Best mic for rap vocals below 4000€

Not to be discouraging. But it is very hard to tell you off the hip what mic you should lay down 4k on. By the time I would lay down 4k on a vocal mic (which is a great investment and at that price range you will have really great options) I would already have built a pretty solid idea of where that money is going. You will not find a bad mic at that price range. It’s more about how it sits in your chain and who is in front of that mic.

What is your recording chain? The 251 style is a bright mic in my opinion. Not sure if that counts as harshness in your case. If you are going for a more modern sound and the 87 is not your cup of tea i wouldn’t maybe be looking into vintage clones as they tend to have a character to them, not that major modern productions wouldn’t every day be cut with 47s and ribbons and what not. But have you thought about a manley reference mic for example? A solid modern great sounding work horse?

This forum has a magnitude of great discussions about most mics you can imagine. I would plow thru them and look for references you like and scout out what vocal chains and mixing techniques has been used to achieve what you like and kind of build a proper idea what every mic and chain in your ball park represents in reality

Clips or it didn't happen.
LOL!
Got any of yours to share?

"Pre-BZ BU67"... I would have suggested-strongly-the Max Mod on your 87ai. But are you trying to attract outside business too? Thanks, Chris
P.S. IMHO also get a Beyer M88 for handheld.
To supplement whatever else you get.

I would still keep a quality 251 or C12 Style strongly in the running.

I always thought u87 was kind of the standard for rap vocals. The other one being the Sony 800G.

I see the Stam clone is on your list. I've never heard it myself. I think Warm also makes one way below your budget in the $1k range. I've never heard that one either but it's cheap enough to give you an alternative to the u87 while still keeping the Neumann.

Here are some of my last recorded songs. The "u87" called ones are with the uad neve emulation.


www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/orxq6ebvnlhyn7ma7zuil/AHkcPW4Kh6ZV-TbXr3wPGk0?rlkey=fswq0o0d5gnpvfxfpukw4cu8o&st=9tbhlh9k&dl=0

I tried the Peluso P280 and the UAD Sphere but only on my voice. The U87 sounded better than both 

Even better. 

I'd keep the u87 though unless you just hate it. Two reasons.

1) Hard to buy used because the market is so flooded with knock-offs.
2) Not good value selling it. The value to you in keeping the u87 is almost definitely higher than the money you would get for it.

Prices for u87ai are all over the map on Reverb and there are TONS for sale. Assuming you bought yours new you'd be taking a bath on the $3600 - $4k you already invested but, the worst part of all, you can't change your mind because you'd really have to buy a new one if you regretted selling it (see point 1 above).

How much of the problem here is the final product and how much of the problem is that your artists aren't hearing what they want when they're tracking? 

Rap vocals are so much about energy and feel and vibe. I notice that you use the Apollo x6, have you built any templates so that your clients can hear more of a final sounding product while tracking? I suspect that a lot of folks underestimate how much treatment goes into rap vocals, then they hear their voice naked and accurately reproduced on the 87 and are like... huh?

Even the classic hand held 58 in a live environment has all kinds of low frequency boost and probably distortion from the PA (based on the local hip hop shows I see anyway)... if that's what you're used to hearing when you perform, I can see hearing yourself on an 87 being pretty exposing before it gets all the compression and saturation that most likely goes into the final product.

100% performance is way more important than the mic and I know since mostly of my clients are new in doing music, their performance isnt the best.

So far, every customer has been surprised by the result and always more than satisfied. But i always have to spend a long time working on the mix to fix the problems. I also have projects from bigger artists and I get better results much faster. I particularly liked Doja Cat's vocals (as far as I know she usually uses a c800g). But I also really like Juice Wrld's raw vocals, who also recorded with a U87ai. But they sound much more open and cleaner compared to mine.

Have you listened to my raw files? What would u say is the problem if not the mic is?

I took a quick spin thru your raw files. I am not in the studio now so i just used a bt speaker but… i don’t see an issue with the mic. I would start by giving some more distance to the mic, it initially sounds like there could be too much proximity effect going on. Are you leaving enough headroom on the 1073? A tracking comp like 1176 could help with that in your face aggression while still retaining the “space”. You can experiment with the uad unison before investing in any gear and that will give u an idea. I would probably track it with an la2a comp hitting some 3-5db gr.

EDIT: gravesnumber9 😃 yeah I think we picked up on that proximity and pushing neve simultainiously.. could be something there despite neither was on monitors

Thank you. Yes i also think they are okay but wouldn't a 251 or c800g be more "mix-ready" in my case? I have to do very much to achieve to sound my clients want. Other recordings I have (recorded with a c800g f.e.) are way easier to mix and i need less much time to get a good result.
A tracking comp will also follow at some point, but i think there are a few things i would improve first (room, monitors, etc). After that I might buy a Distressor or Tla 100a.