kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Jul 13, 2023 14:23:47 GMT -6
First listen, if you’ve been waiting:
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Post by thehightenor on Jul 13, 2023 14:34:03 GMT -6
The male singer would sound better on a dynamic mic - SM7B - M88.
I didn't like his tone on these mics at all.
The lady sounded good on the 251.
But overall, being honest I wasn't blown away - to my surprise!
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Post by wiz on Jul 13, 2023 15:53:46 GMT -6
The male singer would sound better on a dynamic mic - SM7B - M88. I didn't like his tone on these mics at all. The lady sounded good on the 251. But overall, being honest I wasn't blown away - to my surprise! I concur cheers Wiz |
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Post by chessparov on Jul 13, 2023 17:30:26 GMT -6
I'll try to listen tonight.
A key question is whether the UA's sound is really identical to their Bock Soundelux counterparts.
I'm not sure.
But am glad I have the last U195 incarnation, before the buyout.
Fine mic but my BU67 is still first grab.
Chris
EDIT: I should listen more/didn't complete all of it but...
IMHO the female singer also sounded good on the 187 FAT setting.
(I liked it better than FLAT)
Would have been interesting to have engaged the Low Cut with that.
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Post by guitfiddler on Jul 14, 2023 7:12:46 GMT -6
Ugly headbaskets, dig my pre-UA Bock mics much better. Pricey too, I thought just maybe the prices would come down a bit. Also, that 187 looks to be the same mic as the U195? Just curious, but it looks to be identical innards and rebranded. I really dig my U195’s! Great workhorse mics! I have owned just about every Soundelux and Bock mic over the years and dig them.
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Post by tkaitkai on Jul 14, 2023 12:18:06 GMT -6
The 251 sounds nice. I probably wouldn't use any of those mics for the male singer, but of the three, the 251 definitely sounds best.
On the female singer, it's a toss up between the 251 and 167. The 251 sounds great (as I would expect it to), but the 167 does add a nice "whispery" texture up top that I really like on her voice.
The 187 is okay. Tolerable on the girl's voice, ouch on the guy.
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Post by seawell on Jul 14, 2023 13:05:57 GMT -6
Surprisingly I didn't think these sounded very good at all. Especially compared to clips I've heard from Heiserman and Flea lately. I wonder how different things could have been if the vocalist had headphones? I don't really like having the singer do these sorts of demonstrations without hearing themselves through the mic because you eliminate any mic technique. I also want to know how a mic enhanced or hindered their performances singing through it. Anyway, I'm kind of shocked here, pretty nasty high mid ringing in a lot of those examples.
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Post by tkaitkai on Jul 14, 2023 13:23:08 GMT -6
Surprisingly I didn't think these sounded very good at all. Especially compared to clips I've heard from Heiserman and Flea lately. I wonder how different things could have been if the vocalist had headphones? I don't really like having the singer do these sorts of demonstrations without hearing themselves through the mic because you eliminate any mic technique. I also want to know how a mic enhanced or hindered their performances singing through it. Anyway, I'm kind of shocked here, pretty nasty high mid ringing in a lot of those examples. Yeah, I definitely feel like this video isn't exactly presenting these mics in the best light possible. Looks like they used an API -> Apollo x16. I used a similar combination on vocals years ago and also had annoying high mid resonances all over the place. Not that the mic pre + AD would be entirely to blame, but maybe worth considering. I don't think these are terrible recordings or anything, like I could probably get on just fine if it's all I had. But man, that 251 is $6k... I hope this is just user error. |
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Post by seawell on Jul 14, 2023 14:18:54 GMT -6
Surprisingly I didn't think these sounded very good at all. Especially compared to clips I've heard from Heiserman and Flea lately. I wonder how different things could have been if the vocalist had headphones? I don't really like having the singer do these sorts of demonstrations without hearing themselves through the mic because you eliminate any mic technique. I also want to know how a mic enhanced or hindered their performances singing through it. Anyway, I'm kind of shocked here, pretty nasty high mid ringing in a lot of those examples. Yeah, I definitely feel like this video isn't exactly presenting these mics in the best light possible. Looks like they used an API -> Apollo x16. I used a similar combination on vocals years ago and also had annoying high mid resonances all over the place. Not that the mic pre + AD would be entirely to blame, but maybe worth considering. I don't think these are terrible recordings or anything, like I could probably get on just fine if it's all I had. But man, that 251 is $6k... I hope this is just user error. Yeah I agree, it's more that the bar for 251 clones has been set really high and those companies beat UA to the punch as well. |
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Post by Chad on Jul 14, 2023 14:40:54 GMT -6
Someone should compare the original Bock mics to the new UA mics. Josh??? ( seawell) 👍🏻 |
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Post by phantom on Jul 14, 2023 17:08:19 GMT -6
not blown away either
and the colors are horrible.
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Post by nick8801 on Jul 14, 2023 17:32:48 GMT -6
Mics sound ok. I’m kinda done with UA at this point. We will never get the full Bock story, but I’m sure these are watered down from what he’s capable of designing. They’re definitely using his name for the price point though!
