Anyone near Nashville have a Warm WA47?

What version of stam 47 is that one?

You should see if you could get a Heiserman h47t as well.

Yes Geoff. I feel like I haven't officially arrived because I had a 3 week chest cold and need to buy a car. So I've mostly been staying in my apartment while setting up my new place and hopefully will begin connecting with my Nashville friends and the music scene here in a week or two.

Bryce from Warm is sending me a couple of mics to try. We go way back to his first Warm product. I always judge products without bias, but i'm always glad when someone I know for a long time succeeds.

Just putting on the popcorn and settling in !

Thanks Geoff. This has been one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

Well, I'll have both the Stam SA-47 and the Warm WA-47 here soon. I'm planning to see if a friend will let me use his vintage Neumann U-47 as a benchmark, but we'll see. I'm mostly interested to see what the sub $2,000 mics can do.

Way back, I had a Blackspade UM-17 R that was the best mic I'd heard under $3,500, but I didn't realize just how good it was because I was wanting more and sold it. So far the only new mic that I thought was as good as the greatest classic vintage mics I've ever heard was the Chandler REDD 47. I consider that the best mic currently being made.

Fortunately I do have the Stam SA-67 and it's impressive. It's my go to mic. Two of my very experienced friends recently used it on some major projects and loved it.

But I've always wanted a 47 style mic too, so we'll see how this goes. Sometimes one mic fits a song better than another, even at the high end.

How would it be unfair?

Well, if someone wants to loan me a Heiserman 47 for a week, I'd be glad to include it in the comparison. The thing is, once you're at a $3,800 price tag, that means you could most likely afford a Soyuz 0-17 Tube, or Chandler Redd, or a few other high end 47 style mics.

So, there's serious competition in that price range. I've used both the Soyuz and the Chandler, and they are indeed world class. In fact, John Kennedy has the Soyuz 0-17 now and has stated it's the best vocal mic he's ever had. If that's not a serious recommendation, I don't know what is.

What I've always hoped for is a mic in the $1500 - $2,000 price range that actually equalled the big boys in quality. The Blackspade UM-17 R & B were excellent, but just a little shy of the Neumann's. The Soyuz O-17 FET beat both a vintage Neumann U67 and U-87 for acoustic guitar tracking in a blind shootout. Twenty engineer/producers chose it blind. That mic was $2,000 and worth every penny, but being FET, I needed a tube mic that equals the classics.

I have the Stam SA-67 and it sounded really great on vocal sessions I did for my friend Dusty Wright's recent album and four tracks I did for a recent documentary called "From Worst to First", the story of Z-100, the world's biggest radio station. I haven't spent a lot of time with it or released anything of my own using it yet, but the unsolicited raves from my two very experienced friends is encouraging.

I'm also interested in a U47 style mic for many reasons, and have always desired both. We'll see how it goes soon enough..

The one thing that was annoying when I did some other comparisons was some of the obnoxious comments regarding the testing method. Every aspect of doing this has inherent flaws.

The shootouts where you have 2, 3, or 4 mics bunched together and then you compare the same take are never great because no matter how hard you try, one mic will get the better angle.

When you match distance and placement as perfectly as you can and do alternate takes, each take is a little different, and even the same style mic made by different companies might have their own sweet spot that can vary by 1"-6".

Then there's the aspect of preamp settings that would likely vary if you search for the best level for each mic, so you keep them equal and level match, but even that way, you might miss capturing the mic at its best. Still, I prefer doing separate takes and doing my best to make them as alike as I can.

Then someone always bitches about how the comparison was done and tries to discredit it. My answer to that is online mic comparisons can be very helpful at times, but you must realize there's no one "right" way to do it. You really need time with a mic yourself. And if you don't like my video, try getting 3 or 4 mics you want to compare in a studio at the same time and do it for yourself. 

So far I've been very lucky with online shootouts. They've helped me make some choices and the mics turned out to sound exactly as they did in the shootout. That said, the experience and ears of the listener can vary so much that consensus rarely happens. I've seen some comments only where someone calls a mic brighter than another mic that is so obviously darker than the other mic you wonder what's wrong with that guys ears. And then there's the fan boys bugging you because their favorite brand didn't fare well who rarely have enough experience to have a professional perspective. 

Since I've enjoyed so many of the online demos from some of the guys here, I do them to give back a little and I enjoy sharing the results. I often gain insights from comments by some of the amazing engineers and musicians here.

I don't have a channel that I'm trying to monetize by gaining members, there's quite enough of that already. I'm just enjoying connecting to other musicians.

if you are searching for a microphone for you.. rather than strapping on a white coat and carrying a clipboard...8)... use the mic as you would use it.. with the preamp you would use with it... in a song you would use it in....

then pick which one works best

you know, like you would in a studio session...

cheers

Wiz