyone else generally wants that darker vintage tone! (Julian, I should have sent you the darker voicing when you were trying it out!) One point of clarity, whether the voicing is darker or brighter doesn't affect the overall character of the Serrano 87, nor is it a change to the vintage U87i circuitry. The value of the capacitor at C6 simply attenuates the top end. Increasing this value darkens the top end, while decreasing the value brightens the top end. It's very much like an EQ in the U87i circuit. Lastly, if anyone down the line wants their Serrano 87 to sound darker or brighter, I am happy to tune the voicing for free. |
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Post by Ward on Mar 30, 2021 5:27:28 GMT -6
I can attest to cserrano's dedication to customer needs. He tuned mine to match my favorite, my 1973 U87i. And pretty much nailed it. Obviously a 48 year old microphone shows some sign of aging that wouldn't have been there in 1973. That's pretty much it. It's gorgeous! How much do I trust it? I have a client who lives 3500 miles from me, and I'm working on his latest single so I just sent him my S-U87 to track his vocals with, face-time producing happens with this pandemic fun. I'm very confident in it. And don't have to worry about what might happen sending a vintage U87, and get the same results. Now if I could only send a compact version of an audioscape V-Comp! |
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Post by gwlee7 on Mar 30, 2021 5:43:47 GMT -6
I can attest to cserrano 's dedication to customer needs. He tuned mine to match my favorite, my 1973 U87i. And pretty much nailed it. Obviously a 48 year old microphone shows some sign of aging that wouldn't have been there in 1973. That's pretty much it. It's gorgeous! How much do I trust it? I have a client who lives 3500 miles from me, and I'm working on his latest single so I just sent him my S-U87 to track his vocals with, face-time producing happens with this pandemic fun. I'm very confident in it. And don't have to worry about what might happen sending a vintage U87, and get the same results. Now if I could only send a compact version of an audioscape V-Comp!Oh my, strong praise indeed. I am so tempted to buy one or send my lead singer who lives close to Carlos to go get one for him to track his vocals with. |
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Post by julianromero on Mar 30, 2021 16:02:56 GMT -6
I can attest to cserrano's dedication to customer needs. He tuned mine to match my favorite, my 1973 U87i. And pretty much nailed it. Obviously a 48 year old microphone shows some sign of aging that wouldn't have been there in 1973. That's pretty much it. It's gorgeous! How much do I trust it? I have a client who lives 3500 miles from me, and I'm working on his latest single so I just sent him my S-U87 to track his vocals with, face-time producing happens with this pandemic fun. I'm very confident in it. And don't have to worry about what might happen sending a vintage U87, and get the same results. Now if I could only send a compact version of an audioscape V-Comp!I actually really liked the S87 with the rise in the high end. If I were to pick one up, I would get that one. The only reason I didn't get it, is that it sounded really close to a Micrehab modified TLM 103 that I used in the shootout and have access to, and I also own the BU87. Someone made a graph of all of the mics in the shootout and the BU87 was nearly identical to the Vintage U87. The graph of the TLM 103 and the S87 were also close to each other with the lift in the high end. |
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Post by plinker on Apr 23, 2021 8:10:55 GMT -6
Waiting patiently for mine to arrive...
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Post by plinker on Apr 23, 2021 8:12:10 GMT -6
I can attest to cserrano 's dedication to customer needs. He tuned mine to match my favorite, my 1973 U87i. And pretty much nailed it. Obviously a 48 year old microphone shows some sign of aging that wouldn't have been there in 1973. That's pretty much it. It's gorgeous! How much do I trust it? I have a client who lives 3500 miles from me, and I'm working on his latest single so I just sent him my S-U87 to track his vocals with, face-time producing happens with this pandemic fun. I'm very confident in it. And don't have to worry about what might happen sending a vintage U87, and get the same results. Now if I could only send a compact version of an audioscape V-Comp!Ward, do you know if your custom tuning is the same as the current "default" tuning? |
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Post by Ward on Apr 23, 2021 8:28:09 GMT -6
I can attest to cserrano 's dedication to customer needs. He tuned mine to match my favorite, my 1973 U87i. And pretty much nailed it. Obviously a 48 year old microphone shows some sign of aging that wouldn't have been there in 1973. That's pretty much it. It's gorgeous! How much do I trust it? I have a client who lives 3500 miles from me, and I'm working on his latest single so I just sent him my S-U87 to track his vocals with, face-time producing happens with this pandemic fun. I'm very confident in it. And don't have to worry about what might happen sending a vintage U87, and get the same results. Now if I could only send a compact version of an audioscape V-Comp!Ward, do you know if your custom tuning is the same as the current "default" tuning? I haven't compared it to other Serrano 87s, but some owners here have claimed theirs are on the bright side. Mine sounds completely normal to me, in comparison to my other 87s. The 1973 in particular. I guess I'll get to try others out in time and see what extended thoughts or findings on it I might have. |
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Post by gwlee7 on Apr 23, 2021 10:04:36 GMT -6
Did he not decide that the "darker" tuning like Mark's was going to be the new "stock" tuning? I think I read that in the thread somewhere but I may be mistaken.
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Post by plinker on Apr 23, 2021 11:01:21 GMT -6
Did he not decide that the "darker" tuning like Mark's was going to be the new "stock" tuning? I think I read that in the thread somewhere but I may be mistaken. He did. I’m trying to figure out if Wards is the new default or something else. |
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Post by plinker on Apr 24, 2021 7:16:42 GMT -6
Waiting patiently for mine to arrive... Me too! |
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Post by Ward on Apr 24, 2021 9:09:09 GMT -6
Waiting patiently for mine to arrive... Me too! Are you quoting and agreeing with yourself? I mean, that's cool just asking . . . sometimes when I need to have an intelligent conversation, I'll talk to myself...unless ericn or drbill are available. |
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Post by Ward on Apr 24, 2021 9:10:35 GMT -6
Did he not decide that the "darker" tuning like Mark's was going to be the new "stock" tuning? I think I read that in the thread somewhere but I may be mistaken. He did. I’m trying to figure out if Wards is the new default or something else. I think you're both correct. Is cserrano in the house? |
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Post by chessparov on Apr 24, 2021 12:01:44 GMT -6
"I'll talk to myself". When I do that, I only get concerned when... I start answering back!  Chris |
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Post by Ward on Apr 24, 2021 13:57:56 GMT -6
"I'll talk to myself". Chris That bit's cool.... it's when you start to argue with yourself out in public that I get a little alarmed. LOL |
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Post by plinker on Apr 25, 2021 11:14:53 GMT -6
Are you quoting and agreeing with yourself?
Only because we're obviously correct.
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Post by Ward on Apr 25, 2021 18:23:22 GMT -6
^^LOL^^
Where is Carlos?
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