When are girls gonna stop singing like that? It’s like they’re all impersonating the same voice. It’s weird.
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Post by seawell on Jul 14, 2023 18:53:03 GMT -6
Someone should compare the original Bock mics to the new UA mics. Josh??? ( seawell ) 👍🏻 it definitely crossed my mind. I've used every soundelux or bock mic at some point over the years except for the 507. They were always very impressive which is why this particular demo was so surprising to me. |
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Post by andersmv on Jul 14, 2023 19:39:53 GMT -6
There was something weird going on in the high mids on the male vocalist. I was hearing it in every mic on his voice, just kind of honky, almost like there was a frequency range notched out with a super narrow Q. Makes me think it's something with his voice and not the mics (I didn't hear it at all on the female vocalist). I probably would have reached for a more neutrally voiced mic if I was recording them, probably not the fault of any of the Bock mics. I'm guessing though, just seems weird to me that I was hearing it on every example with him. Great voice though!
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Jul 15, 2023 2:11:33 GMT -6
When are girls gonna stop singing like that? It’s like they’re all impersonating the same voice. It’s weird. My Wife (who is a singer) and I just had this exact conversation this afternoon. So many artists emulating the same sound. |
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Post by nick8801 on Jul 15, 2023 7:40:22 GMT -6
When are girls gonna stop singing like that? It’s like they’re all impersonating the same voice. It’s weird. My Wife (who is a singer) and I just had this exact conversation this afternoon. So many artists emulating the same sound. It’s also not a good mic testing voice because it’s so soft and whispy. That’s why everyone is hearing the “honk” with the male vocalist. He’s really pushing it. |
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Ua mikes
Jul 15, 2023 13:58:19 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by notneeson on Jul 15, 2023 13:58:19 GMT -6
I would fully expect the mics to be overpriced just like all UA hardware.
A quick listen on laptop speakers was enough to remind me that videos are a VERY poor substitute for hands on. I’m sure the mics are fine, but they were probably never going to be high on my want list.
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Post by seawell on Jul 15, 2023 15:00:50 GMT -6
It’s weird to me that two of the worst demos I’ve heard in a while were this(Vintage King) & the Heritage Tubesessor(Sweetwater). You’d think they’d be trying to sell these things 🤣. It may be reverse psychology because they both sounded so bad I’m curious if they really are like that!
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Post by Drew @ UA on Jul 16, 2023 8:21:09 GMT -6
Hey all,
These are exactly the same mics as David has been building for years. There have been no changes made to the critical audio paths.
He and Sergio oversaw everything in Santa Cruz before they departed.
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Post by ab101 on Jul 16, 2023 13:03:07 GMT -6
Hey all, These are exactly the same mics as David has been building for years. There have been no changes made to the critical audio paths. He and Sergio oversaw everything in Santa Cruz before they departed. Thank you for writing. Does the 251 still go down to 10 hz? |
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Post by Quint on Jul 16, 2023 13:53:17 GMT -6
The devil's in the details. "Critical audio path" doesn't always mean the same thing to all people. I'd be curious to see a side by side comparison of the guts in the original Bocks and the guts in the UA version. Maybe some of the mic gurus around here might have some comments.
There's a rental place here that I suspect will eventually get one of each of these eventually. They rent a lot of other UA stuff. I might have to check these out in person sometime.
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Post by ab101 on Jul 16, 2023 14:55:56 GMT -6
The devil's in the details. "Critical audio path" doesn't always mean the same thing to all people. I'd be curious to see a side by side comparison of the guts in the original Bocks and the guts in the UA version. Maybe some of the mic gurus around here might have some comments. There's a rental place here that I suspect will eventually get one of each of these eventually. They rent a lot of other UA stuff. I might have to check these out in person sometime. That is part of the reason I am asking if the 251 goes down to 10hz. Only the Soundelux/Bock 251s did that. And if it does not do that, then it is not the same mic. According to this, it does. This may be a good sign. www.uaudio.com/microphones/ua-bock-251.html |
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Post by guitfiddler on Jul 16, 2023 15:00:21 GMT -6
I have a pic of the U195 and the 187 on the insides next to each other, looks to be the same mic. I can never post pics on this forum. Wish I could share it, but for reason it just seems that things that are made previous to 2000 just sound better to me. Not sure what you call that? Vintage? Lol
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Post by Drew @ UA on Jul 16, 2023 17:13:11 GMT -6
Hey all, These are exactly the same mics as David has been building for years. There have been no changes made to the critical audio paths. He and Sergio oversaw everything in Santa Cruz before they departed. Thank you for writing. Does the 251 still go down to 10 hz? yes it does. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2023 21:48:45 GMT -6
It might just be a bad example, I watched a pro audio vid where every mic sounded pretty much the exact same which has never happend to me in my studio. On the other side there were another one where nearly every mic had this high pitched resonance because the singer was wailing directly at it, quite impressive how the quiet bits were still super loud. Lastly a video where every mic sounded completely different to each other but not in a good way.
In Sweetwaters grand ol' mic test from a few years back the Bock U67 style mic was the clear winner for me. I'm not throwing the Bock 167 in the discard pile yet..
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